News from the European Mediterranean Horseracing Federation 2019 General Assembly

By Paull Khan, PhD.

To many, Norway is the land of the midnight sun or that of the Northern Lights. But to the race-fan, these meteorological mysteries are incidental—Norway is, first and foremost, home to that enigma, the Whip-less Race.

This year, the EMHF’s General Assembly ‘roadshow’ returned to Scandinavia, where the Norwegian Jockey Club hosted our meeting at the country’s sole thoroughbred racetrack, Ovrevoll, after which delegates were privileged to experience the joyous and colourful processions of Norway’s Constitution Day and also witness firsthand the running of a full card without crops—of which more later.

Our meeting broke fresh ground in a number of ways. For the first time, the press was represented, and a number of commercial enterprises (Flair - manufacturers of Nasal Strips, RASLAB - international distributors of racing data and rights, and Equine Medirecord, who supply veterinary compliance software) joined the social programme and mingled with the administrators. The number of presentations was also increased, from which it was made apparent to everyone, if we did not know it before, that the range of threats we face as a sport is diverse indeed. 

Illegal Betting

Amongst these threats is one which to date has had far greater impact in Asia, but whose tentacles are increasingly taking Europe into their grasp. The enemy is illegal betting, on which Brant Dunshea, Chief Regulatory Officer of British Horseracing Authority, gave a presentation. Recently co-opted to bring a European perspective to a task-force set up by the EMHF’s equivalent in Asia—the Asian Racing Federation—Dunshea was shocked at the sheer size of the problem.

Defining ‘illegal betting’ as including betting which takes place in an unregulated environment, (e.g., an off-shore operation which was contributing nothing to the sport and was under the regulatory control of neither government nor racing authority), he presented figures which showed that illegal betting in six Asian countries—predominantly using the betting exchange model—was vast in scale; was increasing faster than its legal equivalent; was funding criminal activities including through money laundering; attracted disproportionately higher rates of problem gambling; was poorly understood by governments and racing authorities and was presenting new challenges for regulators in relation to dealing with race corruption. A decrease in the number of suspicious betting investigations on British betting exchanges had been experienced. It now seemed likely that some of this activity had simply shifted to the illegal and unregulated markets.

This is an issue that Europe cannot afford to ignore. The British Horseracing Authority has committed to replicate the Asian research which will seek to quantify the scale of betting on British racing across illegal and unregulated platforms; and Dunshea took the opportunity to seek other volunteers from other EMHF countries to join in this effort. The task-force aims to produce a plan of best practice to identify and tackle this problem for the use of racing authorities.

Liv Kristiansen, Racing Director of the Norwegian Jockey Club, has been elected to the EMHF's Executive Council.

Dunshea pointed to the salutary conclusion that increasing regulation and taxation of the legal market was not necessarily the answer to the problem and risked the unintended consequence of causing punters to migrate to illegal markets, with their lower margins and (for many countries) a wider and more attractive range of available betting options. Key in the battle will be to engage governments in this discussion, ensure their understanding of the scale of the problem and the interconnectivity between policies in regard to legal betting and the propensity to bet through illegal channels, and try to find a balanced tax burden, alongside sufficient laws and law enforcement effort, to snuff out this noxious menace.

Gene Doping

Gene doping is no longer something from the realms of science fiction but is practiced today. Simon Cooper, co-chair of the European and African Stud Book Committee explained: “DNA can be inserted, substituted, deleted any number of ways—a bit like cut-and-paste on your computer. Gene editing kits can be bought on the internet”. He gave a salutary example of its potential effects. “Mice normally will run for about 800 metres before they’ve had enough. After some mice were injected, in an experiment in Australia, with the stamina protein PEPCK, and genetically manipulated, they ran six kilometres”. The potential to inflict great damage on the sport of horseracing is obvious, and we should be grateful that the state of vigilance among the international racing and breeding authorities is high, with excellent work particularly being carried out in Japan as well as Australia. There is no evidence of nefarious gene doping of racehorses to date—and indeed no belief that it has—but part of the problem is that we cannot say unequivocally that it has not happened, because there is as yet no test to determine whether or not a horse has been subjected to this technique. This is the main focus of research, which will, if and once successful, be made available to Stud Books, as gatekeepers of the breed and racing authorities around the world. “Once DNA is changed, those changes are passed on”, added Cooper, so the more time that passes before detection, the greater the problem. Prevention, rather than retrospective identification, must therefore be the aim. It is believed that the most likely point at which genetic engineering would be carried out on a horse would be between conception and birth. A takeaway message from Cooper was that the racing world should shout loudly and clearly that its authorities have anticipated, and are prepared for, gene doping. Making those who would seek to cheat aware of this fact should, in and of itself, dissuade them from so doing and thereby reduce the risks of this nightmare ever becoming a reality. 

