Transparency Pledge from Jockey Club as it Boosts Prize-Money to £60.1m

The Jockey Club has pledged to extend its “commitment to openness” in sharing  figures relating to media rights payments to each of its 15 racecourses and other revenues.

The news came on the back of an announcement of increased prize-money of £60.1 million across the 334 fixtures due to be staged by the Jockey Club in 2024. Of that, £31.8 million will come from Jockey Club funds, referred to as “executive contribution”, representing a 66.5% increase across the last decade.

In 2023, the Jockey Club's executive contribution was projected to be £31.1 million with total prize-money of £59 million for 342 scheduled fixtures, subject to abandonments.

As well as prize-money, a total of £11.7 million has been included in the budget for the next 12 months for the upgrading of facilities. 

.”It's really important to us at The Jockey Club to continue to be transparent in sharing details of our business performance with industry participants and stakeholders,” said the Jockey Club's chief executive Nevin Truesdale in announcing the intention to share financial information with the Thoroughbred Group, which represents breeders, owners, trainers, stable staff and jockeys.

“By agreeing to extend this commitment to provide the Thoroughbred Group with more information around our revenues and costs, we are seeking to drive critical industry collaboration to work together to grow the sport, while also providing a clearer picture of the challenges we face as a racecourse operator.”

He added, “Given the unprecedented financial headwinds the horseracing industry is currently facing, we are pleased to be able to announce today that the Jockey Club's executive contribution to prize-money will be increased to £31.8 million in 2024, taking our overall prize-money past the £60 million mark for the first time.

“Our mission is to power racing's future and to ensure that our sport thrives for generations to come. That would not be possible without our participants and all those whose jobs not only help British racing prosper but rely on the industry.

“So, while we continue to take important steps to improve our business efficiency in the face of significant and unprecedented economic challenges, there is also an ongoing focus on investing across our estate and in participants, which includes a commitment to prize money. This has led us to some very difficult decisions in our financial planning for 2024 and we are pleased to be able to deliver an increase in prize-money investment in these very challenging circumstances.”

The Jockey Club's attempts to improve communication regarding its business decisions with the wider industry includes having conducted 39 “transparency meetings” in the last two and a half years with 120 individuals, including owners and trainers. This stance was welcomed by the chair of the Thoroughbred Group, Julian Richmond-Watson, and also by Paul Johnson, chief executive of the National Trainers' Federation.

Johnson said, “The announcement from the Jockey Club is most welcome on two fronts. Firstly, amid concerns that the sport's financial headwinds could see prize-money fall from 2023 levels, it is very positive to see that the Jockey Club has been able to deliver an increase. Secondly, and looking further forwards, we are delighted to be able to have agreed on a commitment to greater transparency over finances. We believe that this is an enormously important step in being able to agree commercial partnerships with racecourses, something that we see as a foundation stone for working together to improve the sport's future.”

 

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Striving to Illuminate the Path to Transparency, Light Up Racing Launched

'Light Up Racing', an initiative led by a group of industry participants, striving to illuminate the path to transparency, awareness, and accountability in horse racing, has been launched, according to a press release.

Light Up is spearheaded by a group of industry participants, including Price Bell, Roderick Wachman, Jason Litt, and Dr. Jeff Berk. Kick Collective, the marketing agency behind the Australian-based initiative Kick Up for Racing, is driving the marketing and communications.

“We have been inspired by the impactful work of Kick Up in Australia and believe we have a similar opportunity in the US,” said Price Bell, one of the founding directors of Light Up.

“Kick Up informs the public conversation about horse racing in Australia through grassroots education and engagement. Fundamental to its success is using data and factual information to provide transparency, and accessibility to our horses. This has created a culture of accountability to the horse. We believe we have similar opportunity, to support and inspire the collective voice of our industry participants.”

Established in 2022, Kick Up has quickly become a valuable resource for the Australian racing industry with content focused on addressing the common concerns surrounding horse racing. In addition to a digital presence via its website and social channels, Kick Up has fostered a community who are empowered to address misinformation about horse racing and share positive stories to their networks.

Vin Cox, Managing Director of Godolphin Australia and a Director of the Victorian Racing Club who host the iconic Melbourne Cup at Flemington, said:

“The anti-racing groups are well-funded, well-organized, and have been allowed to shape the public narrative of our industry, unopposed. Kick Up stepped in and empowered and emboldened racing supporters by providing fact-based articles that correct the misinformation being propagated by the anti-racing community.

