ROA accused of short-changing racing as industry ownership strategy emerges

The Racehorse Owners Association is facing increased pressure over British racing's long-awaited industry ownership strategy, the details of which were released on Tuesday and resulted in accusations the sport had been "short-changed".

Prominent owner Jon Hughes has said he plans to write to the BHA demanding an inquiry into the ROA's work on the strategy, and also called for the organisation's chief executive Charlie Liverton to be removed.

More than £1.6 million of levy funding was put aside for the project, which began in 2017, of which around £1.2m has been spent and Liverton said on Tuesday that more money would be required to support initiatives.

It was incorporated as a key component of British racing's Covid-19 recovery plan, which was published by industry leaders in August and stated the ROA-led strategy would be ready to publish in the "coming weeks", once it had been approved by the sport's stakeholders.

Last week the ROA published the cross-industry ownership Covid action plan, which attempts to tackle the issue of retaining owners in the short term and which the ROA said would work in tandem with the wider industry strategy.

That was published on Tuesday for ROA members in the shape of a 27-page document entitled "For The Love of Racing" setting out five goals with attendant objectives, initiatives and measures.

Objectives included a governance review, collaborating across the sport to improve awareness and desirability of ownership, marketing measures and improving the ownership experience.

There were also initiatives aimed at the thorny topic of media rights, commercial agreements with racecourses and working with the Horse Welfare Board.

In a message to ROA members on Tuesday, Liverton said: "Clearly Covid has had a considerable impact on everyone and this piece of work will continue to evolve to meet the needs of owners."

However, Hughes, whose Keep Owners in Racing pressure group has been a stern critic of the ROA and has been demanding it release the strategy for some time, was unimpressed, saying he believed "racing has been short-changed".

"We aren’t really any wiser are we?" he added. "I don’t think there’s been any scrutiny, I don’t think anyone’s been held to account."

Hughes claimed three years had been wasted when cross-industry collaboration could have taken place.

He went on: "I don't want to see the industry damaged and where we are now with owners exiting racing, trainers really feeling the pinch and small breeders cutting back is a worry. Warren Buffett has this phrase that goes it’s only in recession that the tide goes out and you find who’s not wearing the bathing costume. That’s where we’re at with Charlie Liverton; the tide has gone out and he’s exposed.

"What Keep Owners In Racing are going to do is we are going to write to the BHA demanding an inquiry and we are going to ask the BHA to scrutinise where the money has been spent.

"I am also seeking, under the constitution of the ROA, how you call an extraordinary general meeting requesting the dismissal of the chief executive. The main issues of prize-money, ownership experience and facilities have not been adequately covered by the ROA. They’ve not even got close."

Charlie Liverton: 'The ROA single-handedly cannot grow ownership'

However, Liverton said the document set out how the industry would retain and grow owners.

"What has been published is the five goals and the objectives and initiatives and measures as to how we are going to retain and grow owners and horses in training over the next five years," he said.

"Incorporated within that is where the ownership strategy has got to today. Some of the things have been completed already. We can't do anything without industry buy-in. The ROA single-handedly cannot grow ownership."

Liverton said the work had been scrutinised by both the ROA board and other stakeholders.

"The ROA board has seen all of this and signed it off," he said. "The wider industry has been fully integrated. None of the initiatives that have been undertaken have been done without cross-stakeholder involvement.

"Going forward that principle will absolutely apply and will obviously need different stakeholders for different initiatives, and the right team will be pulled together at the appropriate time."

Liverton said the expenditure so far had largely been done with racecourses, including the initial work on the strategy done by consultants Portas, and added that at present there was no central funding for the industry ownership strategy.

He added: "We will go on a case-by-case basis to the Levy Board for financial support of the various initiatives."

In the spring, after racing closed down because Covid-19, the Levy Board restricted expenditure to projects it termed as being essential, and no further funding has been paid to the ownership project since then.

Levy Board chief executive Alan Delmonte said: "The full detail of the project was supported by racing’s Members' Committee when it came to the board with cross-industry support in 2018.

"The ROA made a presentation to the HBLB board in October 2019 on the work undertaken to date, and will make a further presentation to the board, with a full report, expected before the end of the year."

More on the ROA report

Comment: a £1.2m report lacking detail, substance and clear initiatives

Owners win racecourse reprieve but new restrictions in place from Thursday

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