'The relationship has become pretty toxic - but we need to work together'

Briefly entertained by the suggestion he may once have operated on the wrong side of the law, the BHA's new director of equine health and welfare, James Given, confesses: "I'm afraid I never was much of a poacher. I had maybe a couple of issues with the stewards in my 22 years as a trainer, but I never had a positive drugs test, which I'm pretty proud of."

However, lest he be accused of having an over-eager agenda to catch his former colleagues red-handed, making off with a plump rabbit or two from racing's lordly estate, Given adds quickly: "But I wouldn't say I've become a gamekeeper either."

He may have 'crossed the floor' when taking this role just over six months ago, but the man who sent out 580 winners from his base at Willoughton in Lincolnshire is not about to turn the existential struggle for racing's future into a political wrangle. There is too much at stake for that, he'll tell you, and the way forward is less conflict and more of the kind of accord that he asserts has been sorely lacking in recent times.