Down Royal funding is left in limbo with racecourse’s management set to leave
THERE is a question mark over how Assembly funding which has been used to benefit the Down Royal racecourse site will be dealt with after the venue’s current management leaves in December.
The Horse Racing Fund (HRF), which is controlled by the Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs, assists the operation and development of horse racecourses at the Maze and Downpatrick.
Officials have confirmed that funding at Down Royal rests with the current management, the Down Royal Corporation of Horse Breeders, which is due to leave the site when its lease expires at the end of December.
Any change would require a legislative change by the Assembly, which is currently in limbo.
Under the existing legislation, Merrion Property Group (MPG), which owns the racecourse and will assume its running once the DRCHB leaves, would not be eligible to apply to the fund.
It is also unclear whether the DRCHB, which is currently exploring potential new locations, would be able to use the HRF at a new site.
HRF payments can only be used by Downpatrick and Down Royal racecourses in order to provide or supplement prize money, with regard to the safety of spectators at meetings, and for the provision or improvement of services for the operation of racing.
In 2017, the DRCHB received £199,091 from the HRF, whose budget depends upon the volume of receipts from bookmakers into the HRF each year.
The chairman of the DRCHB, Jim Nicholson, told the Belfast Telegraph that his organisation wished to continue to receive the HRF after it leaves Down Royal racecourse.
“The HRF is very highly policed, and there are very strict budgets which have to be approved every year,” he said.
“It’s tied to the Corporation as beneficiaries, but if we are not racing we can’t make a claim.”
When asked if he believed the DRCHB would be able to access the fund at a new site, Mr Nicholson said: “There would be an assumption, an expectation, but nothing in life is certain. If we are moving to the new site, we would have to have a conversation.
“I don’t know if there would need to be a legislative change to take it to another site.”
A spokesman for Merrion Property Group said it “does not believe the funding will be available in the short term but anticipates that it will become available in due course.”
He added: “Any delay will not hold up racing at Down Royal. MPG will be applying and have already had discussions with DAERA.
“The lack of an Assembly is not within our control, and we will continue to work with the department. We can’t foresee how long it will take.”
A DAERA spokesperson said: “Under the provisions of the Horse Racing (Northern Ireland) Order 1990 the specified beneficiaries of the HRF are ‘the Company’, being the Downpatrick Race Club and ‘the Corporation’, being the Governor and Freemen of the Corporation of Horse Breeders, in County Down.
“Any change to the existing provisions of the Order would require a legislative change to be made by the NI Assembly through the primary legislation process.”
The DAERA spokesperson said that MPG “has not made any application to the Department for funding from the HRF.”
“As the Merrion Property Group is not named in the Order as a beneficiary of the Fund, it is not eligible to make such an application,” he continued.
“Primary legislation would be required in the Assembly if there were any proposed changes to the Order.
“This requires, therefore, a functioning Assembly. Civil servants cannot alter primary legislation.”
When asked if the DRCHB must be located at Down Royal racecourse to receive the funding, the spokesperson said: “The wording used in the legislation refers to ‘horse racecourses in the vicinity of the Maze and at Downpatrick, in the County of Down’.
“Any changes to the Order would be subject to the primary legislation process in the NI Assembly.
“In addition to the requirements of the Horse Racing (Northern Ireland) Order 1990, the Department always has a duty to consider its responsibilities in relation to the expenditure of any public money including expenditure.
“Any future plans or requests for funding would be considered with that in mind.”