LORD ALLEN RIDES IN: CAN THE BUSINESSMAN-WHO-WASN’T-A-HORSE-GUY SAVE BRITISH RACING FROM ITSELF?

Racing’s rudderless no more – but the ship’s still leaking

After months of high-speed dithering and public “consultation” that made it look like the sport was being run by a WhatsApp group of anxious vicars, British racing finally has a captain again. Lord Charles Allen, industrial overlord, Labour peer, and all-round veteran of making complex organisations just about work, is officially taking the reins at the British Horseracing Authority.

He’s not from racing. Which, frankly, might be the best thing about him. Because if you’ve watched the last decade of racing governance, you’ll know it’s been less Royal Ascot and more Succession with fewer decent suits and slightly worse language. Endless turf wars between racecourses, owners, and the sort of people who use the word “stakeholder” like it’s a spell from Harry Potter. Everyone wants change—so long as it only affects other people.

Now, at last, there’s someone at the top with a plan. And crucially, no 30-year vendetta involving a steward’s enquiry in 1998 clouding his judgment.

Allen doesn’t need to love horses – he just needs to sort the humans out

Let’s deal with the obvious first. No, Lord Allen hasn’t spent his weekends mucking out stables or arguing with jockeys about whip rules. He didn’t come up through the bloodstock world or spend his childhood sneaking into Tattersalls with binoculars and dreams. But what he does have is a proven track record of leading big, complicated operations and actually getting things done.

He turned ITV from a punchline into a contender. He helped run the 2012 Olympics without the opening ceremony turning into a bin fire. He’s worked in sport, media, finance, and the kind of boardrooms where people say things like “we need to pivot” with a straight face. He’s not here for vanity. He’s here because the sport needs fixing—and he thinks he can do it.

And unlike some of the tweed-clad echo chambers of the racing world, Allen actually seems to want the whole industry to win: from Newmarket to Newcastle, from syndicate owners to the lad who hoses down the horses at 6am in the rain.

Independence or bust – no more foxes in the henhouse

Allen’s master plan starts with independence. Specifically, stripping the BHA board of all the internal politicking that’s paralysed the sport for years. No more directors installed to protect vested interests. No more endless loops of self-preservation dressed up as strategy. Just a clean, accountable, independent governing body that actually governs.

It’s not sexy. It’s not flashy. But it’s absolutely necessary.

Because right now, racing is trying to function like a Formula One team where every mechanic thinks they should be team principal. The BHA regulates, runs, promotes, begs for funding, argues with government, sells rights, talks to the press, balances the books—and gets criticised for every part of it. Allen’s vision (which nearly didn’t happen, let’s not forget) is to separate those functions and put proper grown-ups in charge of each.

It’s long overdue. You don’t fix a car by shouting at the gearbox and pretending the brakes don’t exist. You fix it by understanding how each part works and letting people get on with it.

Yes, there are doubters – but their arguments are as old as the sport

Predictably, not everyone’s thrilled. The ROA worries about cost. Some racecourses fear a loss of control. A few mutter darkly about “media rights” and “fixtures” like Dickensian lawyers waving dusty contracts. But let’s be honest: these are the same complaints that have been rolled out every time anyone’s tried to modernise the sport since it stopped being broadcast in black and white.

The Jockey Club’s on board. Major independent tracks are backing him. The trainers want leadership. The staff want stability. And the fans—yes, the long-suffering, insulted, priced-out fans—just want the sport to stop tripping over its own shoelaces.

Racing needs rescuing – but it can still be brilliant

Let’s not sugar-coat it. British racing is in a bad way. Attendances are down. Prize money’s stagnating. The calendar is bloated. Talent is leaking to Ireland, France, Australia—basically anywhere with a pulse and a cheque book.

But it’s also still one of the greatest sporting products on Earth. It’s heritage, excitement, drama, beauty, heartbreak and glory, all wrapped up in 60 seconds of pure adrenaline. It’s the Derby. Cheltenham. A grey Monday at Hexham with a horse you’ve followed for five years. It’s betting slips, hope, despair, and the occasional miracle. It deserves to succeed.

What it doesn’t deserve is being run like a parish council with delusions of grandeur.

What racing needs now: unity, not another civil war

Allen’s not perfect. He’s not some silver bullet saviour. But he’s probably the best shot British racing’s had in 20 years. And if the sport eats him alive—if it sabotages his reforms, chokes on its own bureaucracy, and drives him out in a haze of passive-aggressive committee meetings—then it deserves every empty grandstand it gets.

But if the sport, for once, backs the person it hired… if it embraces proper reform, holds itself accountable, and finally stops being distracted by its own reflection—then maybe, just maybe, British racing can do more than just survive.

It can thrive. It can grow. And it can remind the country why this magnificent, maddening sport still matters.

So saddle up, Charles. We’re with you. Now don’t let the bastards drag you down.