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BHA Chairman Paul Roy offers Fresh Start for Racing
10/01/2007

The British Horseracing Authority's Chairman Paul Roy, making his first public speech since taking up the role, yesterday declared his hope that the new body could offer a fresh start for racing.

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Addressing the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association Annual General Meeting in London, where he was a guest speaker, Roy declared: "I want to make absolutely clear to you today that the BHA is not just a name change and yet another new acronym in racing. It is a genuine fresh start; a ground-breaking new concept in sports administration. It is the most independent governing and regulatory body in British sport. It will be performance-driven, dynamic and responsive, and its decisions will be taken for the greater good, free from sectional interest."

Roy admitted that factionalism within racing politics had previously put him off getting more involved.

He said: "Although a lifelong follower of racing, and an owner and breeder, I'd long been put off and disillusioned by the in-fighting, the politics and the factions. However, I viewed the formation of the BHA, in what is a radical restructuring of governance and regulation, as a tremendous opportunity for the industry to come together as one."

Roy welcomed TBA chairman Philip Freedman's calls for a meeting to discuss integrity in the bloodstock world and he also hoped that increased transparency in racing would heighten the public's confidence.

He said: "On the positive side, the number of races requiring investigation appears to be reducing all the time. This, together with the industry's more transparent, less self-denying response to any negative issues that make headlines in 2007, will build public confidence in our sport.

"The work of the regulator has been made increasingly transparent to both the industry itself and the wider public, through the opening of appeals to the press, to the production of detailed reasons for decisions. The BHA will continue this trend towards enhanced disclosure transparency.

"However, integrity will always begin with individual responsibility. Integrity needs to exist across the whole industry, not just on the racecourse but, as Philip rightly points out, within the bloodstock world. In the financial world, a clear distinction is made and transparency between somebody acting as both a principal and an agent.

"Acting in a dual capacity or taking a fee on both sides of a transaction has to be disclosed. The same rules and levels of disclosure should apply within this industry, and I welcome Philip's suggestion to meet with the TBA to discuss appropriate protection for vendors and buyers alike.

Roy also highlighted the potential to bring more owners and investors into racing as well as announcing that the Stable and Stud Staff Steering Group was set to continue under the BHA.

Peter Webbon, who became chief executive of the Animal Health Trust on January 1, was the other guest speaker at the TBA's AGM and he was set to outline future plans at the Newmarket research centre.