BHA

Charlie Parker, newly appointed president of the Racehorse Owners' Association, will join the Board of the British Horseracing Authority. Parker's three-year term with ROA begins on June 30, while a three-year term as BHA Director commences on July 1. "Charlie will be a valuable addition to our team of Directors and I look forward to working alongside him, our colleagues nominated by racecourses, and the independent members of our Board," said The BHA Chair, Annamarie Phelps. "I'd like to thank [outgoing ROA president] Nicholas [Cooper] for his contribution to the...

David Sykes will step down from his role as the British Horseracing Authority's Director of Equine Health and Welfare before the end of the year. He will return to his native Australia for family reasons. Since joining the BHA in 2017, Sykes has been involved in the development of the Horse Welfare Board; the handling of the 2019 equine flu outbreak; the publication of a detailed review of safety and welfare at the Cheltenham Festival; the implementation of 30-day foal notifications and changes to the ways in which retired racehorses...

The G2 Dante S. and G3 Musidora S. will be run at York on July 9 this year, the British Horseracing Authority announced on Tuesday. The two races traditionally act as Derby and Oaks trials respectively, but with the Epsom Classics taking place on July 4 that is not the case this season following various changes to the race calendar necessitated by the coronavirus shutdown. The Dante was originally due to be held on May 14, with the Musidora a day earlier. Click for the revised Flat and Jump programmes...

There will be nine more UK fixtures in June and July catering to horses rated in the 50s and high 40s, the British Horseracing Authority announced on Tuesday. Also emphasised during the new fixtures are novice races, with the updated British fixture list available here and an updated race programme through June 30 is available on the Racing Admin site. July's race programme will be published by early next week. The nine new fixtures are as follows: June 10 - Wolverhampton June 11 - Newbury June 15 - Kempton Park...

The date of June 1 has for several weeks been dangling tantalisingly over British racing as the earliest possible day of resumption for a sport which has been under wraps since Mar. 18, five days before country went into full lockdown. With restrictions having been eased in recent weeks, hopes continued to grow that racing could be one of the first professional sports to burst back into action from the coronavirus-enforced hiatus, but it took until 4pm on Saturday, May 30 for the government to grant its consent publicly. There...

The British Horseracing Authority has published a provisional fixture list for the remainder of June, July and August. Racing's governing body had previously released the programme for racing's first week of resumption from June 1, and says the full programme for the remainder of June will be published on Monday. The BHA also published its guidelines for the safe resumption of racing. "We had originally hoped to complete and publish the June race programme this week, however with elements of this still to be finalised, doing so would have provided...

Trainers in Britain can now apply to train in partnership, according to a regulatory update released by the British Horseracing Authority. A statement issued on Thursday read, "Two separate individuals can now apply for a training partnership licence. If approved, this will result in a new training entity being created and a joint licence to train being granted. "Both individuals comprising a training partnership are required to meet all the existing pre-requisite criteria covering competency and capability. In addition, both applicants must complete all the related modular training courses in...

There is one thing about the delayed start to the flat season-it means that more trainers are still riding Classic dreams than is normally the case by mid-May. Mark Johnston is the winningmost trainer in British history-he has saddled 4508 winners in the country-and each year since 2017 he has sent out in excess of 200 winners in a season. So chances are Johnston has more than a few horses in his Kingsley Park Yard in Yorkshire to look forward to when racing in Britain resumes presumably early next month....

Mark Johnston, Britain's winningmost trainer, gives up an update on some of his stable stars and shares his thoughts on the BHA's Review of the Buying and Selling Practices of Bloodstock and Racehorses.

Horses trained outside Britain will only be allowed to run in the three Group 1 races during the opening fortnight of the delayed British Flat season. All other races in Britain during the first weeks of the season will be closed to international runners following the planned resumption on June 1. In an update released on Friday evening, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) announced that it will allow horses from overseas to run in the Coronation Cup (June 5), 2000 Guineas (June 6) and 1000 Guineas (June 7). It read,...

The British Horseracing Authority is working its plans for a return of racing off a June 1 resumption date that will begin with a meeting at Newcastle, it revealed on Thursday evening. The governing body had released further details on Wednesday of its plans for the first seven days of racing's return, including dates for the season's first four Classics, without a concrete start date, but a release on Thursday began, "Following the UK Government's publication of a provisional timeline for the return of sport, we are now planning for...

British racing's leaders will meet on Monday following the government's expected Sunday announcement regarding the country's plans for the easing and gradual exit from lockdown. There has been no racing in Britain since the two National Hunt meetings held behind closed doors at Wetherby and Taunton on March 17. The weekly update from the Resumption of Racing Group stated, "We understand that everyone across the industry wants to know the date on which racing can resume. We are continuing to have positive conversations with government, including public health officials. However,...