SPORTSPRO | EDITOR’S LETTER
ON THE HOME STRAIGHT Change is afoot in the world of horse sports. Quarantine regulations are being updated, veterinary practices are improving, gambling restrictions are being relaxed and horse sports are being promoted effectively beyond the boundaries of their traditional fanbases. On an international scale, the movement of horses, the breadth and depth of competition, and the level of interest in not only racing, but its equestrian sport cousins of eventing, show jumping, dressage, endurance riding, reining, vaulting and carriage riding, has never been greater. Equestrian sports – eventing, jumping, dressage etc – and racing share a tradition that stems back centuries. Man has harnessed the power of the horse since time immemorial. Yet despite the history of the relationship, and the universal nature of horse sports – they can be and are, after all, practised in every corner of the globe – owning and keeping a horse for the purpose of sport has never been a cheap pursuit. Whether for equestrian disciplines or for racing, the cost of buying, training, moving and maintaining an equine athlete puts the practice beyond the financial reach of the masses. Nevertheless, significant steps are being made across the globe to broaden both the appeal of and access to horse sports. Last year, to great success, the FEI brought its flagship competition, the FEI World Equestrian Games, to America for the first time. Also in the States, interest was piqued with the ultimately failed attempt of Zenyatta to beat the boys again at the Breeders’ Cup. Both racing and equestrian sports are taking on an increasingly international outlook. South America and China, where a Meydan-style
super-track is in the pipeline, are both opening up as valid markets for horse sports. The increase in quality of South African horses, and the monumental leaps in quarantine procedures that have been implemented in that country, have meant that South Africa, where buying and keeping a horse is far more economical, is beginning to make a mark on the world stage. Even in established horse sports markets, ownership is beginning to become a realistic option for those who still have to look at their bank statements. Harry Herbert, who, with his Highclere organisation, pioneered the concept of ownership syndicates in horse racing, reports that more and more people are becoming stakeholders in the sport. Highclere keeps around 45 racehorses on its books each year and with a share-ownership structure which makes owning a top-class horse possible for as little as UK£7,000 (as opposed to anything from UK£150,000 outright), it is no wonder his outfit, which was responsible for the highest-rated horse of last year, Harbinger, has managed to rebuff the effects of the recession. “Basically,” he says “we’re proving that effectively you don’t have to spend a fortune to have the greatest thrill of all, that you don’t have to splash out vast sums of money in order to play, and play at the highest level.” The power of horse sports to affect social change should not be underestimated. Princess Haya, the dynamic president of the FEI, speaks elsewhere in these pages of the transformative and liberating effect that equestrian sports can have on marginalised members of society. As a woman and a member of a royal family in the Arab world Princess Haya would never have experienced
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EDITOR James Emmett CHIEF SUB EDITOR
the type of freedom she enjoyed while competing as an equestrian athlete had it not been for the sport she now governs. The Hong Kong Jockey Club, whose chief executive, Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges is also interviewed in this publication, is the single largest taxpayer in Hong Kong and one of the most generous charitable benefactors in the world. In 2009, charitable contributions from the organisation and its charities trust to the wider Hong Kong community reached US$2.7 billion. Of course, as well as running racing in the country, the Hong Kong Jockey Club also operates a betting monopoly that includes the national lottery as well as betting on several sports other than horse racing. Few racing organisations have such a luxury. In Britain, the racing industry derives much of its income through the age-old system of the levy, by which bookmakers, operating in a competitive market, agree to give back a certain sum to the sport on which they piggy-back each year. The system has proved consistently contentious, particularly in recent years. But even here the winds of change are blowing, as both the bookmakers and the British racing industry await a parliamentary decision (due just days after this publication was due to go to print) that should see fundamental changes, including the inclusion of offshore betting and UK bets made on foreign racing, made to the levy. Furthermore, with Racing for Change making significant headway and the new British Champions Series set to debut this year, it is an exciting time to be involved in the horse sports industry. James Emmett Editor
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