At its meeting on 16th January, the British Horseracing Board confirmed its commitment to achieve, by the middle of 2006, full industry agreement on the future governance structure of the sport and also by that time to have effected the actual separation of BHB’s governance and commercial activities.

Greg Nichols, Chief Executive of BHB since 2002, has indicated to the Board that he will not be putting his name forward for the role of Chief Executive of Racing’s restructured governing authority as he would prefer not to make a long-term commitment to the position. He therefore will stand down in mid-2006 to ensure an appropriate transition period.

The process for defining the job specification of and considering applications for the role of Chief Executive of the new governing authority will be on the agenda of the Governance Structure Group, set up following the recommendations of Lord Donoughue’s Future Funding of Racing Review Group (FFRRG) report. The Governance Structure Group held its first meeting after the 16th January Board meeting.

BHB Chairman Martin Broughton said: “The FFRRG has recommended that a new Governing Authority should be formed which would assume responsibility for the existing governance functions of BHB as well as the regulatory role of the Jockey Club and key areas of the Levy Board’s work.

“This organisation will naturally wish to appoint a Chief Executive who gives a long-term commitment to the position.

“Greg Nichols has shown total commitment to BHB and to the development of British Racing since 2002, which has been greatly appreciated by the Board and by the wider industry. The Board fully respects his decision not to put his name forward for the new role.”