NEWS
COURSE TO COURSE A look at stories in the news from racecourses across Europe.
Representing European Racing’s interests – the EMHF ThE European and Mediterranean horseracing Federation (www. euromedracing.eu) represents the Racing Authorities of its 27 member countries. Its footprint extends from Portugal, Ireland and Morocco in the West to Azerbaijan in the East – from Norway and Sweden in the North to Libya and Lebanon in the South. It includes the region’s racing superpowers – France, Great Britain and Ireland – but also some countries whose racing industries are far more modest in scale, such as the Channel Islands, Austria and holland. We caught up with its Secretary-General, Dr Paull Khan, to learn more about its workings.
EMHF
European & Mediterranean Horseracing Federation
How does the EMHF fit in with the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities? The IFhA, www.horseracingintfed. com, which is the world peak body for Thoroughbred racing, is our global parent. Our sister organisations within the IFhA are the Asian Racing Federation (covering 66
Asia, Southern Africa and Australasia),which many of your readers will have heard of, and the more recently formed Pan-American Conference, which staged its first event in New York last June. What are the EMHF’s aims? I would say our primary objectives are to foster the development of relations between our member Authorities, (and, thereby, the racing industries that they serve), to give support to the developing racing nations in our region and to promote compliance with international best practice in administration. Two-thirds of our members are also European Union member states and another important task for us is to represent the interests of European racing before the European Union bodies. How and when did EMHF start? Before EMhF, there existed an informal group of smaller European racing nations, known as the European Racing Development Conference (ERDC). Brainchild of the then-Chief Executive of the Swedish Jockey Club, Bjorn Eklund, ERDC had been formed in order to represent the interests of these smaller countries and encourage communication between them. In 2008, Bjorn Eklund made a presentation to the annual Conference of the IFhA in Paris, suggesting the closer integration of ERDC into the International Federation’s fold. The idea was well received by IFhA President, Louis Romanet and it was decided to create a new Federation, subsuming the ERDC, but also including the major European Racing nations, to bring greater unity to the region. Thus was EMhF born. Its founding meeting was held in Stockholm in June 2010. Brian Kavanagh, Chief Executive of horse Racing Ireland, who is also one of the three Vice-Chairmen of the IFhA, has been in the Chair from the start, supported by three Vice-Chairmen, Thierry Lohest of Belgium, representing European Union countries, Behcet homurlu of Turkey, representing other European countries and Omar Skalli, of Morocco, representing Mediterranean countries. Bjorn Eklund is still involved, as our Life President.
How did you get involved and what was the appeal to you of the EMHF? I had always taken a keen interest in international racing, representing Britain on committees like the IFhA’s Technical Advisory Committee. I used to go to the old ERDC meetings just as an observer, because the nature of racing in the less obvious countries fascinated me. In 2012, the IFhA decided to devolve greater responsibilities to its Regional Federations and I was approached to work on a part-time basis as its Secretary-General. At the time I was Racing Director at Weatherbys, a firm I had been with for over thirty years, with various responsibilities, including for Banking, Insurance, Publishing and Bloodstock Sales Cataloguing. I am also now Technical Advisor for Europe to the IFhA. I feel truly fortunate to have been able, through EMhF, to experience some of the jewels of European racing which remain very little known outside the local area. We use our two annual meetings (one General Assembly and of Executive Council Meeting), to showcase the racing in the country concerned, and we try to avoid the usual suspects when looking for volunteers to host. My very first meeting was in Waregem, a small, pristine Belgian town. Once a year, when they hold their annual race meeting that features the Grand SteepleChase des Flandres, the whole town closes down, because everyone is at the races. It’s packed, the course layout is eccentric and it’s a great day’s entertainment. Another time, we were hosted by the hungarian authorities and saw the hungarian Derby at the country’s sole racecourse, Kincsem Park,
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