That Purveyor of Memorable Lines (if not yet by Appointment to HMQ, then surely so one day), Ralph Topping, once said that it was time for Betfair to ‘lift the Kimono‘ so that everyone could see what was underneath.
It would seem a good moment to resurrect the line, but rather than for Betfair, for the BHA.
Some of us have been saying for years that they are flogging a dead horse with their one-eyed pursuit of an argument that they are never going to win. In my case, I have been saying that it almost doesn’t matter who is right and who is wrong in the debate: if you lose an argument as many times as the BHA have lost this one, it is time to turn your attention to a battle which you have a chance of success in, rather than spending fortunes trying to prove you are right when the law keeps telling you that you are wrong.
Having not heeded that advice, and having now once again been told – this time by their own QC – that there is no basis in law for the position that the BHA would like to exist, is it about time, in the spirit of Kimono-lifting, that the BHA came clean on what have been their costs on this escapade to date?
Over the last six years, how much money, originally collected via the Levy for the betterment of horse racing, has instead been spent on legal fees, consultation drafting, and management time better spent on addressing some of the fundamental problems facing racing, just for independent expertise to point out exactly the same thing that was concluded in the 2005 Treasury Review?
Mark – Is there any way to force something similar to a Freedom of Information request to get this out or is the likelihood of us ever finding out how much has been wasted on this fiasco next to zero?
I’m afraid I think it’s zero…