Hugo Palmer urges racing to get behind Lord Allen to fight the 'enormous danger' of tax harmonisation

Classic-winning trainer Hugo Palmer believes Lord Allen is racing's only hope in the battle against tax harmonisation and called on the sport to do all it can to make sure he is in position to lead the fight.

The Cheshire-based trainer believes the threat from the 'racing tax' makes it imperative that the incoming British Horseracing Authority (BHA) chair Lord Allen takes up the appointment, which hinges on whether the sport accepts his proposals for radical governance reform.

On the day the BHA formally submitted the sport's position to the Treasury's online gaming tax harmonisation consultation, Palmer acknowledged the inherent danger in plans that suggest the 15 per cent rate levied on racing and sports betting could be harmonised with the 21 per cent duty on online games of chance.

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Modelling commissioned by the BHA suggests that could cost racing £66 million in lost income through the Levy, media rights and sponsorship – rising to £160m if the rate was set at 40 per cent.

Palmer, who won the 2,000 Guineas with Galileo Gold in 2016, agrees with Viscount Astor, a member of the All Party Racing and Bloodstock Group, who called Allen "the one person" to get the message across to the government and the treasury in a letter published in the Racing Post.

"The prize-money situation is very difficult at all bar the very top level," the trainer said on Thursday. "The price of horses has gone up to such an extent that both Tattersalls and Goffs are almost embarrassed at what they cost, against what they can win, and they put on enormous bonuses. We've got to the stage where they're having to prop the prize-money up because it's so poor. And that's before tax harmonisation.

"It poses an enormous danger to the sport, but there's a very concise letter from Lord Astor in the paper today [Thursday].

"Racing for once has managed to do something really clever and get somebody who might be able to really make a difference for us in parliament on our side."

Allen's reported proposals to split the BHA into two separate entities and remove member-nominated directors from governance has upset some bodies, although the Racehorse Owners Association has denied it is blocking him.

But Palmer said: "If the ROA and RCA manage to hole his appointment beneath the waterline it really will be unthinkable.

"Everyone should be glad to know that he's very clearly not prepared to be a puppet, he wants to make meaningful change for the good of the industry. We should all hope and pray he's going to be allowed to do so.

"There will be aspects that don't suit the racecourses in the short term, but we need to take a long-term view. We've got to think about tomorrow."

Fellow trainer Iain Jardine warned that the proposed racing tax could put a lot of people out of business and believes this is the hardest time financially since he took out his first licence in 2011.

Asked about the threat, the Dumfries-based trainer, who achieved his biggest win with Nakeeta in the Ebor at York in 2017, said: "I've been following it and it's quite political, but the way racing is at the moment it's on a bit of a slippery slope. It's a worry.

"We have to keep going, but the way finances are this taxation could easily put people out of business. It's hard enough at the moment without that."

Iain Jardine: "It's a worry"Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Outlining the current picture at racing's coalface, Jardine said: "It's not easy for any business at the moment. We're lucky to have good owners, but I don't own my own yard so I have rent to find every month.

"You have to get the funds in every month to pay for everything and there are an awful lot of outgoings – wages go up every so often and there is a National Insurance rise as well. There's plenty to find.

"I think now is the hardest time it's been financially since I started training, it's crept up that way over the years and it's difficult now."

Looking to the future, he added: "It's a worry if this taxation comes in. There's enough pressure to find the money to pay out as it is, and that would put even more on. As Jim Boyle said, it could put a lot of people out of business."

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Racing TV has created a template letter than can be used to email local MPs about your concerns over the 'racing tax'. Follow this link to access the template – it should not take more than a couple of minutes to complete.