EMHF UPDATE - What’s been going on at The European Mediterranean Horseracing Federation - Dr Paull Khan reports on a busy end of year schedule
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By Dr Paull Khan
WINDSOR AND CHELTENHAM: EMHF EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING
Britain had never before hosted a meeting of the EMHF’s Executive Council. We try to move this annual event around, between as many member countries as possible, so as to further our education of the sport in our region and give the host country a chance to showcase its racing. We have had some memorable racing experiences to accompany our reunions in recent years, including the fearsome fences of Pardubice; the quirky charms of the Grand Steeplechase des Flandres; and the glorious ocean views of Jersey’s Les Landes racecourse. So the pressure was certainly on the British Horseracing Authority to provide an occasion befitting one of Europe’s major racing nations. They did not disappoint, although the British weather all but conspired to ruin the party. The Saturday of Cheltenham’s November Meeting always serves up some of the best jump racing outside the festival itself, and for several of our number, it was the first visit to jump racing’s beating heart. The management of Cheltenham were extraordinarily generous, receiving us all in its Royal Box.
The following day, it was time to do some business, and the spookily imposing Oakley Court Hotel in Windsor, on the banks of the River Thames, provided our base. For fans of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, this was Dr Frank N. Furter’s castle and was also a star of over 200 films including The Brides of Dracula and The Plague of the Zombies. A fitting venue, then, for our nine-strong Executive Council.
Our constitution dictates that representatives of France, Ireland and Great Britain, (as the three EuroMed countries with the largest-scale racing industries), have permanent seats on the ‘Executive Council’ (ExCo). In addition, at least one will always represent the Mediterranean countries, and another the non-European Union countries. This year, we re-elected our chairperson, Brian Kavanagh, also CEO of Horse Racing Ireland, who has held the role since the EMHF’s inception, in 2010. Omar Skalli, CEO of the racing authority of Morocco, was also re-elected as one of our three vice-chairs.
One of the seats on the ExCo of our parent body, the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), is reserved for the EMHF, to represent our ‘smaller’ racing nations. We agreed to repeat the nomination of Rudiger Schmanns, experienced racing director at Germany’s Direktorium.
Very sadly, we said farewell to both Austria and Libya. The continued political upheaval in Libya is well known to us all, and Austria’s thoroughbred racing activity has regrettably shrunk to such an extent that its Direktorium felt unable to continue as members. We hope very much that they will feel able to return one day.
On the positive side, there has been a flurry of interest in joining the EMHF, with Bulgaria, Romania and Russia all expressing an interest. A process of inspection precedes the accession of any new racing authority, and this will take place in these three countries over forthcoming months.
A key role of EMHF is to keep our members abreast of changes to the International Agreement on Breeding, Racing and Wagering (International Agreement). There have been more changes than ever this year, and the key ones were explained. We also discussed the prospects of more EuroMed countries being able, in future, to stage Black Type races.
We wanted to take advantage of being in Britain by arranging for presentations to be made covering some areas in which British racing has chosen to place more resources than have other racing authorities. One such are the efforts being made to increase the degree of diversity to be found within the sport. Rose Grissell, recently appointed as Head of Diversity and Inclusion in British Racing, described the work that she and the BHA’s Diversity in Racing Steering Group are engaged in. Tallulah Lewis then explained the role and aims of Women in Racing—the organisation of which she is the new chair. The second British ‘specialty’ we chose was the work done at the BHA on analysing betting patterns. Chris Watts, Head of Integrity at the BHA, presented on his team’s work identifying suspicious activity, thereby upholding the integrity of the racing and fending off race-fixing attempts.
ROME: INSPECTION VISIT, ITALIAN MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE
Not many racing authorities have their headquarters in a palace. The governing body for horse racing in Italy is the country’s Ministry of Agriculture (MIPAAFT), whose offices are situated in the magnificent Palazzo dell'Agricoltura, a building replete with paintings, frescos adorning ceilings and walls, wrought-iron decorations and stained-glass windows. It also houses a world-renowned library of all things agricultural.
In January 2019, the European Pattern Committee (EPC) announced that, in view of various ongoing concerns relating to the administration of racing in Italy, not least MIPAAFT’s record of prize money payment, the country would no longer be a full member of the Committee, but would become an associate member and be subject to monitoring. That process has now begun, and this was the first of three planned visits which I shall make by way of an inspection programme, likely to conclude in the summer. The inspection is not restricted in its scope to race planning matters and is therefore being undertaken under the EMHF’s auspices. Additionally, it is evidence of the EPC working ‘with Italy to try to progress matters as quickly as possible such that Italy will hopefully become a full member of the EPC again in the near future’.
