Racing takes tax fight to Westminster on unprecedented day of protest as a white horse and a champion jockey spell out the sport's message

A galaxy of racing stars turned out in Westminster on Wednesday to protest against plans for a tax hike that many fear could devastate the sport – with a white horse and a champion jockey among those to spell out racing’s message to the government on an unprecedented day of protest.

With all race meetings in Britain cancelled for the day, trainers, jockeys and officials were free to gather in Parliament Square in a concerted attempt to raise awareness of the sport’s fears that a proposal by the Treasury to harmonise online gambling taxes would result in a massive financial blow to racing. General betting duty, which covers horseracing bets, currently stands at 15 per cent, but an increase to parity with remote gaming duty on games of chance to 21 per cent would result in a £66 million loss for racing in year one according to BHA estimates.

Racing’s Westminster protest began with eight jockeys posing in front of Big Ben, wearing white silks carrying the messages 'Axe the racing tax' and 'Back British racing'. Flat racing's champion in waiting, Oisin Murphy, was among them, along with jumping's retired champion Richard Johnson and the glamour couple of Tom Marquand and Hollie Doyle.

Charlie Fellowes , Roger Varian and Harry Eustace present at WestminsterCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

As protests go, it perhaps erred on the side of gentility, in some danger of being lost amid the febrile atmosphere that now prevails daily outside the Parliament building. An anti-Brexit song was being played constantly at high volume. Dozens of bikers circled the square, their concerns evidently being the treatment of army veterans who served in Northern Ireland.

To this mix, seemingly familiar to those who often pass this way, was added the figure of a white horse, borne repeatedly around the square on a van which also carried racing's anti-tax slogan. At first glance it looked as though someone had brought Desert Orchid's statue on the short drive from Kempton, but in fact this was another statue, borrowed from a neighbour of Arc chief executive Martin Cruddace and a useful addition to racing's efforts at attracting attention.

Anyway, it caught the eye of passers-by like Kate, from Huntingdon, pushing her year-old son in a pram on a rare visit to the capital. "This sounds ridiculous," she said when the reason for the protest was explained. "Racing's a big business, people enjoy it. My grandad would go down to the bookies two or three times a day to bet on his horses. He got great pleasure out of it."

But how many others noticed the sport making its Parliament Square debut among more familiar faces, more raucous voices? There has been plenty of casual cynicism in recent days about whether the protest would achieve anything.

Then again, the alternative to doing something is doing nothing. The consensus among racing's big names as they congregated for speeches at the QEII Centre was that the envisaged tax hike simply had to be fought.

Hugo Palmer: attended the event in WestminsterCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

"I thought the fact the Treasury was drawn into making a statement at least shows their ear has turned," said Hugo Palmer. "Of course, it's one thing to hear, another thing to listen. But I think we're definitely doing the right thing by being here. 

"Everyone here must have hope. If you don't, you give up. Like a lot of governments, this one doesn't seem to be afraid of the odd U-turn. It's only a fool who never changes their mind. So I hope that we can make enough noise, sensible noise, to make our case."

The attendance was all the more impressive during a week in which London is described as being "crippled" by Tube strikes, forcing some into making unusual transport decisions. Palmer walked the 40 minutes from Euston, getting drenched in a sudden downpour on the way.

Dan Skelton walked from Marylebone. Ralph Beckett showed his 'man of the people' qualities by catching a bus from Waterloo. Sympathy for their fellow strikers was not widely in evidence, but all were clear that concerted action was necessary.

"All those years of strikes by different trade unions, if nothing else, they hit the front pages," Skelton pointed out. "At the end of the day, if government wants to make this decision, we want it to at least be a hard decision to make.

"Things like this bring people together. A couple of little fringe threats, people still paddle their own canoe. You start threatening the main hive and all the bees come swarming out."

Jockeys uniteCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Those present were treated to a series of speeches, the most anticipated of which was Gosden's, in which he reached back to the start of his career for a comparison with racing's parlous present.

"When I first came to Newmarket in the 1970s, it was a grim time," he said. "Endless strikes across the country, empty stables, a crippling national debt culminating in a three-day working week and a winter of discontent. It sounds a little familiar."

He referenced "pitiful prize-money" and "a terrifying downturn in the foal crop" to make the point that racing already faces serious threats, even before the question of its income from betting being threatened by a tax hike.

"We need stability in order to find growth. There's certainly no stability in our industry now, with the policies that have been hanging over our heads.

"We have an industry to be proud of. I do hope this government doesn't send us back to the 1970s."

Read more:

Lord Allen calls on British racing to stand 'shoulder to shoulder' in racing tax campaign 

'If what the government plans to do comes to fruition there'll be very few of us smaller trainers left' - the Lambourn view  

'We won't be left with much of an industry' - John Gosden warns of challenges facing British racing on day of government protest 

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.