ROA chief calls for major fixtures overhaul
Rachel Hood, the new president of the Racehorse Owners' Association, has today called for a drastic overhaul of the fixture list and the creation of three tiers for the sport.
Hood, wife of Newmarket trainer John Gosden, was making her inaugural speech at the ROA's annual general meeting.
Prompted by what she described as a "catastrophic" drop in the Levy, she told the audience of ROA members and racing industry leaders: "We must take matters into our own hands in dealing with problems that are getting worse by the day.
"Our situation demands immediate and radical solutions.
"It demands that the so-called fixture criteria - which has coincided with a catastrophic decline in the Levy - is discontinued.
"It demands we devise a fixture list that is based primarily on the best the sport has to offer, that the Levy is spent almost entirely on sustaining these fixtures and that fixtures which cater for very moderate horses should be financed by the betting industry."
She suggested that jump racing needed only "fine tuning", but that the Flat required radical measures.
Under Hood's plan, so-called 'premier' and 'middle' tier fixtures would have to comply with the prize-money tariffs of the Horsemen's Group, as well as with race planning requirements.
There would be contractual agreements between the racecourses, which would bid for fixtures, and the Horsemen's Group.
Hood said: "For 'third' tier fixtures, racecourses would be able to maximise their attendances by putting on fixtures on any days and times of their choice.
"There would be no restrictions on programming and race type and no prize-money stipulations. Unfettered market forces would prevail within the 'third' tier.
"Such a system would not only protect the unique heritage of British racing, it would enhance it.
"It would preserve the basic structure of the fixture list and allow important punctuation points - the festival meetings - within the racing year to be built upon.
"It would create a perfect climate for the Qipco-sponsored British Champions Series to flourish."
Earlier, outgoing president Paul Dixon announced the ROA would be "exploring all avenues" to challenge the Government's sale of the Tote to Betfred by way of a judicial review.
"The Government owes British racing a massive good turn for the harm it has done in selling the pool betting right to a bookmaker," he said.
"They now have to act quickly to ensure new legislation is passed either to modernise the Levy or replace it with a watertight rights-based scheme."
Dixon is to stay on as an ROA Council member as well as being chairman of the Horsemen's Group and a member of the Levy Board.
