Independent ownership breeds success at Roodee

Apr 23 2008 by Tony McDonough, Liverpool Daily Post

“The May meeting is our showcase event of the year and that has a very strong corporate market.”

Thomas, who is married with two children, was born in Wrexham but did most of his growing up across the border in Cheshire. He joined the Royal Marines straight from school and spent five years as a military man. His career in the racing industry began shortly after he left.

He added: “I knew very little about racing, but I applied for and got the job as operations manager at Aintree racecourse. I spent two years there and then moved to another course, Huntingdon, to be its general manager.”

Thomas later took the helm at Haydock racecourse and eventually landed at Chester almost eight years ago.

The way forward, he believes, is to see the job as being responsible for a leisure operation rather than just a racecourse.

But, in common with all UK racecourses, a significant part of Chester’s income comes from two sources – the Bookmakers’ Levy and TV rights.

In 2004, Chester joined forces with a number of other top courses across the country to form Racing UK (RUK), a subscription satellite and cable channel. Coverage of the sport on terrestrial TV was declining, and the industry felt it was vital to keep horse racing in people’s living rooms.

Thomas said: “Channel 4 has done a fantastic job with racing over the years, but we now live in a digital age. There is room for more than one channel now, because there are days when one channel would not be able to show all the racing available.”

High street bookmakers across the country depend on live racing coverage to keep their punters happy. For several years, this was provided by a satellite broadcaster called SIS, but that monopoly is now broken with the emergence in 2007 of rival TurfTV.

At first, the big three bookmakers – Ladbrokes, William Hill and Coral – resisted signing up but, one by one, they have agreed to take the service.

Collectively, they estimate it costs them around £35m a year and they are not happy. They are putting pressure on the Government to reform the “levy” which sees 10% of their gross profits handed over to the horse racing industry. This is currently worth around £90m a year, but the bookies want to see it cut.

Predictably, racecourses think the opposite and believe the levy should actually be increased. The Government is promising reform but is dragging its feet.

Thomas’s view is clear. He said: “The levy is very important to the industry and the racecourses do rely on it.

“The bookmakers are benefiting from the use of our product and I don’t think they pay enough for it. This issue does need to be resolved.”

Thomas is keen to expand the company’s general leisure offering and reduce its dependency on things like the levy. Polo tournaments at the course are proving a success, with Thomas himself a keen player. “My main hobbies are all horse-related,” he adds, although he also confesses to being a Manchester United season ticket holder.

“My main ambition here is for us to become the main host for leisure activities in and around the Chester area, to add to the major events we are already bringing to the city.

“With Aintree and Haydock also in the North West, we have a great offering here – other regions are very envious of us.”

Q&A

Age: 37

Highest educational qualification: Marketing degree

Biggest achievement: Getting Chester to where it is now

Biggest regret: Manchester United not buying Berbatov (he plays for Tottenham)

Best advice received: Make sure you work hard and play hard

Main unfulfilled ambition: To win the Victor Ludorum Polo Championship

tonymcdonough@dailypost.co.uk