BHA to charge owners more

krizon

krizon

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As if the stinking prize monies weren't enough insult to British owners, Nic Howard of the BHA has announced that the Association will kick off a happy new year by charging them around £100 per horse more for their services. Jockeys and trainers' fees to the BHA will remain unchanged. He's gone on to say a lot, but it's basically because the BHA hasn't resolved the poxy Levy issue successfully or satisfactorily. The responses by some owners on the RP online tonight are so far printable, but I imagine those banged off tomorrow to Nic Howard will be in very warm language.

Okay, one might say what's another hundred quid per horse? If you can afford to keep ten, say, in training, then a grand's just peanuts. But it's because owners haven't been cut any slack (unlike remarks elsewhere about Irish trainers cutting their fees) in their outgoings and have seen their prize money sliced 'n' diced to levels that weren't even around for some races 20 years ago.

There are calls for owners to boycott the tracks which pay the least, but will they?
 
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I don't know where your figure of £100 per horse comes from Krizon. The press release I've read states that BHA entry fees and registration fees will increase by 22.5% across the board from 1st January. Just taking entry fees alone, if your horse runs 6 times in a season, you would expect it to be given, on average, 3 entries per race at £70 a go (again an average figure). That's 18x70 = £1260. The increase will therefore be £283.50. These figures are extremely conservative as they assume the horse will only run 6 times at low-grade tracks.

Then there are all the registrations and annual re-registrations which can amount to £150 or so per horse per annum.

Nearly all the owners I know are already cutting back, and I shall be doing likewise. We don't ever expect to break even on our investments, but the meagre rewards now on offer for horses of middling ability, and the ever more punitive ownership costs, are making many of us think twice about carrying on. There's only so much a chap can take!
 
The figure came from the article in the RP online last night, Michaelo, where Howard stated the BHA's increase to owners will be c.£100 per horse. Don't shoot the messenger! As for your projection via the press release, it's absurd.
I don't blame any owner for thinking of cutting back - the rewards for their loyalty are atrocious.
 
Sorry Krizon. I wasn't having a pop at you. Howard's estimate of "£100 per horse" is clearly wrong and he must know it. A 22.5% increase equals £100? Don't make me laugh.
 
Looking over your figures, Michael, the man is clearly unwilling to tell owners the facts which they - if they're like you - can work out far more distastefully for themselves. So, in the end, it's come down to failing to galvanise more from the betting industry, not wanting to 'upset' racecourses, and going for the softest target possible. I do really think the ROA must make a protest that has some teeth, not sit at the BHA master's table hoping that it might've been thrown a little morsel. It's not going to get the morsel at all - what it seems to have got is a kick in the backside and told to go outside and not whine. I thought that a day's boycott might do the trick, but I think a week's more like it now.
 
Just checked my e-mails and there's a blast from Paul Dixon, head of the ROA, on this very subject and yes, it does say a rise in 22.5% in BHA costs - where Howard gets £100 a horse from, ferk knows. But I'd mistrust any man who wrote his name out as 'Nic', frankly. Only minimally less naff than Nikk, unless you're Scandinavian.
 
And his surname is actually Coward (maybe quite apt) rather than Howard.
Pretty sure he's on at least a six figure salary.

As you know we've had a really good run with Frank (prize money last 8 runs),but I doubt we'd have been looking at much of a proifit at all for winning last Sunday if the travelling costs hadn't been shared with his stable companion.
They probably made a loss despite finishing 3rd,but when there are so few opportunities we have to go where we have a chance.
 
Its a disgrace. Someone from the top of BHA has to make to some radical moves/steps to help the current situation. It will upset a lot of people but it has to be done, the current situation is unacceptable. If the Arabs pulled out for whatever reason in the future, the sport will be in an even worst situation. The bookies and the racecourses has to put more back into the sport instead of all looking after their own pies because in future, there will be no pie left. the bookies can rely on the sport but what about the racecourses. There are too many people in there with different motives, most of which are not for the good of the sport. Horse Racing is turning into like greyhounds, I really hope it wont be wont like this, unfortunately there seems to be too many spineless people within the organisation to make a bold stand.
 
I've just seen the RP report and a photograph of the said Nic Coward. This guy is the CEO (allegedly) of the BHA, yet this is the first time I have ever seen his face. Has he ever been interviewed on either of the dedicated racing channels? I'm a regular viewer of both, and I've certainly never seen him. What's his background?.....almost certainly not the racing industry.

Judging by his "£100 per horse" remark, he's either a liar or an out-of-touch fool. And having seen his photo, I suspect the latter.
 
