Comment: Joe Saumarez Smith never stopped serving racing, even in the darkest of circumstances

The death of Joe Saumarez Smith at the tragically young age of 53 is a grievous loss to his family, his friends and to the sport to which he devoted the final 19 months of his life after a diagnosis of advanced lung cancer. 

In an industry that is not known for having an abundance of effective leaders, Saumarez Smith was a rare shining light: someone with a real love of the sport, deep business experience and an exceptional intellect. Most impressively, he was also utterly altruistic in his approach to the role.  

Joe had only been in the role of BHA chair for a year when he was diagnosed with cancer in June 2023. It was a serious diagnosis that Joe knew meant his life was likely to be measured in months and years, rather than decades.

Had Joe chosen to step away from the BHA role at that point, no one could have begrudged it. In a similar position, most would at least have guarded their time fiercely, but Joe doubled down on his commitment to racing. 

He was ever-present at racing events at home and abroad, even as his illness advanced and treatment became increasingly debilitating. There were multiple emergency trips to hospital, although he would be WhatsApping from his bed and back on duty hours after discharge. 

What motivated this? It was certainly not financial gain – Joe had been extremely successful in business and never took a salary as chair – and nor was it the acclaim or prestige, as the only job more thankless than a senior racing administrator is an unpaid senior administrator.

Instead, Joe was driven by a combination of stubbornness, an intellectual need to work, his love of racing and, perhaps most critically, a belief that he could bring about positive change. At a time when racing's challenges were multiplying, having a leader of such stature, commitment and capacity was of enormous importance. 

Those challenges were also the cause of deep frustration to Joe, as they have been to so many others. Racing's dysfunctional power structure and the degree to which self-interest, on both a personal and organisational level, endlessly stymies progress proved a constant disappointment throughout his tenure. 

Joe Saumarez Smith at the Jockey Club Rooms in Newmarket in December 2022Credit: Edward Whitaker

That is not to say Saumarez Smith did not have tangible achievements. He played a pivotal role in the governance changes that swept away the tripartite agreement, which for years had paralysed the sport via the power of veto, but that was replaced with the notional primacy of the BHA board working in tandem with a series of overpopulated committees, a system most agree is scarcely any better. 

He also almost secured reform of the levy, which would have brought much-needed new funding to the sport, but Rishi Sunak's ill-timed election put paid to that. 

Joe offered much to racing both as chair and, previously, as a BHA director, including important contributions to the sport's political relations, its campaign against affordability checks, and its approach to integrity. But as he left the role late last month, mere days before his death, what he had been unable to achieve might well have been foremost in his mind: an industry strategy, a logical commercial structure, levy reform, an end to the inertia of factionalism.

Perhaps his greatest contribution to the sport then was to serve as an exemplar for others in senior positions. Joe was tenacious, courageous, pragmatic and highly principled, but above all else he was selfless in his contribution to racing. He gave so freely of the last months of his life to the sport, and did so in the purest sense possible, seeking not to advance his interests or those of his organisation, but rather seeking only to secure the future prosperity of a sport he loved. 

Let us hope then that racing's other leaders and organisations look now to his example and channel the same spirit of altruism to put the greater good of racing ahead of their own self-interest. Joe Saumarez Smith could have no more fitting legacy.

Read more:

Joe Saumarez Smith, British racing's senior leader as BHA chair until last month, has died aged 53 

Obituary: BHA chair Joe Saumarez Smith loved racing with a fierce passion and worked tirelessly to improve the sport