Arena Racing’s fighting talk over media rights income is not certain to last when Berkshire racecourse posts its accounts
With plotlines that involve huge sums of money, deep-rooted suspicions and thinly veiled antipathy, racing’s continuing squabble over how much the tracks are trousering from media rights payments – and, by extension, how much they are giving back in prize money – has many of the elements of a Netflix potboiler, and last week, one of the leading players added some punchy dialogue to match.
In an interview with the Racing Post’s industry editor, Bill Barber, Martin Cruddace, the chief executive of Arena Racing Company (Arc), offered a robust response to those – including Julie Harrington, the British Horseracing Authority’s chief executive – that have called for more “transparency” about Arc’s media rights income, from online betting in particular.