Future of Horseracing

Neil Hudson Excerpts

Wednesday 25th October 2023 Westminster Hall

[Dr Neil Hudson (Penrith and The Border) (Con)]

It is a privilege to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hosie, and I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk (Matt Hancock) on securing this debate. He is a passionate champion of British horseracing.

As an equine vet, I am absolutely passionate about this sector; I believe that it has a strong future, but we firmly need to look out for it and protect it. I should declare my professional and personal interests in this area. I am a veterinary surgeon, a fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and a member of the British Equine Veterinary Association. I was a member of the BHA’s whip consultation steering group and a part of the BHA-convened horse and society group. In my past career, I have received research moneys from the Horserace Betting Levy Board and from the Horse Trust for veterinary research in equine health and welfare. I have chaired the World Horse Welfare conference for the last couple of years. Finally, I am an officer of the all-party parliamentary group on the horse.

I firmly believe that the future for this sector is strong. As we have heard in previous speeches, it provides £4.1 billion to the economy; it employs 20,000 people directly, and perhaps over 80,000 indirectly; there are 5 million racegoers a year, making it the second largest sport after football in this country; and there are 59 courses in the UK, hosting some of the great races, including the 1,000 Guineas, the 2,000 Guineas, the Epsom Derby, the Oaks, the St Leger, the Cheltenham gold cup and the grand national. In addition, there are 550 training yards, 660 stud farms and upwards of 14,000 horses in training.

I will restrict my comments today to certain areas. I will touch on money and finance, but I will focus on the people, the horses and the social licence. On the people involved, as we have heard, there are significant staff shortages in this sector, and the Migration Advisory Committee recommended earlier this month that certain parts of the equine sector be added to the shortage occupation list. I encourage the Government to accept that proposal. Also, there is potentially a shortage of vets, so we need to increase capacity and the training of vets, but we must also work to increase retention in the profession.

There is also the issue of people coming into the horse world. Many young people who come into this world do so through riding schools. However, there has been a 15% reduction in the number of riding schools since 2018, so that is also something we need to look at. The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, of which I am a member, produced a report on rural mental health. That involved talking to people in rural communities about their connectivity, transport and housing issues. People who work in the sector that we are discussing are affected by those issues, which we also need to look at.

To have a thriving horseracing industry, we need healthy horses, so we need to look out for their health and welfare. Biosecurity is absolutely pivotal in that regard, as is disease surveillance. Sadly, a few years ago we lost the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket, but the Cambridge vet school had the foresight to take in the trust’s senior workers—Richard Newton, Fleur Whitlock and Máire O’Brien—so the equine infectious disease surveillance unit still exists. That is so important as an early warning system to keep the equine population safe.

Over the last few years, in the coronavirus pandemic, we saw the impact of a disease that is infectious to humans. In 2001, in the foot and mouth epidemic, racing was shut down, even though horses are not affected by foot and mouth virus.

During the equine influenza outbreak in 2019, British horseracing shut down for a short period, and in 2022 there was a shortage of flu vaccines for horses; so we need to keep an eye on the availability of medicines and vaccines. Heaven forbid we get an exotic disease such as African horse sickness coming into our country, but if we did the impact would be catastrophic—the level of magnitude of foot and mouth disease—so we need to be very, very clear on that.

I realise this is not the Minister’s responsibility, but the future of horseracing needs to be looked at by DCMS and also the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and across Government. We need to adequately fund the Animal and Plant Health Agency, which needs a rebuild and redevelopment. The Government have committed £1.2 billion, but it needs another £1.6 billion. We had the Secretary of State and the permanent secretary in front of the EFRA Committee yesterday and they are clear that the agency needs to be redeveloped. Again, I put that on the record.

On EFRA we produced a report on the movement of animals across borders. Some of the key recommendations included improving the equine identification system in central databases. People involved in the horseracing industry will know about the free, safe and practical movement of horses. Prior to leaving the EU there was the tripartite agreement between the UK, France and Ireland. We need to get a good replacement for that, so that the high performance élite animals can be moved safely and practically.

Equally, we need to improve identification so that we can stop the abhorrent practice of horses being illegally exported to Europe for slaughter. We must clamp down on that.

I will say something briefly about money, although that has been covered by colleagues. On the Horserace Betting Levy Board, there is a need for reform. It is important to make sure that part of the moneys coming in gets put back into the sector to support the people and the horses in terms of improving racing and breeding and also the advancement of veterinary science and research. The HBLB does great work in producing codes of practice in infectious diseases.

On the social licence, it is so important for horseracing to have that contract with the public and the public consent for that great sport to be allowed to continue. I believe that racing gets that. The British Horseracing Authority’s whip review has started that work. My hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Laura Farris) mentioned equine welfare. Some great work has been done by the BHA’s Horse Welfare Board, which produced the “A life well-lived” document.

We need to ensure that we support foals from birth to the start of their racing career and through to retirement and beyond. I firmly back my hon. Friend’s comments on the Retraining of Racehorses charity. We must look after the animals throughout their entire journey.

On safety and welfare, there are increasing veterinary checks in racing to make it a safer sport for the horses and the jockeys. That is an important part of the social licence as well. In Australia they have had lots more pre-racing diagnostic imaging panels set up for the Melbourne cup, which is something that is being looked at internationally. There is increasing research into injuries and fatalities.

I very much welcome the grand national’s changes for next year. Over the years we have seen changes in the jumps, but next year they will be reducing the number of runners from 40 to 34. The first fence will be brought closer to the start and there will be a standing start to reduce the speed of the horses when they take the first jump. It is important that the industry is aware of that, so that that social licence granted by the public continues moving forward. I believe the racing industry gets it, and we need to move forward on that.

If we look after the people and the horses and have sensible and pragmatic financing, and put some of that financing back into supporting those people and horses, the future of racing will be bright.