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It's a fucking joke - 'hey-ho, the owners are mug enough to foot the bills for their horses to run for peanuts, so let's whack up their fees - again". Weatherby's charge exorbitant fees for everything and you have to register to scratch your arse - at a cost of £35 + VAT - before you're allowed to register as an owner. It's yet another bloody joke and shows what criminals the BHA are in making it patently obvious their determination to bleed as much money out of owners as possible - anyone would think they didn't contribute anything to racing!

I do question the assertion that entry fees work out at around £70 as an average cost - only if you're entering in Saturday races would they start around that cost. For your average weekday novice or handicap hurdle (for example) you'd generally pay around £20-£30 a go, sometimes less. Bumpers tend to be around a tenner and AW races around £15-£20.
 
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Part of the reason we haven't re-registered the Network Racing name & colours is the absurd fees that Weatherby's charge for the privilege.
To save money (as at our level we are hardly well off) we are using a spare set of colours for the other horse we have a little interest in at the mo.

Pretty sure Matt Chapman interviewed Coward on ATR a few months back,can't remember off hand any of the discussion involved.
 
Shadow Leader, I do know how much entries cost and I've never been charged anything as low as £20-30. I have a series of BHA invoices in front of me and I'll quote you a few examples. These are all lowish-grade (0-125) handicap chases.

Wincanton, 27/04/10.....£71.69 + £3.41 VAT
Exeter, 04/05/10...........£61.69 + £3.41 "
Aintree, 14/05/10..........£51.69 + £3.41 "
Worcester, 19/05/10......£66.69 + £3.41 "
Stratford, 28/05/10.......£61.69 + £3.41 "
Newbury, 27/11/10........£91.69 + £3.41 "

Only one of these (Newbury) was a Saturday race. I think I'm justified in using £70 as an average because, as I say, these were all fairly low grade chases and the higher the grade, the higher the fee.

I notice that Fakenham have recently done away with charging owners entry fees. But I'm not holding my breath that any other track will follow suit.
 
How can the VAT be the same for the Newbury race as the Aintree one when the fee is £40 different??

(sorry - tangent alert I know,but thats really confused me!!!)
 
I haven't got my old invoices for PLACE THE DUCHESS from last year, but I'm sure the races were only around £25 at her level.
 
Krizon, in that case I can only assume that AW courses are able to charge lower entry fees, presumably because of the low level of prize-money and the large number of meetings (and therefore entries) compared to NH courses. The Fakenham situation demonstrates that courses have considerable discretion in setting the level of entry fees.

Trudij, the small VAT charge of £3.41 is applied across the board regardless of the size of the entry fee, and is presumably something that has been pre-arranged between the BHA and HMRC. But it does strike me as odd that all the fees seem to end in 69p!
 
I don't remember her race at Brighton costing any more, Michael, than at AW courses. It must be Flat vs NH, low grade vs middle, etc. I should think she has a rating of about 15 by now! Presumably Towcester's as free to enter horses as it is for people to enter to view?
 
22.5% is ludicrous - owners in the UK have absolutely no chance!!! Here in Ireland the final entry fee is 1% of the total prizemoney. At least we are running for what is still reasonable prize money - how anybody runs horses at some of those poorer races at Wolves or Southwell is beyond me!! Owners should boycott for a month!!
 
The race entry may turn out to be aroud 20 -30 in ost low grade races, yet you have the standard BHA admin charge of around 25 quid on top. I only entered Ralph at Lingfield yesterday as it was free enrty, but still had the admin charge of £24.70 on top, my jockey cost's me around £120.00, lads expenses around £40, and transport of around £150 for a half share.

So outgoing's yesterday, £334.70 roughly, and my return for coming 3rd £173.00. £160 loss roughly for finishing 3rd, pretty much a joke to be honest.

Owners costs go up and up, prize money goes down and down, and of course training bills are just getting higher. Know No Fear has won me three races and placed 5 times this year , yet I'm still around 14k down from all his costs, that just about sums up British racing to me.
 
And then you have trainers like Ed Dunlop charging £56/day ex extra costs, who then run your 2yo first time up over a mile in a bog at... Salisbury ...and then later declare on film that they don't believe in running two year olds on heavy ground.


It's still rankling.
 
The TBA might like to think of getting behind the ROA members, too, since if owners are to be clobbered with such a monster hike, there's far less likelihood of the uptake of the more sensibly-priced youngsters in future. And the NTF should be ranting, too - how are trainers to be kept going by rank-and-file owners - who make up the bulk of all the middling-to-small yards - when there really is no incentive beyond the ephemera of 'fun' for their customers?
 
