ROA
The Racehorse Owners Association (ROA) promotes and protects the interests of racehorse owners in Great Britain. Our vision is to create a world-class membership organisation that provides outstanding benefits for owners and helps bring the passion of racehorse ownership and racing to life.
Our mission is to help shape and secure a bright and sustainable future for the sport. We will achieve this through representing owners at an industry level, whilst producing and delivering exceptional membership benefits that both retains current and attracts new members.
We operate with a clearly defined strategic intent, which provides a roadmap for our future underpinned by five strategic pillars:
- Building foundations for growth
- Collaborating across the sport
- Inspiring ownership
- Elevating the ownership experience
- Delivering Racing’s future
The ROA is formed by a team of experts who are encouraged and empowered to drive change, innovate for growth and execute with excellence.
Our values ensure we are;
- Committed
- Inclusive
- Personalised
- Professional
We are based at 12 Forbury Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 1SB
The ROA Board comprises of elected and appointed directors, according to the ROA’s Articles of Association.
The ROA is funded almost entirely from membership income. Members pay £286 (including VAT) annually and they receive a host of wide-ranging membership benefits, that supports the process of purchasing a racehorse and the ongoing experience of racehorse ownership.
The ROA is a founder member of the The Thoroughbred Group, an organisation which represents owners, trainers, jockeys, breeders and stable staff. The ROA is also represented on a number of other Racing Bodies and Committees.
ROA Articles of Association
Members can access the ROA's Articles of Association by downloading the PDF below:
ROA Articles from October 2025.pdf
Our Partners
We have linked with another of organisations to underpin our members experience - and collaborate with the wider racing community.
Our Partners
Our Partners
Racing Welfare
We are delighted to partner with Racing Welfare - the registered charity supporting the workforce of British horseracing. They offer professional guidance and practical help to the stud, stable and racecourse staff whose dedication is vital for the well-being of racing.
View latest Bid to Give lot
Racing Welfare News
Latest Bid to Give ends Friday
Goodwood Revival – The Goodwood Mess Hospitality Package
Racing Welfare partnership goes from strength to strength
Members able to access exclusive opportunities, providing enhanced awareness of Racing Welfare’s services
Trust donations aid Racing Welfare
The Thompson Family Charitable Trust latest donation tops the £1m mark for Racing Welfare
Racing Welfare and ROA partnership reaps rewards
Following a second year of working together as official partners, the ROA and Racing Welfare continue to develop an their relationship ...read more
Over £30,000 raised for Racing Welfare in 2023
Another strong year for the ROA and Racing Welfare partnership
The Owner Breeder
Published by the ROA the magazine is sent to all members monthly. It is also available on digital platforms for download. The website continues to go from strength-to-strength with additional news, features and statistics.
View latest issueOwner Breeder News
July Issue of Owner Breeder now available
Lady Bamford's Daylesford Farm after their Classic success with Soul Sister
June issue of Owner Breeder now available
Mick and Janice Mariscotti look forward to the Ascot Gold Cup with Coltrane
May issue of Owner Breeder now available
Karl Burke has high hopes for the early season Classics
April Issue of Owner Breeder now available
Owen Burrows on building on a exceptional 2022 season
March issue of Owner Breeder now available
From Sire de Grugy to Editeur du Gite - Steve Preston in the spotlight
Tote
We are very pleased to be working with the Tote on the Owner-Sponsorship scheme. This benefit of membership is an invaluable tool for Owners, enabling them to register for and reclaim VAT on their ownership expenses.
We are also delighted to bring members a monthly update on all the latest developments with the Tote, as well as weekly pointers and special offers. Check out our Inside Track eBulletins for more information.
Tote News
Tote: Galloping ahead in 2024
Our partners at the Tote give us the lowdown on their activities during 2024.
World Pool continues to shine bright
So far this year World Pool days have generated a total turnover of over £346 million.
UK Tote and Hong Kong Jockey Club sign landmark five-year deal
The new terms will enable the UK Tote Group and HKJC to continue to build on the existing collaborative partnership which has developed significantly since the purchase of the Tote by UK Tote Group in October 2019
World Pool logos to be carried by Tote-sponsored horses
On World Pool days in the UK, Tote-sponsored owners will now be asked to carry the World Pool logo on the chest of their silks
Record World Pool day at Newmarket
Newmarket on 2,000 Guines day saw a record first World Pool day in the British racing calendar for 2023.
