BHB reveals racing 'revolution'

The British Horseracing Board is planning reforms which it believes will revolutionise the sport - with more fixtures, bigger prizes and a boost to attendances.

It has also reached a provisional agreement with the Office of Fair Trading, which had been investigating complaints that the BHB's control of fixtures and data about races stifled competition in the industry.

He has been asked to come forward with evidence and hasn't done so BHB chairman Peter Savill on Chris Bell's allegations of race fixing in the sport

The BHB has responded with its report entitled "The Modernisation of British Racing", and chairman Peter Savill said planned changes would answer all criticisms.

Under the reforms, Britain's racecourses may soon be able to bid against one another for fixtures.

However, Classic races such as the Derby at Epsom, along with the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National, would be protected.

The changes will see an increase in the overall number of fixtures and the abolition of a rule that prevents courses within 50 miles of each other from offering racing on the same date.

Savill told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We are going to announce effectively the biggest revolution in the structure of British racing that there's ever been.

"It will result in more fixtures, more money coming into the sport, more prize money for owners and more people going racing.

"We are making changes that (the OFT) are very attracted by.

"But we have managed to persuade them that a fixture free-for-all would have been detrimental to the sport."

The reforms give British horse racing a more competitive future OFT chairman John Vickers

OFT chairman John Vickers said a provisional agreement had been reached with the BHB that the reforms would satisfy its concerns over competition.

"Greater freedom for courses - old and new - to compete to meet the demands of racegoers, punters and owners should be good for the public and for the sport," he said.

In the report, the BHB said it anticipated that by 2006 income from racecard data will grow from £110m a year to £140m, prize money will grow from £94m a year to £125m, and that annual racecourse attendance will grow from six million to seven million.

The report recommends seven key changes to the structure of the sport:

• the separation of the governance and commercial functions of the BHB;
• the restructuring of the BHB Board;
• changes to the management of racing's commercial interests;
• changes to the method of allocation and distribution of data income;
• the establishment of a prize money agreement between racecourses and the recipients of prize money (owners, trainers, jockeys and stable staff);
• the introduction of greater competition between racecourses for fixtures;
• the modernisation of the Orders & Rules of Racing.

Savill also rejected recent comments by the chief executive of Ladbrokes, Chris Bell, who suggested that at least one race a day in Britain was fixed.

"He has been asked to come forward with evidence and hasn't done so, so I think that says a lot about that comment," Savill said.