Jockeys’ Mental Health…

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Racetrack birth and re-birth

BIRTH AND RE-BIRTH

WHEN IT COMES TO THE REGION’S RACECOURSES, IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT CLOSURES.

By Dr. Paull Khan

We are all familiar with the sad photographs of racecourses of the past: long-closed, on sites where little evidence remains of the horseracing that once took place there. We have come to accept the gradual closure of tracks, for development, maybe, as a sombre fact of life. But, just occasionally, we find evidence of the reverse, and in this issue we look at some examples of racetrack renewal and rebirth in our region.

WAREGEM, BELGIUM

Waregem, a pristine town of less than 40,000 people, between Ghent and Lille, has for over 150 years been well known for its Grote Steeple-chase van Vlaanderen (Great Steeplechase of Flanders). But since last May, the turf track, previously used but once a year, has started to stage flat races. Marcel de Bruyne, Director of the Belgian Gallop Federation, explains:

Flat Racing comes to Waregem.

“Flat racing at Waregem followed the creation of a new racing society, Waregem Draaft—which had previously been organising solely trotting races—and contact between its president, Lieven Lannoo and the Belgian Gallop federation”.

The success of mixed meetings at Ostend (albeit, there a combination of gallop and trotting) had been noticed, with a positive impact on both betting and attendance. It was also recognised that a number of thoroughbred owners lived in the Waregem region. And here was a turf track of some 1,330 metres circumference, idle for 364 days a year.

In 2019, there will be five meetings staging between them 15 flat thoroughbred races, all open to foreign-trained runners. Typical prize money will be €3,200-€4,750, and distances range from 900 to 2,700 metres. The flat programme culminates in a €16,000 race over the maximum distance, on the same day as the Grand Steeplechase. (To be eligible for this, though, horses must qualify through their performance in qualifying races at Waregem, Mons and Ostend).

Is it proving successful? De Bruyne again: “Yes. Turf races are a welcome variation in May and July (at Mons, there is just the all-weather track). Field sizes have been healthy, at an average of nine. The management of flat racing at Waregem asked to organise more flat races this year, raised the prize money and initiated the big race. That says it all, doesn’t it?!”

MARRAKECH, MOROCCO

Marrakech racecourse; international standard racing for Morocco's 'city of entertainment'.

Marrakech Racecourse is the ‘new kid on the block’ in Moroccan racing, being less than two years in operation. It is the furthest inland of Morocco’s seven racetracks and the furthest from its neighbours.

Omar Skalli, Director General of Morocco’s racing authority, SOREC (Société Royale d’Encouragement du Cheval), gives the background regarding the decision to build Marrakech Racecourse:

“Before the construction of Marrakech racecourse, horse races were already organized in this area but not according to international standards. We noticed that there was an important concentration of owners in the region, with the necessity to build a modern racecourse to develop the level of races there.

“Moreover, Marrakech is the city of entertainment in Morocco and a main touristic destination. The choice of this city to host a new racecourse came quite naturally.

“From a technical point of view, this new racecourse can already be considered as a success. It fulfils the high level of requirements of jockeys, trainers and owners. International races are already organized there. It currently hosts a race day per week from February to June and from September to December.

