But I find the word “support” slightly hard to stomach in this context. The problem is that once entries for the race have been accepted, without the necessary conditions attached, the horse, so to speak, will have bolted.Įlliott’s view of the Troytown was that he did not prevent anyone else running and he was supporting the race. The BHA’s view is that it “understands the issue and the arguments that surround it but nothing is planned in that space at the moment”. Will that be in the best interests of the race? As if any warning were needed that we are getting close to that, Elliott fielded 14 out of the 20 runners in the valuable Troytown Chase in Ireland recently. Now that the maximum number of runners has been reduced to 34, there is a significant chance that the race could end up looking like a personal duel between the two super-power yards in Ireland of Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott. The BHA is less “on it”, however, when it comes to looking down the line to secure the credibility of the Grand National in the eyes of the betting public. And politicians wonder why we are all becoming very cynical about politics. Without the right number of qualified staff, the demise of racing in this country will shrink the rural economy. So, on the one hand, we have a Prime Minister and every economist under the sun telling us growth is the only way out of the mess this country is in, but on the other we have ministers who have simple decisions to make to enable growth, but they will not, or cannot, make them. The second is that he just has not got time to get his head around his new brief anytime soon, because he is snowed under with a mountain of stuff related to reason one. Whether to grant the exemptions or to tell the committee that they are erroneous. The first is that he does not know what the right decision is. There can be only two reasons why he does not do so immediately. Now it is down to the Home Secretary to decide whether he acts on this advice and rubber stamps his approval. The magnitude of the problem racing faces is reflected by the fact that, of the eight additions to the shortage occupation list agreed by the committee, from an application list of 300 throughout the country, racing yards and studs were granted six, which include grooms and work riders. The British Horseracing Authority has done a good job in stepping up to the mark politically by persuading the Migration Advisory Committee that the shortfall of 2,500 key workers on stud farms and in racing yards is seriously damaging the industry.
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