Yesterday, I hope I managed to give you an idea of how Racing’s relationship with the bookies has put us in the current financial bind we find ourselves in.
There are no easy solutions, and very many vested interests, and, as I have been suggesting for some time, schism is the most likely outcome. I can easily see a breakaway group forming, and I can easily imagine some people will want a finger in every pie that does break away. We would be naive to think that resolution will be some simple, everyone-sitting-round-the-campfire-singing-Kumbaya moment. In my view, the principal problem is the Bookmakers and their entirely correct commercial position that they’ll take as much as we can give them, but they’re not going to pay what we believe it is worth.
We have a further side issue: ARC, formerly known as Arena Racing, a single entity that largely controls All Weather Racing, the fodder of the betting shop, and which owns a majority of the fixture list. Many owners believe that they are not paid enough prize money by ARC when they win and have been threatened with legal action if they try to strike! ARC’s position is entirely bookmaker-centric. Racing’s financial woes are, in the main, a bookmaker issue.
So just consider this…