“The social capital surrounding the Melbourne Cup carnival is now at its strongest in many years, and although anecdotal, I firmly believe that the work done by the Kick Up team has had a hugely significant impact.”

In a similar theme, the primary objective of Light Up is to empower the industry community with accurate knowledge by providing transparent information and distilled research.

Every industry issue Light Up will challenge is guided by a fundamental question: “What is in the best interest of the horse?”

Dr. JR Coffman, a past President of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, captured this sentiment when he wrote, “whenever a question is answered based upon the welfare of the horse, the human principles involved are also best served in the long run. We are here for the horse; to the extent that we are responsive to that concept, we will prosper both as individuals and as an organization.”

Light Up is committed to dismantling the wall of secrecy that often surrounds the industry, empowering participants with the knowledge and confidence to engage in meaningful conversations with the concerned public and external media, and most importantly, provide the information needed to make informed decisions that prioritize equine safety.

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KHRC Aims to Rewrite Transparency Regulations

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) is on the cusp of approving rewritten rules aimed at increasing transparency. The major changes include lifting prohibitions on the public disclosure of alleged violations, new guidelines that establish a 60-day time frame for holding hearings, and the opening of those hearings to anyone who wants to observe them.

Tweaks to the equine drug-testing process are also in the pipeline. They include a requirement for owners and trainers to select an approved lab for split-sample testing within five days of being provided with the list of accredited facilities, and for the KHRC to send off the sample within seven days instead of “as expeditiously as possible.”

The KHRC's rules committee approved all of these proposed changes by unanimous voice vote during its Tuesday meeting. The full KHRC board will vote on adopting them at its Apr. 26 meeting.

Although no one on the committee during the Apr. 19 meeting mentioned Medina Spirit's betamethasone positive and his owner and trainer's under-appeal disqualification from the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby, the KHRC's widely criticized cryptic handling of that controversial, drawn-out case over the last year was the obvious catalyst for proposing the changes.

“Our frustration has clearly come from, you know, we have certain cases that take long periods of time,” said KHRC member and rules committee chairman Mark Simendinger. “Nobody [in the public] knows what's going on. We're not allowed to say what's going on. And so we want to be able to communicate that out.”

Or, as Jennifer Wolsing, the KHRC's general counsel, put it, “[I]n keeping with recent developments encouraging more transparency–especially in the communication of medication violations, but also routine riding offenses–we thought that it would be very reasonable to allow the commission to publicly disclose information regarding an alleged regulatory violation, if and only if such information would not unduly impact an investigation.”

Back on Feb. 15, when KHRC chairman Jonathan Rabinowitz obliquely referred to the Medina Spirit scandal for the first time at an open, public meeting, he vowed that it was “of the utmost importance to this commission” to change the board's long-standing restrictions on disclosure.

But still, several clauses written into the rule proposals would continue to allow for at least some discretionary KHRC lip-buttoning and extending hearing timelines.

For example, the amendments within the public disclosure section repeatedly state that the commission or its executive director “may” publicly disclose information. That's different from stating that the KHRC is required to make such disclosures.

And pertaining to the 60-day requirement for holding hearings, the proposed rules state that the stewards may indefinitely extend the deadline “in their sole discretion, upon demonstration of exigent circumstances.”

In addition, although stewards' hearings will now be considered “open” if the full KHRC board approves the rule changes, there aren't any new guidelines within the amendments about how the public or journalists will know those hearings are going to occur.

Simendinger acknowledged and addressed that public-notice aspect of the hearings prior to Tuesday's vote, explaining that the KHRC needed to strike a balance between disclosure and practicality.

Simendinger gave the example of stewards sometimes needing to meet with alleged violators on the fly, like if a riding infraction occurred in a major stakes and the jockey had to leave town right after the race and wouldn't be able to attend the next day's film reviews.

“We don't want to get into a position where, in the quest for being open and transparent, that we make it so that our people can't conduct normal, routine business that we need to do on a daily basis,” Simendinger said.