Venatour
We have teamed up with Venatour to provide both ROA and Racegoers Club members with bespoke horseracing tours to get into the heart of the racing action and
enhance their membership experience. We have an exciting line up of exclusive racing tours, high-end racing experiences, and a personal discount on all Venatour overseas tours.
A History of the ROA
Read Jackson Parker’s 'A History of the ROA' for further information about the background of the Association.
A History of the ROA
The McAlpine years
The first president of the association, Sir Malcolm McAlpine (pictured), nurtured the organisation through its first 15 years of relative quiet. The association was marketed almost solely by word of mouth, membership rising slowly to 700 subscribing members during the period. The low membership meant the association could not be truly representative of owners’ interests, and, as a result, was largely disregarded by the Jockey Club.
Sir Malcolm's son, Sir Robin McAlpine, took over as president just as the association was forced to confront the effects of legalised off-course betting in 1960. Despite the continued monopoly on pool betting held by the Tote, the changes in gambling laws were to be seriously influential on the funding of racing. As all other sectors of the racing industry scrambled to re-organise and re-structure funding, little consideration was given to the needs of the owners who provided the horses, the real core of the industry. The association was suddenly faced with a multitude of issues. Most prominent and long running among these was the issue of prize-money.
In the early 1960s the association leapt into action, calling for an increase in second and third place prize money, highlighting the prohibitive cost of travelling horses long distances and pressurising Weatherbys to operate reasonable Sunday opening hours to provide owners with the latest possible information on running plans and the going.
Despite this increased activity, membership of the ROA only managed to reach above 800 at the end of Sir Robin McAlpine's term as president in 1969. The Jockey Club had attempted to further stunt the growth of the association by electing Sir Robin to their club in 1961, confounding his efforts with the burden of split loyalty.
ROA Progress in the Sixties
Yet some success was achieved during these years through co-operation with the Racecourse Association. They agreed to allow owners free parking, luncheon facilities and other such concessions. Some individual racecourses held out against these changes, but this was an important symbolic victory for the ROA, establishing that owners were not simply another form of customer, but an integral part of the racing industry.
During this period the ROA also collected, organised and issued its own statistics on racing, including details of ownership costs and prize-money values at racecourses. Without the involvement of any other part of the racing industry, and completed on a tiny budget, this move proved extremely popular with the members.
In the mid and late 1960s, the ROA continued to apply pressure on the Levy Board for prize-money to be spread out over more races, rather than to be so heavily concentrated in feature races. The association also campaigned for lower entry and forfeit fees.
In 1968, the association was drawn into a confrontation when the Levy Board insisted on keeping a range of new proposals about prize-money allocation confidential, requesting the support of the association despite excluding it from these financial decisions. Even after an urgent, high-level meeting between Sir Robin and Lord Wigg (pictured), head of the Board at the time, the Levy Board refused to change its position.
Marketing Campaign Results in Higher Membership
At the beginning of the 1970s, the association finally embarked on a proper marketing campaign, complete with advertisements in The Sporting Life. The ROA also began publishing its own magazine, The Racehorse Owner, which proved a good communication tool. As a result of these efforts, membership almost doubled by 1971, during John Baillie's presidency, and finally broke through the 3,000 membership barrier in 1976 under the leadership of Sir David Sieff. At the time, the association calculated that it represented nearly 6,000 racehorses in training.
This increased membership, which gave the association greater clout, brought an era of constant conflict with the Jockey Club, which lasted right up until the governance of racing was re-structured in 1993.
The ROA started to demand representation on the Levy Board, better management of the Tote and more contribution to owners’ costs through better prize-money, publicly claiming that the Jockey Club had totally failed to look after owners’ interests. This confrontation first came to a head in 1973 when the Jockey Club was openly dismissive of the association.
Jockey Club and Levy Board Ignore ROA Concerns
Despite the ROA finally securing reassurances from the then new Senior Steward of the Jockey Club, Lord Leverhulme, that the Club would listen to the association, this ultimately proved hollow. As a result, the association realigned its aims towards direct representation of owners on the Levy Board, considering the current model of Jockey Club appointees as having failed. The association also started to take up the issues of proper racecourse maintenance, and better pay and conditions for stable workers, in an effort to head off a potential labour crisis in the industry.