What I'm not too happy about is the fractured nature of British racing at present: where are the strong words of support for owners from the Chairs of the TBA and the NTF? Both will be ill-affected, particularly at the bulk, or rank-and-file level of ownership, for whom the increased costs and lower-than-ever prize monies will surely be a step too far to keeping horses going. Both organisations should be very strongly supporting their customers, but I hear not even a bat squeak from either quarter. Poor show.
 
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Songsheet said:
And then you have trainers like Ed Dunlop charging £56/day ex extra costs, who then run your 2yo first time up over a mile in a bog at... Salisbury ...and then later declare on film that they don't believe in running two year olds on heavy ground.


It's still rankling.
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That's a bit steep - the average over here would be €1,000 per month roughly with travel extra - that's a shame about Salisbury - how is the horse since?? Whilst owners realise that it's practically impossible to break even unless you are lottery type lucky you would expect to cover some of your costs if you were lucky enough to stumble into a decent one - but with the prize money situation the way it is in the UK you have little or no chance!!! The Owners are supporting the whole industry single- handedly which just cannot last!!
 
michael_o said:
Shadow Leader, I do know how much entries cost and I've never been charged anything as low as £20-30. I have a series of BHA invoices in front of me and I'll quote you a few examples. These are all lowish-grade (0-125) handicap chases.

Wincanton, 27/04/10.....£71.69 + £3.41 VAT
Exeter, 04/05/10...........£61.69 + £3.41 "
Aintree, 14/05/10..........£51.69 + £3.41 "
Worcester, 19/05/10......£66.69 + £3.41 "
Stratford, 28/05/10.......£61.69 + £3.41 "
Newbury, 27/11/10........£91.69 + £3.41 "

Only one of these (Newbury) was a Saturday race. I think I'm justified in using £70 as an average because, as I say, these were all fairly low grade chases and the higher the grade, the higher the fee.

I notice that Fakenham have recently done away with charging owners entry fees. But I'm not holding my breath that any other track will follow suit.
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You're clearly lucky in owning horses capable of running in handicaps worth a few grand, then. That doesn't make what you pay an average cost. I can't remember exactly the cost of the entry fees I paid last summer, but they were around a tenner each for bumper entries - actually one race was free entry if I recall correctly.

Today at Huntingdon - not an insignificant card, certainly not the fare you'd expect on a typical Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday card - Race 1 was £25 entry for a handicap hurdle with a purse of £5k. Race 2 a mare's novice chase, total purse £6k, entry £30. It gets a bit higher in Race 3, a £10k handicap hurdle with entries at £50. Race 4, the Peterborough Chase, unsurprisingly £300 for a £65k race. Race 5, a £4k novice hurdle, entry £20. Race 6 a £5 1/2k novice handicap chase, entry £25. Race 7, the bumper, entry £10. So now can you see why I take issue with your assertion that entry fees are on average £70 a race? Nevermind the AW where entries cost about £15.
 
Even the Aussies are picking up on our pitiful prize money.

This was posted on Betfair earlier in the week.

laythefave 06 Dec 10 06:48
My son has just returned from a couple of weeks in London and brought me the newspapers. I've got the ones dated Saturday 27th. November.

I have been perusing the racing pages and am stunned at the incredibly low level of stake money that your horses race for. Even the main meeting of the day, Saturday, at Newbury, which was an all jumping race meeting and apparently one of your better meetings, offered less prize money on 7 out of the 8 races, than we race for at an ordinary Saturday meeting in Melbourne.

Even the main race, featuring that fantastic jumper Denman carried prize money of the equivalent of $162,000 ozzie dollars. Our main jumps race over here carries prize money of $200,000. The rest of the program had prize money as follows. 1 at 9,000, 1 at 15,000, 1 at 21,000, 1 at 25,000 1 at 45,000 1 at 50,000, and 1 at 90,000. Now that's not to the winner, that's for the whole race.

There were two other meetings on the Saturday, and they offered prize money of an average of $3,000 at Wolverhampton and at Kempton, the other main meeting, there were 4 races worth about 3,500 1 at 15,000 and 2 at 38,000.

My questions are, how can anyone afford to race a horse in England? And why haven't British trainers set up satellite stables here in Australia?

By the way, stake money for the 3 meetings that were run on the Sunday, were appalling. We race for a minimum 10,000 over here. In England there were only 3 races out of 22 that were being run over the three meetings, that were worth anywhere near $10,000 with the average being around 3-4,000.
 
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