“Even though the racetrack is not located in the heart of Marrakech, it is situated in a populated area. People from the neighbourhood come to watch the races with friends or family. It became for them a good place for entertainment on Sundays. We are working to provide more facilities, services and entertainment for the general public”.

Marrakech, as with all Moroccan tracks, is dirt, but the possibility of building a turf track in the future, if demand warrants, is under consideration. For the moment, only Arabian and Arabian-Barb races are staged at Marrakech, but there are plans to introduce thoroughbred races here in the future. Morocco’s policy, in respect of allowing foreign-trained competition, could be said to be ‘semi-open’—four races on the typical Marrakech card are open in this sense, and it is planned to increase this number. Prize money reaches some €36K for the richest race.

Morocco’s racing industry continues to thrive, and SOREC remains in expansionist mode.

“Rabat racecourse is currently in reconstruction and should be reopened in two or three years”, adds Skalli. “And within the five to ten next years, we are considering building another racecourse”.

ANTALYA, TURKEY

Kocaeli Kartepe, the most recent of Turkey’s nine racecourses, was opened some five years ago, and already work is well underway on the nation’s tenth. It had, in fact, been hoped that Antalya racecourse would have been operational this year, but bad weather has delayed its launch.

The driver for new courses in Turkey is simple: the number of racehorses is increasing and there is a concomitant need for venues at which they may both compete and be trained. Sadettin Atig, Secretary-General of the Turkish Jockey Club’s Executive Board, explains: “There is no system of ‘training centres’ in Turkey—as there is in much of Europe—and so racecourses are needed to provide both stabling and the opportunity for on-track training”.

Kocaeli Kartepe Racecourse is now regarded as Istanbul’s second racetrack, after Veliefendi, since it is but one hour away. Atig again: “Kocaeli Racecourse has a very strategic location. It is both very close to Istanbul and also to İzmit—the breeding centre of Turkey—providing easy access to the breeders and farms around that area”.

Kocaeli - Istanbul's 'second racecourse'. Antalya will be larger still.

Kocaeli provides year-round racing on its 1,600 metre, left-hand silica sand track. There is capacity for nearly 500 horses in the stable area, and the track is paying its way as far as betting contribution goes, accounting for 10% of the country’s overall handle.

All of which bodes well for Antalya Racecourse, which will be larger yet than Kocaeli in terms of capacity, track dimensions and facilities. Antalya is the last major region in the country yet to boast a racecourse. Turkey being the size it is, the course’s catchment area will be substantial. It will be the only racing venue between Izmir (500 km to the northwest) and Adana (600 km east) and will be the nearest for most of the hordes of tourists who descend on Turkey’s seaside resorts. It is situated half an hour north of Antalya—the most populous city on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.

There will be two tracks: one synthetic and one silica sand (mixed with fibre and stabiliser). Seven meetings of seven races, split roughly equally between thoroughbreds and purebred Arabians, had been planned for this year. Stabling will comprise 240 boxes initially but with an ultimate capacity of nearly 1,200.

Sadly, however, in keeping with Turkey’s overall racing programme, there will initially be no races at either Kocaeli or Antalya open to foreign-trained competition, although the staging of international races will be considered for the future.

MALMO, SWEDEN

Ironically, the ‘new’ racecourse potentially of most interest to European thoroughbred trainers is in fact a replacement. Jagersro Racecourse, outside Malmo in Sweden’s southernmost Skane region, will soon stage gallop racing no more. Like so many, it has become a victim of its charmed location. When it was built, in 1908, it was in the countryside. However, with Malmo’s growing population, so grew its attractiveness to developers. Trotting, which has no need of on-track stabling, has found a suitable venue to continue at Jagersro, just 1,000 metres from the old track. But thoroughbred racing is venturing into pastures new. To Bara, to be precise, some 10 kilometres further out of Malmo.

Jagersro - the Swedish Derby will soon have a new home.

One substantial plus would be the introduction of racing on turf. From its inception until 1979, Jagersro had been a woodchip track and, for the past three decades, an American-style dirt track. At Bara, it is planned to have both a turf outer track and a dirt inner track.

