WebConnect

by Richard Wayman, ROA Chief Executive

It is a huge honour for me to have been appointed Chief Executive of the Racehorse Owners Association and to have been given the opportunity to represent the single biggest contributors to the funding of British horseracing.

I thought I would take the opportunity to tell you a little bit about some of my hopes and aims.

I should begin by saying, though, that racing has been my passion since a chance visit to Tattersalls at the age of eight and I have been fortunate enough to have been involved in the industry throughout my professional life including, most recently, as the Assistant Racing Director at the BHA.

In terms of racehorse ownership, I have been a member of various partnerships for the last 15 years or so, and my dreams are currently centred on a three-year-old filly, who made a pleasing, if unspectacular, start to her racing career on the final day of the 2011 Flat season.

I am not the first to suggest that prize-money is the key indicator of the health of our sport and, set against a backdrop in which owners in Britain have received very low rates of return compared with all other major racing nations, the 15% reduction over the past two years provides ample evidence of a patient in need of serious treatment.

It is not surprising that the number of owners has been in decline since 2007, leading to fewer horses and a worrying increase in the number of races attracting small fields.

Reversing these trends should be the priority, not just for the ROA but for everybody involved in running the sport and I firmly believe that we have a greater chance of succeeding in this by working together with our partners in the Horsemen’s Group.

Even though we are going through difficult times, the success of the Horsemen’s Group in encouraging significantly increased contributions to prize-money from racecourses during 2011 provides hope for the future. We will continue to focus on securing a levy (or levy replacement) agreement that deals with many of the current shortcomings, as well as achieving a fairer share of the increasing media rights payments paid directly to racecourses.

The ROA’s role does, of course, extend beyond prize-money with our raison d’être being to promote and protect the interests of racehorse owners in Britain. Although this has a number of aspects, I believe we should be focusing on enhancing the experience of racehorse ownership, ensuring that owners’ voices are heard and also by providing benefits that members find of real value.

We should be the first port of call when an owner has a problem and I would also like the ROA to get more involved in encouraging new owners into the sport.

Finally, we must never lose sight of the fact that the ROA exists only because of its members’ continued support and I am particularly looking forward to meeting with as many of you as possible in the coming months so that I can learn more about what is important to you and how the ROA can help you get the very most out of racehorse ownership.

27 January 2012