Sponsorship rules relaxed

The BHA has relaxed the rules surrounding bookmaker sponsorship of jockeys to allow firms to sponsor individual riders.

Starting from April, the code of conduct will be relaxed for a trial period of nine months and means bookmakers will now compete with other sponsors for the space on a jockey's breeches down the outer thigh.

The BHA originally limited any physical sponsorship on a jockey's person by bookmakers to collective deals of 50 or more riders, an opportunity which no firm chose to take up.

But following a proposal from the Professional Jockeys Association, riders will now be allowed to carry physical logos themselves in addition to the current commercial deals which some have in place such as online columns.

The authority's director of public affairs and policy, Will Lambe, said: "In approving this proposal the Board gave careful consideration to integrity concerns, particularly around perception. We have already permitted individual non-riding promotional deals with bookmakers for two years with no integrity or perception concerns having arisen, while bookmaker branding presence is of course already widespread on British racecourses."

The BHA will have to agree each individual deal and will only register agreements with firms that contribute to British racing through either the levy or alternative voluntary contributions.

The Stobart group will continue to sponsor the back of jockeys' breeches, a deal which helps to fund the PJA's career-ending insurance scheme.

31 March 2015