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Horse Welfare Board Appoints New Trio

Mike Etherington-Smith, Helena Flynn and Stephen Wensley were all appointed to the Horse Welfare Board, the HWB announced on Wednesday. The trio, whose roles will be funded by the Racing Foundation, will work across racing to coordinate the implementation of the Horse Welfare Strategy and will be accountable to Barry Johnson, the HWB's independent chair. Racing Foundation CEO Rob Hezel was directly involved in the recruitment process.

Etherington-Smith, who has designed multiple Olympic event courses, will be the Equine Safety Advisor. Helena Flynn has been named Programme Director and Stephen Wensley is the new Welfare Data Projects Lead. They will work closely with Claire Cuff who began in February as the Head of Welfare Communications, whose post is funded by the Horserace Betting Levy Board.

Barry Johnson, the HWB's Independent Chair, said, “We are enormously excited and encouraged by the formation of this impressive team. Not only are their skills and experience truly world class, they have also demonstrated a strong ability to work collaboratively. This was essential, as we wanted a team who would support racing and its people to fulfil our collective ambitions in relation to horse welfare.

“Helena Flynn has worked at a high level in some major global businesses and this experience, combined with her deep passion for horses and racing, gives us great confidence that she will be a real asset to racing and will help to drive the Horse Welfare Programme forward over the coming months.

“Mike Etherington-Smith is a world leader in the field of equine risk management and will not only share his formidable experience and knowledge with racing, but also to learn from the equine understanding and expertise that exists across the sport. We are delighted to have someone of Mike's calibre working with us.

“Stephen Wensley impressed us with his deep understanding of data projects and his strong project management experience. We felt he could help us ensure that racing has a clear programme of effective welfare data projects, which can be used by the whole industry to build understanding and drive improvements.”

More information on the appointees and their role with the HWB can be found here.

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2020/21 Levy Yield of £80 Million Announced By HBLB

Approximately £80 million will be the Levy income for the year that ended on Mar. 31, 2021, the Horserace Betting Levy Board announced on Monday. The figure is a result of provisional submissions to date from most Levy-paying bookmakers. Originally, as the COVID-19 pandemic progressed in the UK, the HBLB had estimated a Levy return between £76-£85 million. Racing in the UK was halted from mid-March until June 1, 2020.

HBLB Chairman Paul Darling commented, “There was no British racing for the first two months of the Levy year and it was far from certain when racing resumed in June 2020 as to what the level of betting activity would be in the months that followed. We have also seen Licensed Betting Offices either closed completely for parts of the year or open with restrictions.

“Since June, we have attempted to balance on the one hand our desire to commit substantial extra support for the sport from our reserves with, on the other hand, the uncertainty around our own ongoing future income.

“We spent £96m in the past Levy year, providing around 50% more to prize money than normal in recent months, as well as £3m towards costs of new regulatory measures to ensure that the sport can take place in accordance with COVID-19 protocols. It is to the credit of all those involved that fixtures have taken place without interruption since June.

“On the basis of £80m income, our reserves at the end of the 2020/21 Levy year stood at just over £40m. This will give us the flexibility to consider further significant investment in the months ahead, as the Board has had in mind the importance of having sufficient resources for the recovery phase from Covid-19.”

The British Horseracing Authority welcomed the news, and BHA Executive Director Will Lambe said in a statement, “Today's news shows how racing continues to provide great excitement and entertainment to the public and is a fun and responsible way to enjoy betting.

“It's a credit to the commitment and passion of all our participants and to the great stories that racing generates through our jockeys, trainers, owners and the staff who look after our horses.

“We thank all the media who have brought these stories to the British public over the last 12 months, including our racing channels and ITV sport.

“We thank the Horserace Betting Levy Board for the work it has done over the past year to support racing through this crisis, increasing its expenditure so that prize money levels could be maintained wherever possible, and providing additional funding to racecourses.

“We also thank our colleagues in the betting industry who do so much to promote racing to their customers. These results demonstrate the potential for growing the public's engagement in racing, the benefits this can bring to the tens of thousands of people employed in both our industries and to the country as whole, especially in rural economies.

“As British racing battles to recover from the financial impact of COVID, this is an encouraging moment as we strive to achieve better funding for our world-class industry, including a fair and sustainable Levy.”

Currently the British Horseracing Authority and its industry partners are developing proposals to put to the HBLB for using the £21 million of loan funding from the UK Government. An agreement on prize money from June 1 and after is now expected to be hammered out by the end of May. In addition, industry executives will be examining the detailed figures for betting on racing over the past year as part of the work towards longer-term reform of the Levy and addressing the challenges faced by British racing, particularly with regard to its international competitiveness.

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HBLB Will Contribute to Jockeys’ Insurance for Another Six Months

A financial contribution has been agreed upon by the Levy to ensure the continuation of the career-ending insurance scheme for jockeys for another six months, the Horserace Betting Levy Board announced on Wednesday. The grant, which will total up to £80,000 max, will be combined with funding provided by the Professional Jockeys’ Association (PJA), as the PJA continues to search for a sponsor in the long term.

“This scheme has been in place for almost 10 years, paid for by commercial sponsorship and contributions from jockeys,” said HBLB Chairman Paul Darling. “It provided a critical safety net for jockeys, for whom the risk of serious injury is part of everyday normality. I and others at the Levy Board were deeply concerned when the scheme had to lapse at the end of November after the PJA had been unable to find a new sponsor in the current economic climate or other funding from within Racing. The HBLB has stepped in to ensure that the scheme is immediately reinstated.

“I stress that this is a one-off contribution. We will now keep a close liaison with the PJA as it looks to find a new sponsor. It is essential that fresh funding is found to continue this scheme and I am sure that Racing organisations will play an active part in ensuring that the scheme is continued.”

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14 Additional Fixtures Added to UK Calendar

There will be 14 additional fixtures added to the UK racing calendar following approval by the Board of the British Horseracing Authority. The proposal was submitted by the Racecourse Association (RCA) which has the full support of the Horsemen’s Group (HB). The fixtures have been added to shore up racecourse finances, as well as generate a positive return for the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB). The 14 fixtures are as follows:

Flat Fixtures:

15/11/20 Southwell – Afternoon
22/11/20 Wolverhampton – Afternoon
23/11/20 Chelmsford City – Floodlit
24/11/20 Lingfield Park – Afternoon
30/11/20 Kempton Park – Afternoon
01/12/20 Newcastle – Afternoon
06/12/20 Southwell – Afternoon
07/12/20 Chelmsford City – Afternoon
08/12/20 Wolverhampton – Afternoon
13/12/20 Lingfield Park – Afternoon
14/12/20 Kempton Park – Floodlit
15/12/20 Newcastle – Afternoon

Jump Fixtures:

29/11/20 Ffos Las
20/12/20 Bangor-on-Dee

“These additional fixtures will give some relief in the most challenging of times to the racecourses that are staging them and to the horsemen who have additional opportunities to race,” said RCA Chief Executive David Armstrong. “This is an excellent example of the industry working together for the common good and we are grateful to the Levy Board for its support.”

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