Live TV reporters at Sandown this weekend may have some extended gaps to fill after the Professional Racing Association, a pressure group headed by the former British Horseracing Board chair Peter Savill, said on Monday that it will instruct the 170 trainers on its membership list to boycott pre- and post-race interviews with both ITV Racing and Racing TV unless its demand for a six-figure annual payment for live interviews is met.
Britain’s jockeys have received a collective fee for TV interviews since 2008, with the money being used to subsidise the Professional Jockeys Association’s career-ending insurance scheme.
