Horse racing made the mainstream news last week for a bit of a different reason than usual, as talk of legalized street horse races has turned more than a few heads.
According to a brief article by Racing Post, two separate companies – ‘GAG 403 Limited’ and ‘City Racing’ – have been in discussion with the British Horseracing Authority in regard to the possibility of having a series of legal street horse races take place in cities, one of which is reported to be London.
"We will create a global circuit of horseracing events with high-quality local horses thundering down iconic city streets ridden by the world's top jockeys,” GAG 403’s Olly Neil was quoted as saying. “We're going to do for horseracing what Twenty20 has done for cricket and 3x3 for basketball – reinterpreting the Sport of Kings for a young urban audience and dialling up on technology, entertainment, excitement and energy."
City Racing’s Johnno Spence explained that his company is "looking into a city-centre international racing series, which is very exciting, but first we need to get the commercial model in place. We're working with an industry-backed consortium looking to run under the rules of racing and we're at quite an advanced stage.
"We could have our first event in London as early as September this year, with the series expanding around the world over the next few years."
The BHA has weighed in on the idea and has stated that there are many factors that have to be examined before any type of application process would even occur.
"Any proposal would require BHA approval and clearly there are significant issues, including logistical and welfare-related, that would need to be addressed before any application could be processed," BHA spokesman Robin Mounsey was quoted as saying.
(With files from Racing Post)