“The new Bara location, 15 minutes from Malmö, was chosen from a number of alternatives”, says Bo Gillborg, project manager for the Bara track, who, for many years was associated with Jagersro. “It is very close to Malmö, neighbouring the PGA National Golf Club and, in the future, a 170-room spa and conference hotel. The local authority—the town of Svedala—has been very positive. It was not only attractive for a racecourse, but the land is big enough to accommodate 300 horses in first-class training facilities.

“The actual planning is now in a very intense part of the process. To plan and design the racecourse, Swedish Racing has engaged world-renowned English company Turnberry to take a very active part. During spring 2019 most plans will be finalised. All functions will be designed to cater for high-class racing, including the facilities for horsemen and jockeys and a special focus on giving owners an exceptional experience. The highlight of the racing season will of course be the Swedish Derby. To have it back on the turf for the first time since 1979 will of course make some “turfists” extremely happy”.

The project is not yet assured. It must first overcome issues surrounding the past use of the site for landfill and must secure the support of Stockholm.

“Hopefully the authorities will give their go-ahead during the summer”, continues Gillborg. “Nowadays the whole planning process, with environmental issues etc., is quite thorough and detailed. So far it seems very positive. During the autumn Swedish Racing must also take its final decision to go ahead”.

Gallop racing sees this as an opportunity better to develop its own brand in a nation where trotting is far the more popular discipline. The European thoroughbred community will watch this development with interest.

So there we have it: two new racecourses (one awaiting a decision to involve thoroughbreds, the other still under construction)—one new flat-race track within an existing racecourse and one replacement build for a track fallen victim to the developers. And none of these to be found in European racing’s traditional heartlands where the significant capital expenditure has been directed, not on new tracks but rather at new grandstands where racing already exists.

Venue construction is a clear and obvious signal of market confidence in the sport in question. Let us hope these four ventures justify that confidence and that our region can look forward to many more.

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Marketing priorities across European racing

By Dr Paull Khan

MARKETING PRIORITIES ACROSS EUROPEAN RACING

Three issues that were commonly identified as challenges facing horseracing across Europe at the EMHF’s recent Seminar on “Marketing and Educational Initiatives”:

• A worrying shortage of jockeys and stable staff

• The broad requirement to raise racing’s profile and appeal; to grow the fan-base and drive ownership

• A growing need to win over the hearts and minds of the wider community

Essentially, the marketing of our sport is handled often at a local racecourse or at a national level. Examples of international collaboration exist but are very much the exception. Thus, Racing Authorities, particularly in the “smaller” racing nations, are often working in isolation with limited opportunity to bounce ideas off each other or compare notes as to what has worked and what has not.

It was with this in mind that we invited EMHF members to gather together, to outline the current state of the racing industry in their respective countries and to present on one or two recent initiatives they had introduced. SOREC, the Racing Authority of Morocco, had kindly offered to host. At their National Stud in Bouznika in November we received presentations from countries as diverse, in racing terms, as Belgium, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Morocco, Sweden and Turkey. Delegates from Poland and Spain also attended.

22 delegates from 10 countries attend the EMHF's Marketing & Educational Initiatives Seminar

The degree of commonality among the concerns of Racing Authorities big and small proved striking, and it made the various ideas and approaches being adopted to address them all the more fascinating and relevant.

The difficulty in finding jockeys was highlighted in several presentations. We need not look far, of course, for one reason for this: we live in times when the average weight of our species is rising, yet the same is not the case for the thoroughbred—limiting scope simply to increase the weights allotted. But there are doubtless several other factors at play here: a growing dislocation of the populace from the countryside and from animals, as well as a general decline in the profile and appeal of horseracing (among so many other traditional pursuits), etc.

