Nick Rust unshackled: ex-BHA chief on his record, critics and racing's future

"Only three people have ever really understood it: the Prince Consort, who is dead; a German professor, who has gone mad; and I, who have forgotten all about it."

So joked the statesman Lord Palmerston about the Schleswig-Holstein question, a fiendishly complex 19th century diplomatic wrangle, and a similar quip could well be applied to British racing politics: most people don't fully understand it, and those who do are either half-mad or wish they didn't.

You could forgive Nick Rust, who departed as BHA chief executive on Friday, if he wanted to forget all about racing politics. His six years as racing's most prominent leader have been defined by a succession of real or perceived crises: over disciplinary processes, prize-money, welfare, governance, basic competence, stewarding, sales reform, bookmaker relations, horsemen relations and – the latest and greatest – a total shutdown of the sport and a global pandemic.