Savill proposes merger of racing's rulers

British Horseracing Board chairman Peter Savill has moved to remove the grey area which exists between UK racing’s two governing bodies by proposing the merger of their governance and regulatory roles.

Since its inception in 1993 the BHB has existed alongside the Jockey Club, racing’s law-makers for more than 200 years.

But Savill expressed hopes that a new structure to oversee British racing may be in place in as little as 18 months, whilst still incorporating the Jockey Club’s traditional position within the sport.

Savill also revealed that a joint Jockey Club and BHB review of the Club’s existing security function would be set up immediately.

Although Savill denied that such a move was coming directly as a result of Sunday night’s Panorama programme, he did admit that the show had been “a huge embarrassment for racing – and particularly the Jockey Club”.

But he was adamant that what he outlined in a London press conference was not “some kind of power-grab” by the BHB or him personally.

Since early summer, the BHB has been involved in a review of racing as a whole which will make its initial findings this November before more detailed conclusions are reached next April.

“The review will be looking – amongst many other things – at the relationship between the governance, regulation and commercial responsibilities for racing and how they should interface,” Savill said.

“I suspect that the recommendations that emerge will be the same as would have emerged if Panorama had not taken place.

“We currently have, effectively, two Governing Bodies – the BHB and the Jockey Club – whereas all other sports and racing jurisdictions have just one.

“In order to modernise our structure, I believe that we need to merge the governance and regulatory responsibilities of the two governing bodies into one.

“That is not to say that the BHB board will take over regulation. I firmly believe that the regulatory function needs to operate independently, even if under the same umbrella, and it may well be that we also need a greater separation of governance and commercial functions within the BHB.

“How this will be managed will be a matter for the Racing Review Committee to recommend to the BHB Board. It will also be a matter for considerable discussion between the BHB and the Jockey Club over the next few months.

“Christopher Spence (Jockey Club senior steward) and I have already talked about the principles of a way forward but it is far too early to be talking specifics.

“What we have agreed upon is that the most troublesome area of regulation is the security function.

“We have therefore decided to have a joint BHB/Jockey Club review of this area which will begin immediately. We would hope to produce a report by early next year.”

Reflecting upon the Panorama programme, Savill expressed little sadness at the departure from the Jockey Club of security chief Jeremy Phipps and expressed his hope that the BHB could be involved in the search for his successor.

“Jeremy Phipps made some serious errors of judgement to put himself in the position he did, said Savill.

“In my opinion, he should have resigned the day he was interviewed by Panorama – it would have prevented a lot of what has happened since. The incident was poorly-handled with what I feel to have been a considerable degree of naivety in the way the meeting was set up and managed.

“The decision to take a joint look at security was taken by Christopher and I in a lengthy discussion after the Board meeting, and will be subject to the ratification of the Board.

“I don’t know how quickly things will work out but I would hope we would be involved at the very least in some way in the process of replacing a successor.

“I would think it will take 18 months to actually get anything into place - which is almost after I cease to be a chairman in case anyone thinks this is a personal power-grab.”

Savill said he realised that there might be some Jockey Club members reluctant to accept that certain powers might be withdrawn – subject to the recommendations of the Racing Review committee.

“I am sorry to say that any new ideas in racing always face opposition,” he said. “But I think regulation generally must be kept independent from the other functions of a governing body.

“I have spent the last week looking at the security systems in place in other sports and in other racing bodies across the world.

“It might be that we need to look carefully at something like the French system, where all gambling and betting issues are covered by a specialist police department.

“I think that the Government does feel that the Jockey Clubs hands have been tied behind their backs in many ways so the use of police could be an option.

“On the other hand we need to continue to try to persuade the Government to help racing govern itself if that is the way they want us to go forward.”

He paid tribute to the work of the Jockey Club and was again adamant that the Jockey Club – in whatever form – should continue to maintain a pivotal role in the control of the sport.

“The Jockey Club has played a very important part in British racing and has an important future role to play,” Savill concluded.

“There is a level of knowledge and expertise among its personnel which marks it out in many respects.

“They have good resources and good people. To me, it makes sense to use them in the right context and the right structure.”

Spence welcomed the support offered by Savill to the Jockey Club at the briefing and admitted he is eagerly awaiting the findings of the BHB Review.

He said: “As senior steward of the Jockey Club, I have been encouraged by the support our regulatory work and record has been given by the racing industry in the last week.

“I very much welcome the BHB Board’s support and its recognition that the whole industry has a part to play in upholding the integrity of racing.

“After the BHB Board meeting on Thursday, Peter Savill outlined his personal views to me and I shall be interested to see what emerges from the BHB’s Racing Review over the coming months.

“During my conversation, I confirmed that the Jockey Club has no objection to having any part of its work subjected to close scrutiny. I now await Peter Savill’s detailed proposals for a joint review of our security function which will then be discussed by the Jockey Club’s Regulatory Committee,” Spence added.

John McCririck, Channel 4 racing pundit, does not believe it would be in the interests of the sport for the British Horseracing Board to take sole command.

He said: “This is just part of the warfare that has so divided racing over the last 10 years.

“The BHB, secretly, have been delighted at the discomfiture and embarrassment brought upon the Jockey Club.

“They have made no secret that they wish to take over all aspects of racing but hopefully the OFT would object to that but the very thought that the cabal of owners and breeders that now run the BHB could be in sole charge is appalling for consumers of racing.

“The Jockey Club has to change but we can’t have the BHB in sole charge. It would be against the interests of consumers and lovers of racing.”