Jockey shortage and development is one of the key issues facing the Belgian Galop Federation (BGF). Belgian racing is operating at a fraction of its scale a century ago: where there were a dozen racecourses then, there are but three today; where racing took place on a daily basis, there is now a fixture per fortnight. There are just 320 thoroughbreds in training and only 24 jockeys, with two apprentices. The BGF has adopted a combination of targeting those with a proven interest in riding, but not necessarily race-riding, with an innovative approach to jockeys’ training. Pupils at Belgium’s Riding and Horse Care School receive lectures on aspects of the jockey’s life and exposure to the mechanical horse. It is evident from many sports that few things encourage the recruitment of youngsters more effectively than having a home-grown star, and the development of Belgium’s riders has been a central concern of the BGF, which does not have the luxury of a jockey school and has struggled with the expense of sending pupils to such a facility abroad. Their solution: to bring the mountain to Mohammed. Arc- and Derby-winning jockey John Reid has been engaged to provide coaching to jockeys of all levels of experience. Over three days, twice a year, these riders gain the benefit of Reid’s experience, with video material and time on the simulator.

The Czech Jockey Club (CJC)—which, by the way, will reach its centenary in March—is an organisation adept at making its money go a long way. Despite the absence of any statutory funding from betting—41% of prize money is self-funded by the owners and 56% provided by sponsors—Czech racing still boasts 11 racecourses and some high-quality horses. Indeed, in recent years, the 1,000 or so horses in training have collectively picked up more money from foreign raids than the total available to them at home. So, when the CJC received a grant from their Ministry of Agriculture for a project to recruit children into the sport and particularly into their jockeys’ ranks, a great deal was done, despite the grant only amounting to less than €5,500. They targeted 8th and 9th grade children, their parents and educational advisors, in a combination of outreach visits and receiving groups of students, either at their racing school or during race meetings. The initiative garnered television coverage, and extensive use was made of social media to publicise it. How successful this project has been will become evident in March—the deadline for applications to the racing school for youngsters leaving school that summer.

Britain’s European Trainers’ Federation representative, Rupert Arnold, broadened the focus to the related issue of stable staff recruitment and retention. The difficulties being faced in Britain currently had been, he explained, a major driver in his introduction, as the chief executive of the National Trainers Federation, of a new Team Champion Award last year. With the aim of rewarding good management in a trainer’s yard—a standard dubbed “The Winning Approach” was devised, covering many aspects of the way a trainer runs their business. To encourage adoption of the standard, an award, (or, more accurately, two awards—one for larger yards and one for those with up to 40 horses) was put up, with the assistance of sponsorship from insurers Lycett’s. Importantly, these awards were—as their name suggests—for the whole team rather than the trainer alone. The amount of £4,000 went to the winning stable, and the yards that entered were asked to say how they would spend their winnings, if successful. So that the benefits are spread wider than the two victorious stables, a star rating system has also been introduced, providing trainers with a promotional tool. It is hoped that these Team Awards will create a virtuous circle, with more yards adopting best practice, thereby creating a better working environment for staff, increasing staff satisfaction and, ultimately, retention.

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Second careers for racehorses can bring life-changing rewards for the humans who meet them

By Paull Khan

Festival was a horse brave enough to conquer the obstacles and emerge victorious in the fearsome Velka Pardubicka steeplechase. Peopleton Brook was so hardy, he contested 93 races for Grand National-winning jockey-turned-trainer, Brendan Powell, winning nine of them and being placed a further 17 times. What do these hardened racehorses have in common? They have both given valuable service in the young, fascinating and increasingly widespread endeavour of Equine Assisted Activities such as Hippotherapy.  

Owners, as well as the public at large, would appear to be ever more concerned with what should become of their racehorses once they have retired from the track. And these activities, which are held to bring profound benefits to people in many different circumstances, could increasingly provide an answer – and one as rewarding for the erstwhile owner as for the clients or patients with which their horse interacts.

What, exactly, are ‘Equine Assisted Activities (EAAs)’? Look, and you will find a myriad of similar terms in use: Equine Facilitated Learning, Equine Assisted Psychotherapy, Therapeutic Riding…the list goes on. Each defined differently – and sometimes conflictingly – by different authors: the hallmark, of course, of an emerging and youthful field.

