From the beginning of the Le Trot project, the BHRC and many of their Promoters have done everything possible to accommodate the requirements of TrotBritain. However, TrotBritain as organiser and promoter of the Le Trot races, continue to remain unaffiliated to the BHRC.
At all times the BHRC have deemed it important to support the licence holders who have taken up the option to race a Le Trot horse. With this in mind the BHRC Directors and their Officials have been available for every race staged; the Integrity Officers have worked with them from Musselburgh to Chelmsford and many other tracks; the Office has spent many hours from a demanding schedule to achieve smooth administration of Le Trot races; special qualifying days have been staged purely for Le Trot horses. It is deeply disturbing therefore, to see a Senior Director and founding member of TrotBritain, take to social media and launch criticism and condemnation on these same BHRC Directors.
The democratic decision taken by the BHRC on who to send to the WTC was based on the same principles used for circa 40 years – that all licence holders and affiliated promoters be represented equally. The conference this year in Sweden will be attended by a BHRC Director and a STAGBI Director as representatives of the internationally recognised governance of Harness Racing and Registration. The membership fee is split between the two bodies. In all countries where trotting and pacing co-exist there is a mutual respect for the two codes and the BHRC believe this is vital to safeguard the sport.
The views expressed by TrotBritain on social media were both unfounded and inaccurate. In addition the platform used to voice them is neither a professional nor acceptable choosing.
The BHRC have been in correspondence with TrotBritain in regard to their latest requests since November 2018. The BHRC invited TrotBritain to put forward an Agenda on any issues which they wanted to raise or discuss with the BHRC. Unfortunately both organisations reached an impasse due to TrotBritain’s opinion that the BHRC should agree to their requests in advance of any formal discussions or meeting; a demand that the BHRC Directors could not fulfil. The invite to submit an Agenda was ultimately taken up by TrotBritain on 5th February 2019. The next full BHRC Directors meeting will be held on 2nd March 2019, where issues including a meeting and the future relationship of the BHRC and TrotBritain will be discussed in depth.