The ROA's efforts during this period were also closely connected to the financial concerns of the whole racing industry. The introduction of VAT in 1973 posed a new set of economic pressures and the association, along with the rest of the industry, was deeply involved in negotiations with the Government and HM Customs and Excise over the whole issue of how VAT would affect racing and bloodstock.
The association also started pressing heavily for higher minimum prize-money values but, as this was largely ignored by the Jockey Club and Levy Board, the ROA turned to a deeper investigation into the financial state of racing.
British Racing: Highest Betting Turnover, Lowest Returns
In the mid 1970s, under the presidencies of Louis Freedman and later, Christopher Collins, the association commissioned a report on factors affecting the volume of betting, commissioning the International Racing Bureau to compare British racing with that of other countries. On discovering that British racing attracted possibly the highest betting turnover in the world, but, comparatively, produced the lowest returns to racing, the ROA went to some lengths to impart this information throughout the industry.
This action may have helped galvanise the Royal Commission on Gambling in 1976, which largely came out in support of more prize-money for owners. The ROA joined with the Racecourse Association, the Thoroughbred Breeders Association, and a host of other sectors of the racing industry, to present a submission to the Royal Commission on Gambling in which they proposed that the Jockey Club's control of racing be discontinued. The submission suggested a British Racing Board with proper representation covering all constituents of the industry. Although not successful, this idea was years ahead of its time, influencing the actual British Horseracing Board which was established in 1993.
Conflict with the Jockey Club continued throughout the 1980s, and the ROA found it difficult to make owners’ concerns heard when constantly obstructed. The association was denied a voice on the Sunday Racing Working Party in 1984, and snubbed on various other occasions.
Frustrated by lack of progress, the association adopted a new policy, taking the view that building a closer relationship with the Jockey Club might pay off in the long-run and allow the association more influence over the control of racing. At the same time, the ROA continued its work in protecting owners’ interests in other areas of the industry, holding regular meetings with the Racecourse Association, representing owners’ interests in relation to the growing issues surrounding televised racing, both domestically and by satellite, and also setting up a committee specifically to address the problem of prize-money distribution.
British Horseracing Board and the Savill Years
The creation of the British Horseracing Board in 1993 finally gave the ROA both a legal and practical voice in the control of racing. But a new era of racing management meant new challenges for the ROA. In addition to continuing with the decades-long pressure for better minimum prize-money levels, the association became involved in the British Horseracing Board's efforts to establish a credible long-term financial plan for racing. Under the leadership of Peter Savill, the ROA supported the Board in bringing pressure on the Government to ensure a much greater return to racing from betting revenue.
After his term as president of the association ended in 1998, Peter Savill went on to become Chairman of the British Horseracing Board. The previous Chairman, Lord Wakeham, resigned from the position only 24 hours before the BHB's annual general meeting, in protest against Savill's plans for the better financial management of the racing industry.
Savill's later plans, to base the funding of British racing on database rights, would, in time, have fostered a healthier relationship between the racing and betting industries. The proposal received the enthusiastic support of all the racing constituents including the ROA. However, these plans were ultimately defeated by a ruling in the European Court, leaving the industry unable to charge for database rights and struggling to find new ways to solve pressing financial issues. As a result, the Levy Board was re-instated.
Turn of the Century Growth
Since the turn of the century, the ROA’s membership peaked at 7,600 members in 2009. It has been involved in the racing industry's continuing efforts to acquire the Tote from the government, the association attempting to ensure it would have representation on whatever board or trust ended up controlling the Tote. Other developments over the last decade of the association include the publishing of the highly successful Thoroughbred Owner Breeder magazine, securing of the various owner-sponsorship schemes for ROA members, and the creation of the Horsemen's Group. This body, made up of owners, trainers, breeders, jockeys and stable staff, is now playing an increasingly important role in running the industry.
In recent years, the association has publicly expressed the need for the racing industry to work together towards the common good, to leave the factionalism of the past behind for the sake of racing as a whole. In the wake of the recent severe Levy Board expenditure cuts, this may be more relevant than ever as the racing industry adapts to face the needs of a world where the main source of funding switches from the statutory Levy to commercially-based media rights.
By Jackson Parker
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