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Jack Anderson: The gathering storm around the future of racing

Who knows whether in 300 years' time we will still be racing at Newmarket or Fairyhouse?

DAMP MOOD: Racegoers shelter from the rain on day two of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby Festival at The Curragh Racecourse in Kildare. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Fri, 22 Aug, 2025 - 06:51

Jack Anderson is a professor of sports law and global expert in governance, and regulation. He advises sporting bodies and contributes widely to public debate – as well as being a Limerick hurling supporter.

Bear with me: today we’ll go from Newmarket; to Tasmania; to an abandoned shed in east Clare. To paraphrase Stephen King; the glory of a good tale is that it “belongs to each reader in its own particular way.” Choose your path with this one.

This year marks the 400th anniversary of the death of one of England’s most influential (I am trying to be diplomatic) Kings, James I: the first of the Stuarts; son of Mary Queen of Scots; cousin of and successor to Elizabeth I. James was apparently well educated but of little wisdom and was both idly rich and richly idle.

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