Hippotherapy, despite the breadth of its literal meaning – ‘treatment with the horse’ – has come to refer to a very specific strand of EAA. In Hippotherapy, the treatment involves the horse being ridden. The Oxford English Living Dictionary defines the term thus: The use of horse riding as a therapeutic or rehabilitative treatment, especially as a means of improving coordination, balance, and strength. The predominant focus is on those with physical disabilities, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, etc..

But many manifestations of EAA are geared primarily to helping with non-physical issues and these typically involve little or no riding. Interaction with the horse can take many forms, including handling, grooming and lungeing. So, too, the methodologies employed. Some are one-to-one and focus on personal issues; most are group-based and look at more general concepts, such as trust, assertiveness, self-confidence and self-esteem. Many involve trained professionals such as psychotherapists.

But all are based on the core belief that, for many reasons which the Counselling Directory sets out well, the horse is especially suited to this type of work. Its very size can initially be daunting, so, for many, to overcome this and establish a relationship of trust and control is a profound achievement. As a prey animal, it is quick to interpret body language and to mirror behaviour, responding positively to a calm, confident approach. As a herd animal, it will frequently want to be led and to create bonds – the bonds between man and horse can be exceptionally powerful.

And the range of claimed benefits and beneficiaries is broad indeed. Prisoners, ex-servicemen and -women with PTSD, those on the autistic spectrum, children with ADHD, those deemed ‘at risk’, schizophrenics and those exhibiting a number of other behavioural and psychiatric disorders.

What is striking is that programmes of one sort or another are going on in many, many countries across Europe and beyond. In Prague, for example, the Czech State Psychiatric Hospital boasts a hippotherapy department called BOHNICE. Milan’s principal Hospital has had a hippotherapy unit for over 30 years.

On occasion, there is some involvement of the racing industry. For example, the Moroccan racing authority, SOREC (Société Royale d'Encouragement du Cheval) co-founded a hippotherapy programme aimed at people with special needs. In Scandinavia, betting companies, through the Swedish-Norwegian Foundation for Equine Research to which they contribute, funded a study of the efficacy of Equine-Assisted Therapy on patients with substance abuse patients.

A most impressive example of racing involvement is from Turkey. Here, Equine-Assisted Therapy Centres can be found, courtesy of the Turkish Jockey Club, at their seven racetracks, each offering entirely free courses to children with physical disabilities or mental and emotional disorders. To date, over 3,500 children have benefitted from the scheme, described as ‘one of the most important social responsibility projects of the Jockey Club of Turkey’.

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EMHF - Might technological advance lead to greater international co-operation in racing?

By Dr. Paull Khan

The Asian Racing Conference (ARC) was first staged 58 years ago and attracted less than 70 delegates. These days, it is held biennially, and the 37th ARC returned to Seoul this year – the third time it has been Korean-hosted.

The Racing

Prior to the conference, delegates had the chance to attend Korean Derby Day at Seoul Racecourse Park. Prize money for the 11-race card averaged over €100,000 per race, with the Derby itself – won by 2/1 favourite Ecton Blade, a son of imported Kentucky-bred stallion Ecton Park – worth €640,000.

The grandstands at Seoul are enormous structures, stretching far along the finishing straight and reminiscent of those at Tokyo racecourse. For many of the 80,000 racegoers who can be accommodated, there is the option of an individually numbered seat, not with any vantage point affording a view of the track, but rather deep in the bowels of one or another of five identical and cavernous floors. Each of these floors was packed this Derby Day with studious race fans, mostly deeply absorbed in their form guides, checking betting monitors, and scribbling notes, doubtless plotting betting combinations of fiendish complexity. The bias towards exotic bets is extreme in Korea, with just one percent of the handle directed at win bets.

By the time of each race, the crowds migrated to the viewing areas of the stands, looking out at the biggest big-screen in the racing world – which, despite its 150m width, is every bit as picture-crisp as one would expect from Korean technology.

