The British Horseracing Board has repeated its determination to press ahead with its campaign for control of the Tote following a Board meeting yesterday.
As the Tote Review Steering Group headed by Tote Chairman Peter Jones prepares to submit recommendations to the Government shortly, newspaper reports have suggested the group may raise the possibility of a special Trust as an alternative to BHB control.
But the Board has reaffirmed the position first announced at the BHB Industry Forum last month.
BHB Chairman Peter Savill said: “”Naturally, the Board welcomes recent indications that the debate may be moving away from a solution based on privatisation, which would inevitably have put at risk the role of the Tote as a key source of increasing funds for British racing.
“”Racing should control the Tote, and the logical body to undertake that responsibility is the BHB, as the sport’s fully representative governing authority.
“”In 1991, the Home Affairs Select Committee recommended that the Tote should be transferred to racing without consideration, but wanted control to be given to ‘a democratically accountable body and one which is truly responsible to representative groups of all who work in the racing industry’.
“”We believe the Committee was right – and that the BHB now exists as the democratic and accountable body uniquely equipped to take on the task. This is the case we will continue to press in Westminster and Whitehall.””