BHB Chief Executive Greg Nichols said today:

“In the statement issued on 5th February, the BHB Board did not, as Arena Leisure today claimed, distance itself from the views expressed by Peter Savill, in his capacity as Chairman of Plumpton racecourse, in his letter to the Daily Telegraph published on 17th January. Nor were “the views and actions of an individual…corrected by the BHB as a whole”, as Arena also claimed.

“The Board, with the exception of the two RCA appointees, has, as BHB’s statement clearly said, “always been of the view that the RCA/racecourses breached the Future Funding Plan” and has obtained legal opinion to this effect. BHB’s statement also made clear the Board’s view that “the Future Funding Plan is dead” and that it saw “no constructive purpose over further debating the reason for its demise” nor of taking legal action to prove that the RCA/racecourses breached it. Such action would serve only to enrich the legal profession at the expense of racing.

“BHB now looks forward to moving on from this issue and to continuing to work with all sectors of the industry, including every racecourse.”