Racing is an immensely popular spectator sport in the country. Annual attendances of 15 million from a population of just 50 million put European countries to shame. (For example, in Britain, where racing is the second most popular spectator sport, the 65 million population only make 6 million racecourse visits, and even on the island of Ireland, the ratio is not as impressive as in Korea: 1.3 million turnstile clicks from a population of 6.6 million). One might imagine that this results from a monopoly that racing enjoys when it comes to the gambling options available to Korean citizens. To some extent, this is true: there is but one casino in the whole of the country which Koreans may enter, and there is no domestic online betting offering. But betting – albeit to limited stakes – is allowed on a variety of other sports, a curious selection, including cycling and ssirum (Korea’s answer to sumo wrestling). And illegal online betting is widespread.

So the numbers can be seen as a great advertisement for the sport. And the crowds were fully engaged in the day’s activities: noisy and every bit as animated as one would find at Ascot or Flemington. But there is one striking feature of the scene at Seoul racecourse that sets it apart from virtually every other, outside the Middle East. It slowly dawns on one that these tens of thousands of committed racegoers are enjoying their long day’s racing…..with not an alcoholic outlet in sight! Proof that racing can thrive without an alcoholic crutch: further evidence of just how our sport, in all its diversity around the world, maintains its ability to surprise us and challenge our stereotypes.

The Conference

Those whose business is horseracing descended on Korea from Asia, Europe, and beyond. While the total of 600 or so delegates was some way short of the record numbers attracted to Hong Kong four years ago (tensions in Korea were particularly high at the time people were asked to commit to paying their USD $1,300 attendance fees, which could not have helped), to my mind, this ARC scaled new heights, in terms of the interest and relevance of the topics covered and the professionalism of the presenters.

Sweeping a bright but focussed spotlight across a broad range of issues of real moment to our sport worldwide, it illuminated such things as the frightening increase in illegal betting, the (to many) puzzling speed of growth of eSports, and the growing menace of gene doping.

The standout ‘takeaway’ from the conference for me was a talk on broadcasting technology trends by Hong Kong Jockey Club senior consultant Oonagh Chan.  While this fell within a session entitled “Reaching and Expanding Racing’s Fan Base” and focussed on technology advances in areas such as picture resolution and clarity, and how 360° video might attract new followers of horseracing, I was left pondering how dramatically they might also have an impact on stewards’ rooms around the world...

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EMHF - Positive EU decisions give cause for optimism

By Paull Khan

There have now been no fewer than five European Commission decisions, over the past five years, which have given the green light to member states wishing to introduce state aid in favour of their horseracing industries and which should be of great interest and encouragement to a number other European racing industries. If lessons can be learnt from these cases, this may help the racing industries in other European countries construct the arguments necessary to follow suit, thereby improving the financial health of our sport across the region.

Racing authorities the world over are engaged in conversations with their governments, seeking to establish, protect, or maximise statutory funding for horse racing as well as to safeguard the future health and stability of the industry and that of the breed. Normally, this funding takes the form of a statutory return to horseracing from betting.

So, typically, the racing authority must first provide good arguments to answer the question of why government should support such a guaranteed return to horseracing from betting (which would normally constitute special treatment for the sport). Then, in many cases, a further question has to be successfully answered: “Why should Government feel confident that objections on the grounds of state aid will be overcome?”

These five decisions – relating to France and Germany (in 2013) and to the UK, Finland, and Denmark (last year), are examples of racing authorities not only having convinced their governments to provide such assistance, but also of their governments having successfully argued before the European Commission that the measures introduced constituted ‘compatible’ (ie admissible) forms of state aid. These decisions should be of interest to those racing industries that either:

• have no current statutory support, but where their government either allows, or is contemplating allowing, betting operators independent of the sport to take bets on their racing, or

• have statutory support, but where the level of that support can be demonstrated to be insufficient to sustain the country’s racing industry, and/or the terms of that support can be shown to be in some way unfair.

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Licensing and Integrity - The Subject of the Latest EMHF Seminar

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Published in European Trainer, January - March 2018, issue 60.

The word ‘integrity’ must be one of the most commonly used in the output of racing authorities and, in our world, it carries a very particular meaning. Sure, it encompasses the normal definition of ‘adherence to moral and ethical principles’ but, with us, what we’re mostly talking about is the ‘straightness’ of how our sport is run and of those involved.

