Nevin Truesdale

After the required 100,000-signature mark was reached on a petition to review the proposed implementation of affordability checks, a debate on the subject will be held on Feb. 26, the British government's Petitions Committee announced. The petition was originally launched by Jockey Club chief executive Nevin Truesdale. British Horseracing Authority (BHA) chief executive Julie Harrington said in a statement, "We are pleased that the important issue of affordability checks will now be subjected to proper levels of parliamentary scrutiny. "The fact that our survey reached the required 100,000 signatures threshold...

The Jockey Club has pledged to extend its "commitment to openness" in sharing  figures relating to media rights payments to each of its 15 racecourses and other revenues. The news came on the back of an announcement of increased prize-money of £60.1 million across the 334 fixtures due to be staged by the Jockey Club in 2024. Of that, £31.8 million will come from Jockey Club funds, referred to as "executive contribution", representing a 66.5% increase across the last decade. In 2023, the Jockey Club's executive contribution was projected to...

Ben Newman, a "committed animal rights campaigner" who was filmed running onto Epsom Downs during the running of this year's G1 Derby in June, has been given a suspended prison sentence for breaking a High Court's injunction. The Jockey Club, which owns and operates Epsom Downs, had received an injunction banning the animal rights group Animal Rising of which Newman is a member, prior to the Derby in June. Newman's two-month prison sentence was suspended for 18 months during contempt of court proceedings on Wednesday. Tim James-Matthews, for Newman, said...

Youth Experience Days, which will give more UK young people access to horses, have been launched by insurance broker and risk management firm Gallagher and The Jockey Club. The experience days give children from some of the UK's most disadvantaged communities an opportunity to visit racecourses, meet trainers and spend time with leading figures from around the industry. The effort came about following the results of a survey that indicated 40% of 12-18-year-olds would consider working with equines. Last week, 25 children from the Rio Ferdinand Foundation spent the day...

So begins the campaign for Auguste Rodin (Ire) to meet Desert Crown (GB) and Adayar (Ire) in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. This column has precisely zero influence over anything at all, but as a racing fan increasingly concerned at the sidestepping of the greatest prize of high summer then it would be remiss of me not to bang the drum and rattle the tambourine a little.  How often have the last three winners of the Derby all still been in training? (We can make that four,...

Security measures are in place to avoid any disruption by protestors for the upcoming Betfred Derby Festival, The Jockey Club confirmed on Sunday. Both the Grand National and Scottish Grand National meetings attracted protestors that delayed proceedings to various degrees, but The Jockey Club is taking every possible precaution to avoid that scenario for the upcoming meeting on June 2-3. Epsom Downs Racecourse is owned and operated by The Jockey Club, and officials have met with the Surrey police in advance of the meeting. Nevin Truesdale, Chief Executive of the...

Officials at The Jockey Club have announced that it is budgeting to make a record executive contribution of £31.1 million for 2023. That figure is ahead by £2.7 million year-on-year and continues the upward trend of the last decade, where fully 93% of The Jockey Club's financial growth has been reinvested back into prize money (between 2012 and the pandemic, The Jockey Club has grown its core operating profit before prize money by £10.6 million per annum and put £9.9 million--93.4%--of this into prize money). The 9.5% rise in the...

Jockey Club Racecourses will distribute more than £58-million in prizemoney across its 15 racecourses in 2022, up £12-million from this year. The recorded purses will include the organisation's largest-ever budgeted executive contribution of £28.4-million. The average prizemoney per fixture will be a record £172,000. Jockey Club Racecourses will stage 338 fixtures in 2022. Nevin Truesdale, chief executive of The Jockey Club, said, "The pandemic has been an incredible challenge that we have had to meet head-on. We still cannot be certain about what 2022 will bring, but we have enough...

Prizemoney at The Jockey Club's racecourses will return to pre-pandemic levels for the fourth quarter of 2021. The Jockey Club will increase its prizemoney contributions by almost £1.5-million in the final three months of the year, boosting total purses for that quarter to more than £12.5-million; the projection had been £11-million. Therefore, total prizemoney for The Jockey Club's 15 racecourses in 2021 is expected to be more than £46-million. Prizemoney will increase across all levels at The Jockey Club's racecourses, and major races positively impacted include the G1 Darley Dewhurst...