It's the groundbreaking report that aimed to shake up British racing - but just how much did Savill sway BHA plans for the sport?

Last summer, Peter Savill, the pugnacious former chairman of the BHA's predecessor the BHB, delivered a stark warning about the future of Flat racing.

The sport, it was suggested, was in danger of being reduced "to a position of greatly reduced prestige and prominence".

Savill was heading a group of industry heavyweights who approached the BHA with a series of proposals that would seek to tackle some of racing's most pressing problems: the loss of major owners, a drain of equine talent abroad and falling field sizes. Identifying the sport's top product – premierisation, as it has come to be known – was a key element.