Trainers double down on cash demands for interviews
ITV Racing presenters Ed Chamberlin, left, Mick Fitzgerald, centre, and Luke Harvey may not have any trainers to intervew at Sandown next Saturday. Picture: Alan Crowhurst/Getty
Live TV reporters at Sandown this weekend may have some extended gaps to fill after the Professional Racing Association (PRA), a pressure group headed by the former British Horseracing Board chair Peter Savill, said on Monday that it will instruct the 170 trainers on its membership list to boycott pre- and post-race interviews with both ITV Racing and Racing TV unless its demand for a six-figure annual payment for live interviews is met.
Britain’s jockeys have received a collective fee for TV interviews since 2008, with the money being used to subsidise the Professional Jockeys Association’s career-ending insurance scheme.
