RACING FORUM

Posted: **Sun May 12, 2024 9:59 am**

Premier Racing is dead. Just as predicted the outdated policy has not exactly worked as the BHA had expected. Crowds are still well down on last year and the future of racing in the UK is looking increasingly gloomy, (except for RP who could find joy in a high dependency ward, bless him).
So now the BHA are pulling together a plan to split off the top meetings and events, and to bring them together under a separate company which they plan to offer to private equity firms.
Well good luck with that. First of all they are never going to be bale to prise these events away from the race tracks. They are the crown jewels for the courses. If they use legislative measures to exert leverage on the tracks the sport will erupt into a civil war and for what?
The idea is bereft of intelligent thought because what racing needs is revenue that can be ploughed back into the sport in such a way as to make it possible to invest in horses that are at the very least likely to cover their costs.
It may come as a complete surprise to the BHA, but private equity firms, unlike owners. Prefer to invest in profitable projects so that they can take money out of the business, which is just about the worst thing that can happen to horseracing. Perhaps the BHA should have a conversation with any Manchester United supporter about the wisdom of their cunning plan.
The collective stupidity is absolutely beyond belief. They make bad call after bad call, each one being far worse than the one before. They are unaccountable, they are totally without any plan A, B or C to reverse the damage that they have done over the past 10 years or so.
I wonder if they have had any thought at all about the racing that is not considered good enough to be included in this master plan. I bet RP has, and my guess is that he will be feeling a bit less optimistic for lower grade racing if this lunacy proceeds.
I suppose I should really support the plan as the outcome will certainly be that there will be less racing, there will be tracks closed due to unprofitability for sure. I don’t support the project at all because there is no need to bring in investors who want to take money out, when you could quite easily in a controlled and measured way reduce the number of tracks and days racing in such a way that everyone benefits.