The latest in the EMHF’s seminar programme, hosted and delivered by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and Newbury Racecourse, took integrity as its subject and majored on the processes and criteria by which trainers, jockeys, and others are licensed in Britain, and the structures in place to combat race-fixing and unfair betting practices on horseraces.

The BHA was an appropriate host, since delegates could benefit from the conclusions reached following a major integrity review that British racing’s governing body had undertaken, aimed at improving “confidence amongst participants and the racing and betting public.” The review confirmed that measures to combat race-fixing and doping remained of paramount importance.

Within the BHA’s remit, integrity is certainly given high priority. The very first item under ‘Things we do’ in its latest annual report reads: “Keeping racing fair and clean: We aim to maintain the integrity of British racing by supporting participants to comply with the rules and dealing appropriately and effectively with rule breaches.”

The sheer scale and cost of the infrastructure that is committed to this aim, in a major racing nation such as Britain, may surprise readers. The staff complement of the BHA’s Integrity and Regulatory Departments numbers over 100. Within this total, the 40 or so who make up the field force teams of clerks of the scales, starters, judges, and inspectors of courses are outnumbered by those covering areas such as intelligence (collection, assessment, development), racing & betting analysis, investigations, licensing and registration, stable inspections, anti-doping and equine welfare integrity....

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EMHF - Our concern for horse welfare takes a myriad of forms

Paull Khan - News from the EMHF

Published in European Trainer - October - December 2017, issue 59

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In the wake of the now infamous incident in which jockey Davy Russell was seen to strike his horse on the head prior to the start of a race, the marked difference between the media reaction in Ireland (more forgiving) and that in Britain (more damning) was commented upon.

Just one example of the wide variation, as between European countries, in public opinion on horse welfare, and animal welfare more widely. In some regions, the ‘volume level’ of discussion of such matters is turned up high; not so in others.

In a sport with no global Rules Book, it would be strange if these cultural differences were not reflected to some extent in the practices and regulations of individual Racing Authorities. And sure enough, they are. Indeed, what a country’s Rules of Racing says about its culture would make for a fascinating study. One could make a crude start by marking up, on a map of Europe, the number of whip strikes allowed in a race by the various countries. Very broadly, it would resemble a climatic map of the continent, with higher numbers accepted in the hotter south, reducing as one travels north until reaching the point of zero tolerance in Norway.

Skim through the Rules Book in any of our countries and you will find a plethora which promote the welfare of our racehorses. In many cases, that aim is indeed their sole purpose. These Rules and procedures fall into many categories – from the horse-care component of the course which a trainer must pass in order to be granted a licence, to the requirement for a minimum number of vet’s to be present before a race meeting can take place, to enforced stand-down periods following the administration of certain veterinary interventions, to the mandatory abandonment of jump racing when the ground is designated ‘Hard’ – the list goes on and on.

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EMHF - Welfare at the top of the agenda

First published in European Trainer issue 58 - July - September 2017

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There is debate over the appropriateness of the use, in the context of horseracing, of the term ‘social licence.’

There is debate over the appropriateness of the use, in the context of horseracing, of the term ‘social licence.’ It is heard in our world with increasing frequency, but opponents point to the fact that it implies a formal power – which society, of course, does not hold, in any direct sense – to sanction or prohibit the sport. But it is surely incontestable that racing’s future is brighter where it enjoys broad public support and more precarious where there is widespread opposition. There is encouraging evidence that racing ‘gets’ this.

As public sensibilities around the world shift towards ever greater concern for the wellbeing of animals, so there are numerous examples of racehorse welfare moving ever higher up the agenda of racing’s administrators. The tone has been set at the very top – it has been a mantra of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities’ (IFHA) chairman Louis Romanet in recent years that horse welfare must be central to the efforts of national racing authorities.

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Greece becomes EMHF member

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First published in European Trainer issue 57 - April '17 - June '17

Mark Johnston's Masterclass - EMHF trainer seminar

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Representing European racing's interests - the EMHF

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