“But the flip side of that is we want all of this stuff to be open. So the [hearing] is 'open.' Anybody, they hear about it, they want to come in, they can come in,” Simendinger said. “But it's not going to meet the definition of an 'open meeting' where we have to provide 24-hours' notice [as defined] in the statute.”

KHRC commissioner Bill Landes III postulated a devil's advocate type of question: What if the alleged violator didn't want the hearing to be open to the public?

Wolsing was quick with an answer.

“If that were to happen, I would suggest that the stewards would need to call legal [counsel] and we would talk about why the person wanted the meeting to be closed,” Wolsing said. “If they had a reasonable reason for requiring the meeting to be closed, fair enough. But the way we have it [proposed] right now states that a stewards' meeting 'shall be open.' So that means they would have to cite some sort of statute that says…the stewards' hearing [can legally] be closed.”

Highlights of the rule amendments related to disclosure follow:

“The commission or its executive director may publicly disclose information regarding an alleged violation if such information will not unduly impact any investigation.

“After notice to the racing participant, the commission or its executive director may publicly disclose the identity of any racing participant who is accused of an alleged regulatory violation and the identity of the horse at issue.

“After commission and racing participant receive testing results pursuant to [KHRC rules], the commission or its executive director may publicly disclose the alleged conduct or the alleged amount and type of the medication, drug, or substance that gave rise to the alleged regulatory violation; or

“At any time, the commission or its executive director may publicly disclose the date of an upcoming stewards' hearing; or

“At any time, the commission or its executive director may publicly disclose other information as deemed appropriate.

“Situations giving rise to the disclosure of information by the commission or its executive director may include the following: a) Information pertaining to an alleged regulatory violation has been previously publicly disclosed by the racing participant; b) In the case of an alleged medication violation, if the commission's laboratory has returned a positive finding and the racing participant has been notified of the results of split sample pursuant to [KHRC rules]; c) In the case of a medication violation, if the commission's laboratory has returned a positive finding and the racing participant has not exercised his or her right to further laboratory testing; or d) For other reasons in the best interests of racing.”

A summary of proposed changes related to hearings follows:

“A stewards' or judge's hearing, as applicable, shall be conducted by a state steward or a state judge unless waived in writing by the party charged with the violation.

“A stewards' or judges' hearing shall be conducted no more than sixty (60) days after either: a) the racing participant is notified of an alleged violation, or b) if the racing participant requests split laboratory results, the date on which the participant receives those results…

“Stewards' and judges' hearings shall be open. Nothing in this section limits the authority of the presiding stewards or judges to order closure of a hearing or to make other protective orders to the extent necessary or proper to satisfy the United States Constitution, the Kentucky Constitution, federal or state statute, or other law, such as laws protecting privileged, confidential, or other protected information.”

(The current version of the rule states that “Stewards' and judges' hearings shall be closed, and the stewards and judges shall make no public announcement concerning a matter under investigation until the conclusion of the hearing.”)

Regarding split sample testing, the full KHRC board will vote on the following new language:

“The party requesting the split sample shall select a laboratory solicited and approved by the commission to perform the analysis within five days after he or she is notified of the split sample laboratories available to test the split sample. If a trainer does not select a laboratory within five days after notification of the available split laboratories, then he or she shall be deemed to have waived the right to split sample analysis. A split sample so requested shall be shipped within seven days of the date that the trainer provides his or her laboratory selection to the stewards.

“Failure of the owner, trainer, or a designee to appear at the time and place designated by the commission veterinarian in connection with securing, maintaining, or shipping the split sample shall constitute a waiver of any right to be present during the packaging and shipping of the split sample.” (The current version of the rule states that if the person doesn't show up, they will waive the right to be present during “split sample testing procedures.”)

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‘Let’s Make This World A Lot More Transparent’: French Trainer Calls For A Change

The racing industry in France is regulated by five or six different ministries, trainer Anne-Marie Poirier told Thoroughbred Racing Commentary. She believes that having fewer people in charge would eliminate many of the communication flaws that exist in the current system. 

Asked about the biggest challenges facing the French racing industry, Poirier replied: “Give the racing industry a clean image so there are no more scandals, suspicious owners, doping issues.”

“Let's make this world a lot more transparent, opening up to the public,” Poirier said. “And the penalties, if necessary, should be related to the size of the problem – same problem, same punishment (no matter the 'client').”

Read more at Thoroughbred Racing Commentary.

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