Coward’s big picture - BHA leader keen to put extra fizz into the Flat

Coward said: "An awful lot of people have said that part of our season that needs attention is that September-October period where it could end with something more. We think that is right.

"The historical framework has been built for a reason but we should not be afraid of change.

"There is an awful lot who'll say: "we've never done it that way in racing". But we are not interested in change for change's sake.

"It's a challenge for racecourses but one which we think they are up for. I'm really hopeful there will be some very exciting initiatives."

It is just over a year since Coward took his seat behind the BHA desk.

It has been a quiet revolution. There has been none of the deskthumping of the Peter Savill British Horseracing Board era. Consensus has been the buzz word as the BHA were created out of the merger between the BHB and Horse Racing Authority.

But the underlying commercial problems are stacking up. The attempted boycott of a race at Yarmouth last month again highlighted the low prizemoney issue.

The future and level of the Levy, where the BHA made an unsuccessful case for £135million payment from betting, and the Fixture List, are also stacked up in the Coward in-tray.

Now he needs to show he is more than merely a skilled peddler of marketing speak.

Last week's strategic fixture review, with its 25 recommendations for the 2009 programme, had Coward's fingerprints all over it.

A proposed cull of less than 40 fixtures is not drastic enough for those who want swathes cut through over 1,500 meetings staged this year.

Conversely, the proposal to cut back winter evening fixtures on limited commercial evidence faces trenchant opposition from tracks, including the Jockey Club's Kempton, who have just invested heavily in floodlights.

The man who spent 10 years at the FA is challenging a programme rich in tradition but, he says, weak in commercial appeal that has seen a plunging market share in the betting shops reduced to 40 per cent.

"We can't blame people if they are not getting into racing if we are not presenting it properly. The betting market is changing at a tremendous pace and we have to keep up.

"We believe we will thrive as a betting product if we get the story side of racing in the best possible shape.

"Other sports are more in your face, you can't ignore them. Why are more and more people getting into betting on football, tennis and golf? — because the major events really grab hold of the punter. 'One of the key messages we got though from broadcasters and sponsors was that they want narrative through the season. It works with the jumps leading up to Cheltenham and Aintree."

Coward gazes on some of London's best known landmarks from his office while working on a vision for the future of racing, with a big-event mentality. Despite previously failing to create a global racing grand prix, Coward is revisiting the subject.

"I've been asked by Louis Romanet (chairman of the International Federation of Authorities) to pull together a new group who can look at how we can better promote racing on a world stage. How can we create global stars?

"It can only be a matter of time before a Grand Prix series happens. Year on year these things become more and more expected. There are barriers but we need to look out, not in."

He is ready for opposition but says the sport created the BHA to make changes.

"We make decisions on the basis of fact and rigorous analysis, coming to conclusions which we think are the best way forward for the sport.

"Not everybody is going to agree with every decision we make, but we have to make decisions which we think are in the long-term interest of the sport.

"This is not based on emotion or or any particular sectional interest, this is the view of an independent board who the sport has brought together to do a job for it."

GREAT LEIGHS will finally hold their opening official fixture on Sunday after a satisfactory trials meeting at the Essex track yesterday. The first six racedays at the new course will be staged without paying spectactors, but they will be admitted on May 26.