THE next members of the Musselburgh Joint Racing Committee are expected to be chosen today at the meeting of the East Lothian Council.
Whoever takes on the role of chairperson will have a busy in-tray and John Prideaux hopes that there can be an end to the internal politics which he believes have proven detrimental to the progress of Musselburgh racecourse.
Prideaux has been a member of the Musselburgh Joint Racing Committee (MJRC) since 1995 in his capacity as one of the three members of the Lothian Racing Syndicate (LRS) and brings his own experience of sports administration during 14 years as secretary of Muirfield which encompassed two renewals of the Open championship.
Musselburgh is managed by the Musselburgh Joint Racing Committee (MJRC) which was established in 1994 and is made up of four councillors and three representatives from the LRS, and Prideaux points to what was achieved under the leadership of former East Lothian Council Provosts Pat O’Brien and Sheena Richardson as a time when the track made giant strides that saw it rise from what had appeared a terminal decline in the early 1990s.
“Then Musselburgh was like a down-market dog track – and I would be being unkind to the dog track,” he said. “Pat O’Brien and the other councillors were pulling in the best interests of Musselburgh racecourse and I cannot recollect any point going to a vote.
“Sheena Richardson took the politics out and was always trying to get consensus of opinion around the table.”
Consensus has been mainly conspicuous by its absence in recent meetings of the MJRC, which have generated far more heat than light under the leadership of former councillor John Caldwell, the subject of four no-confidence votes from the LRS and staff, who lost his seat in this month’s election.
Prideaux feels that a change from the present four-three split of the MJRC is needed as the new committee seeks to deal with the issues – including ratifying the latest accounts and budgets along with resolving long-running industrial relations problems - that have meant the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) only allowing Musselburgh a temporary racing licence.
This is the second consecutive three-month licence issued by the BHA and is due to expire on June 30th. Revoking the licence would, in Prideaux’s view, be the “nuclear option” for a track which generates a turnover of around £6million per year and has drawn widespread praise from the racing industry, but he believes the next meeting of the committee should be first step to change.
“It is the governance which is the worry,” he said. “They [the BHA] may well look at the budgets and accounts and be satisfied with those – and I’d be very surprised if they weren’t – but that does nothing to resolve the governance issue.
“What the Lothian Racing Syndicate believe, as a result for the past five years’ experience, is in the best interests of the racecourse would be an independent review of the structure. In the short term we accept that status quo has to remain and matters might improve under a different chairman.
“But what we must avoid is the same thing happening in the future.”
Prideaux, who has already made overtures to the leaders of the three parties on East Lothian Council, did not rule out the option of an independent chairman and dismissed accusations that this could be a power bid by the LRS. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. “We want what is best for the racecourse.”
*Solow, the winner of five Group One races for French trainer Freddy Head, has been retired from racing.
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