The first stage of the BHA’s formal industry consultation regarding the future model for racecourse stewarding in Britain closed yesterday.

The aim of the consultation was to gather views on how to maintain the highest standards of racecourse decision-making as the sport modernises and becomes increasingly complex to regulate.

At the time of closing, 118 responses were received from a range of individuals, groups and stakeholder bodies.

Detailed recommendations will now be developed by the BHA, in consultation with the sport’s Members’ Committee, and the resulting options will then be the subject of further, more targeted consultation, involving the key stakeholder bodies in racing.

Jamie Stier, Chief Regulatory Officer for the BHA, said:

“We are extremely grateful to everyone who has taken part in this process, either by submitting an individual response or taking part in a group submission. We recognise that the consultation has generated a lot of interest from people who are passionate about the sport. We look forward to now getting to work on assessing the responses and using the feedback to generate proposals.

“We now go into the second phase of this process with an open mind as to what the proposals will look like. However, we remain committed to the fact that any solution should meet the initial objectives of delivering a stewarding model which provides confidence, accountability, consistency, quality, independence, sustainability and efficiency.”