Beleaguered trainer Bethell bemoans racing's confusion

Many people involved are worn down by an overwhelming suspicion that the economics of the industry are about to be damaged beyond repair with a massive reduction in the Levy.

That state of affairs will be the topic of conversation over lunch at Wetherby today by a group including Yorkshire MPs, trainers, representatives of racecourse managements and the promoters of Racing United, a campaign for what most in racing see as a much fairer, ring-fenced way of assessing and distributing the Betting Levy.

Whether, at this late stage, they have any chance of making an impact remains in serious doubt.

The decline in Levy money and the ramifications of that have been obvious to many within racing for some time, including Middleham trainer James Bethell.

After a working lifetime spent in racing – starting at the age of 17 and still heavily involved with his 59th birthday coming up in February – Bethell admits he has never felt as depressed as he does today. As with most trainers, levels of prize-money are the major cause for concern.

"We are lucky to have courses like Thirsk, Pontefract, Ripon, Beverley and York who all try to maintain levels of prize-money despite the shortfall from the Levy, whereas Redcar, Catterick and Wetherby do not seem to make any effort at all," he says.

"I had a horse run in a race at Redcar this year and the winning owner's prize-money was 1,079. I told the chairman Lord Zetland, 'That must be the first time in the history of racing that the jockey earned more from his riding fee than he did from his percentage of the winnings.' With prize-money like that – and likely to get worse – it is extremely difficult to attract owners into the game; they have no chance of paying their training costs through prize-money.

"At the same time trainers are faced with rises in the price of straw, hay and feed for the horses but because we have to keep our fees competitive in the hope of finding new owners we cannot pass on those extra costs. We are trapped in a vicious circle.

"Racing is in such a confused state no one knows who is running what. The last Government did away with the Jockey Club but at least the old boys knew their racing. Now there are too many people involved who have no idea. It really would be nice to know who is in charge."

Those are Bethell's thoughts on the wider issues affecting racing but as former chairman of the Middleham Trainers' Association he is keenly aware of difficulties closer to home.

"We have just lost three trainers here – Paul Murphy has had enough, Chris Thornton is retiring and Joss Saville is going to work in America," he said.

"On top of that Manor House Stables are empty, Spigot Lodge is barely half full and a lot of other yards in Middleham are just bumping along.

"The top 20 trainers in the country are doing well; the rest of us are fighting just to stand still."

Problems facing the racing industry

Lack of political will to resolve future of the Horserace Betting Levy and the Tote including the failure of an outdated system to acknowledge exchanges and internet sites are not paying their dues to racing.

Owners threatening to boycott meetings in protest at bookmakers' reduced contribution to racing's funding.

Prize-money in future likely to crumble as the Levy shrinks further (down 35 per cent in two years) with football and other sports overtaking racing in gross betting turnover.

Fears of courses closing as funding runs out.

Owners unable to cover their training costs through prize-money.

Job losses among the 20,000 full-time employees in racing.

Rising costs for trainers.