Racing's leaders defend response to crisis as bookmakers join calls for urgency

Major figures in racing's leadership have insisted "tangible change" can be delivered soon as bookmakers joined calls for swifter action in tackling the big issues facing the sport.

Joe Saumarez Smith, Charlie Parker and Wilf Walsh, the respective chairs of the BHA, Thoroughbred Group and Racecourse Association, were responding to accusations of a lack of urgency in dealing with problems such as uncompetitive prize-money, low field sizes and the drain of equine talent abroad.

British racing's leadership announced on June 1 that work would begin on a long-term industry strategy. However, in a comment piece in Wednesday's edition of the Racing Post, editor Tom Kerr said that more than two months later nothing more was known about its terms of reference, its objectives or its timetable, and compared it to the sport's response to the Covid crisis in 2020 .