Riding to racing's rescue not easy for Priti Patel's brunch companions

The current Levy system with an extension to cover bets on foreign racing is the only immediate lifeline in the Covid crisisThe warmth of relations between racing’s most significant stakeholders – the tracks and the “horsemen” – has varied between frosty and glacial for as long as anyone can remember. The people who own, train and ride the horses tend to think that the tracks are awash with cash, and media rights money in particular, relatively little of which finds its way into prize funds. The racecourses, on the other hand, sense that some owners would cheerfully have the shirts off their backs if it meant another fifty quid in the pot for a mediocre midweek race.Yet now it seems that all that was required to get people talking was for Priti Patel to call in at John Gosden’s yard for brunch. As the Guardian revealed on Tuesday, the home secretary’s visit to the champion trainer’s Clarehaven Stables a couple of weeks ago, accompanied by her family, happened to be on a day when several more of Newmarket’s leading lights were in attendance. Continue reading... https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/sep/09/riding-to-racings-rescue-will-not-be-easy-for-priti-patel-brunch-companions-levy-horse-racing #horse_racing #the_levy #british_horseracing_authority #sport