RACING FORUM

Posted: **Fri Oct 27, 2023 13:19 pm**

I noticed in an article in the Racing Post that former BHA Chief Executive Nick Rust was calling for ‘Bold Change’ to be made in order to turn British Racing around. He warned that the current changes to the fixture list were not drastic enough and that fixtures need to be trimmed by a sixth. He also argued that the structural changes necessary to guarantee bigger fields and more each way betting could be ‘fuelled’ by changes and revisions to media rights and a more regional approach. He suggested that bookmakers might include levy payments for overseas races if the industry dropped its insistence on a turn over based levy.
Now I don’t claim to have a photographic memory but I didn’t recall hearing any of the above when Mr Rust was head of the BHA between 2015 and 2020. Just as it is now that was a period when ‘radical action’ was required and nothing happened. You could argue that in fact the action required in 2015 would have needed to be less radical than now. But that is only an argument about scale.
Did I hear someone say something about shutting the stable door after the horse had bolted.