BHA chair makes surprise decision to quit on eve of Cheltenham

The chair of the British Horseracing Authority has announced she is stepping down at the end of her first term in charge at the end of May. Annamarie Phelps made her surprise announcement on the eve of the sport’s most important meeting with the Cheltenham Festival due to start next week.

Former Olympic rower Phelps took up the role in June 2019 after working for a variety of governing bodies and had indicated in a newspaper interview last October that she was keen to extend her time at the head of racing’s regulators but the BHA is entering a period of reorganisation, and Joe Saumarez Smith, who is currently an independent non-executive director at the BHA, will now take on the position until the end of his term in the autumn of 2023.

The thorny issue of levy reform with racing seeking a doubling in prize money from revenue generated by gambling on the sport is also unresolved and will be seen as a major priority.

Phelps said: “Following discussions with the board of the BHA I have decided not to extend my time as BHA chair beyond the end of the current term. It has been a great privilege to lead the BHA during this challenging period for the sports sector, and to have recruited a fantastic CEO in Julie Harrington. I am immensely proud of what racing has achieved collectively in this time.

“I want to thank the amazing BHA team for navigating the pandemic and for keeping the show on the road behind the scenes, a role that is rarely acknowledged. It is a remarkable achievement that no fixtures were lost to Covid once British racing had become the first major sport to resume following the initial 2020 lockdown.

“We have also dealt successfully with some serious and complicated ethical and integrity matters that have set