BHA chair Joe Saumarez Smith steps down earlier than planned

Saumarez Smith had planned to step down later in the year. 

UK.- The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has announced that Joe Saumarez Smith has stepped down from the role of chairman with immediate effect due to ill health. Saumarez Smith had planned to stay on in the role until June but has been diagnosed with leptomeningeal metastases. He became chair of the BHA in June 2022 and has been on the board since 2014.

The BHA’s acting chief executive Brant Dunshea said: “It is a great sorrow to all of us that Joe has had to step down so suddenly because of his ill health. He has been an outstanding Chair and Board member of the BHA for more than a decade. But more than that, he has been a passionate, dedicated and powerful ambassador for the sport and British Racing owes him a huge debt.”

“Having worked with Joe for more than a decade, his wise counsel, personal support, and pure love of the sport will be deeply missed.”

The BHA advised stakeholders that Saumarez Smith had been diagnosed with lung cancer and was to start treatment in June 2023. In November, it said Lord Allen of Kensington would take on the role of chair from June of this year. However, the latest diagnosis requires Saumarez Smith to bring forward his departure.

Lord Allen will still take up the role on June 1 as planned. Senior independent director David Jones, who has already deputised for Saumarez Smith, has assumed the role on an interim basis until then. Saumarez Smith will remain available to assist with the transition.

Saumarez Smith said: “I am very disappointed to step down as chair of the BHA board but now the cancer has spread to my brain and I have been told that my lifespan is pretty limited, I feel it would be very unfair on horseracing if I did not hand over the reins immediately.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed both being on the BHA board for over a decade and being Chair for nearly three years. It has been an immense privilege to have such a senior role in a sport I have loved since the age of eight. I did not want to stay on and make decisions that were potentially open to later challenges if questions were raised about whether the cancer had impaired my abilities.

“David Jones will do an excellent job in the interim and I think Lord Charles Allen will do a fantastic job with his highly impressive track record and enthusiasm for the sport.”

Lord Allen has experience in the financial and commercial sectors, as well as in sports, government and media. He is chairman and trustee of the Invictus Games Foundation and played a role in London’s bid for the 2012 Olympic Games. He received his CBE for his role chairing the Manchester Commonwealth Games between 2000 and 2003.

He worked in senior roles at EMI, Endemol and Virgin Media and is chairman of Global Media and Entertainment, Balfour Beatty and THG. Lord Allen also served as a chief adviser to the home office from 2006 to 2008 and chaired the Labour Party management board for a period. He became a member of the House of Lords as a life peer in 2013

Meanwhile, Dunshea became interim CEO of the BHA when Julie Harrington stepped down at the end of 2024. The body still intends to hire a permanent new chief executive.

The BHA’s new CEO and chair are expected to play an important role this year in negotiating with gambling operators to establish a new framework for the horseracing betting levy. The racing industry is concerned about its financial viability after Gambling Commission statistics showed a £3bn deficit in online betting turnover, which the industry blames on new affordability checks.

The BHA will negotiate the future betting levy with the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC). The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) will act as an intermediary.