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This is as close to an answer as I’ve found so far, Mike; although whether we could go as far as inferring from it that the 1,200 "Racecourse fixtures", as they’re known, are owned by the BHA I’m not altogether sure:
http://www.britishhorseracing.com/gorac … racing.asp
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Once a fixture has been granted it probably becomes a historical and legal right / asset of the racecourse. So another course cannot run "the Derby" the day before Epsom does without their permission. BHA probably own the fixture list rather than the individual fixtures.
"A (BHA) spokesman told the Guardian: "We acknowledge there is some uncertainty when it comes to the ownership of those fixtures which are classed as ‘racecourse fixtures’, especially in cases whereby the ownership of the racecourse in question involves a third party such as a county council. If the issue was contested, it may be required for a legal third party to make a judgement."
Nobody knows – which is quite amazing even for UK racing.
Recent Arena/NR developments would suggest that the owners of the racecourses hold the fixtures.
The BHA didn’t exactly say "no" when Arena/NR said they intended to redistribute the yet to be allocated 2013 fixtures throughout the other racecourses in their group.
Martin
Except they did.
Great Leighs were told they could not be part of the 2013 fixture list and would not be considered until 2014.
Arena want to race at Great Leighs next year and now ‘own’ spare fixtures from Folkestone to allocate among their other courses but the BHA have confirmed they can’t put any at Great Leighs and racing won’t happen there till 2014.
Probably some argument to go on that but looks like the Great Leighs staff will be mostly arranging minor equestrian shows, fairs and boot sales next year, unfortunately.
I am even more confused now following this announcement by the BHA about reducing the number of novice chases.
So is it the case that the BHA can’t dictate where fixtures take place but they can dictate which races make up the card? How can they do that if they don’t own the fixture?
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