FAI unlikely to force big funding change, but racing should adjust its attitude

Fadó Fadó, when the Horse & Greyhound Fund began, yours truly pitched the valid if naive question as to how sustainable or fair an economic model it was that a sector generating such a small percentage of turnover should get all the tax revenue.

It didn’t go down well among racing’s great and good; it was no sure thing back then as to how long the theorem set to transform Irish racing’s finances might last. Only those with no skin in the game could dwell on the absence of some perfect QED to Charlie McCreevy’s ground-breaking initiative.

It’s only taken a couple of decades, but that discrepancy lingers at the heart of the Football Association of Ireland’s shot at trying to get their hands on some of that betting tax revenue which this year will see €72.8 million of State funding go to racing.

Lots of comment has been generated by the FAI’s commissioned report which essentially boils down to declaring that, since soccer generates nearly as much betting turnover as racing these days, it’s only fair the game here should get a slice of the tax action too.

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You can’t blame the FAI for trying and they clearly feel they’ve little to lose by stirring things up. But they must know as well as anyone that fair’s got nothing to do with anything. The only dividend from this shot across the Government bows is likely to have been paid out already – but only in headlines.

It mightn’t prove a shot to nothing either, as reducing it to some football versus racing spat looks politically self-defeating for the FAI.

It’s true Irish racing generates a small fraction of betting turnover in this country. But it dwarfs what’s wagered on the League of Ireland. Any algorithm capable of dividing up betting tax revenue proportionally winds up with the FAI probably getting no more than 50 quid and a bag of balls.

In the absence of some perfect sum, racing has got State funding for 22 years simply because successive governments have decided it’s worth it. One can argue the semantics of when stimulus becomes subsidy. But various coalitions totted up the figures and reckoned racing to be a good bet.

That is underlined by how the docket gets written out annually. Despite Horse Racing Ireland consistently arguing the case, there is nothing in legislation to ringfence this money. But Government has kept giving.

It does mean the revenue stream is subject to policy change, although that’s unlikely to occur anytime soon. In fact, amid all the din surrounding the FAI report, perhaps the most interesting noise has been the sound of silence from Sinn Féin.

From the party likely to lead the next government there has been criticism in recent years about how prize money might get distributed more equitably but not the basic principle of State backing: bottom line, Sinn Féin backs the Sport of Kings.

If there are more than a few holes in the FAI report, it is on stronger ground when pointing out how HRI figures about numbers employed by the industry might be over-egged.

No fishmonger ever got rich by shouting “stale fish for sale”. But HRI claiming for itself the more than 6,000 people employed in betting shops in this country for instance does reek of overkill.

There is a strong whiff too from the widely discredited ‘trickle down’ economic model used to justify the €68.6 million that will be spent on prize money this year.

About 60 per cent of that will come from HRI and Willie Mullins’ recent record prize money haul of over €7 million underlines the point about how much of it goes to so few. Nevertheless, demanding some exemplary equality in return for funding smacks of demanding too much.

Ultimately, it is big odds about any imminent change to how the State supports racing. Over two decades it has created a unique funding model that in return has supplied jobs, revenue and the prestige of conspicuous success worldwide for horses, trainers and jockeys from this country.

It’s also a model that has facilitated some regrettable instincts within the sport.

With such a financial safety-net in place, a conservative and rather insular sector hasn’t had to chase popular support in the way other major racing jurisdictions dependent on betting turnover must do to prosper.

Making the essential product attractive to the public, especially in terms of reassurances over integrity and governance, has too often appeared to be an exercise in PR jargon rather than a pressing issue for racing’s long-term health and prosperity.

It behoves a sport in receipt of so much public money to live up to its side of the bargain in terms of standards and accountability. Too often it has failed to get its house in order until embarrassed into doing so. The outcome has been a series of controversies that have caused reputational damage.

They don’t appear to have undermined the political willingness to sustain racing’s unique funding model. The FAI’s accusation of unfairness is a reminder, though, that that shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Something For The Weekend

At the start of the classic season, it’s almost sacrilege not to focus on Saturday’s Newmarket 2,000 Guineas where either of Aidan O’Brien’s hopes, Auguste Rodin or Little Big Bear, could emerge as racing’s next superstar.

Coolmore’s great rivals at Godolphin are also double-handed and although he’s the apparent second string, 16-1 about the unbeaten Noble Style (4.40) suggests it’s worth taking a punt on him properly lasting out the mile.

It’s also classic time in the US where the Kentucky Derby – the most exciting two minutes in sport – takes place at Churchill Downs and is live on Sky Sports. The 30-1 shot Disarm (11.57) might make it even more exciting.