Four legged beasties
When Charles II first came to Newmarket some 250 years ago he could hardly have imagined that the arguably world headquarters of horseracing would evolve there. Today there are 40 race meetings per year – in the summer on the July course and in the spring and autumn on the Rowley Mile.
We nearly lost the racing industry after the introduction of the Single European Act in 1993, because our VAT rate of 17.5% was hugely higher than the special low rate negotiated by the French and Irish. I was a new Member of Parliament and this was a potential catastrophe in my constituency. Mercifully we found a way round it, something which racing has not forgotten. Since then we have introduced Sunday racing and made race going much more appealing. So attendances keep rising, as do the number of horses in training. It is a major British exporting success story. There remain issues like how racing is financed and the future of the Tote. The trouble is that bloodstock prices have soared and prize money has not kept pace, and it is expensive to own and keep a racehorse.
Nevertheless on Friday the Shadow Chancellor George Osborne came to Newmarket, watched the bloodstock sales at Tattersalls, and had an enjoyable afternoon’s racing, meeting trainers like Michael Stoute, Henry Cecil, Willy Haggas and Michael Bell, and the irrepressible Frankie Dettori. He was given the warmest possible welcome by everyone. More and more people want to get rid of this tired government! I was delighted so many people were to be able to tell George this in person.