Please, Sir Keir, racing is being battered and we NEED your help before it's too late

Scottish Sun

21-07-2025

Crowds are flocking back to tracks but developments off it could wreck our sport's future
MATT CHAPMAN Please, Sir Keir, racing is being battered and we NEED your help before it's too late
SIR KEIR, are you listening? Do you know what is going on? Has anyone talked to you?
Tax nightmares. Affordability checks. Labour peer frustrations.
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Racing is booming at the moment with punters returning to tracks - but huge headwinds in the shape of harsh taxation lie in wait
Credit: PA
It appears racing is being battered in every direction. Who is listening? It remains hard to know.
I've written before and I'll write it again.
Considering horse racing is loved by the King and Queen downwards, it's quite extraordinary that it seems anyone who is part of the sport seemingly finds it impossible to get the ear of the Prime Minister.
But while everyone is shouting from the rooftops about the current mayhem and possible nightmares around the corner, whether those in charge of Government have any idea what is happening behind the scenes is just a guessing game.
We know Sir Keir Starmer and his wife, Victoria, like horse racing.
Remember the day after the General Election? Victoria was having a day out at the Eclipse at Sandown.
Not so long ago Sir Keir was also at Doncaster for the St Leger to watch Jan Brueghel land his victory for Aidan O'Brien.
And yet, there is every chance the Labour Government is on the verge of lumping a huge taxation on the Sport of Kings that could be the beginning of the end.
For those of you who don't know, that's because there is a current Treasury proposal to harmonise remote gambling tax rates, which could result in a raise to the rate on sports betting (including horseracing) from 15 per cent to 21 per cent.
It all comes at a time when racing attendances are up - although no doubt partly due to good weather - allowing the sport to remain as the second most watched in the country.
Above all that, though, horse racing already contributes over £4billion to the national economy and supports in the region of 85,000 jobs.
Why would you even contemplate wrecking that?
All this is going on at the same time Lord Allen continues to sit on the bench while he decides whether he wants to become BHA chairman.
Many in racing think he is sent from God to make everything all right, although as of yet I've seen nothing on paper to back that up.
That all said, everyone knows the governance needs a massive change.
We really only hear one side of the Lord Allen 'will he join or won't he join' saga.
But I'm led to believe he's put forward a proposal which basically says accept it or I walk.
I am also led to believe he wants a hefty salary for whoever he makes CEO in place of Brant Dunshea.
I can't back this up. It's just the word on the street.
If Lord Allen is the Messiah, though, you would have thought he'd have already been talking to Sir Keir and messages would be coming back to racing about the tax issue.
It's been silent as far as I am aware.
So Sir Keir. The question is simple.
Do you hear us? Do you know what is going on?
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