Members will be concerned by the decision of the BHRC to suspend the Chairman as a licence holder. The correspondence up to this point is available by clicking on the underlined references. The background is as follows.

The reason for my private communication to John Voskamp, Studbook Manager of NDR (the Dutch governing body) was that Peter Lee and Denis Worthing had taken their exciting 3yo Bixan Mortar to Holland, after racing finished here, only to find that the Dutch would not allow it to run. In fact it turned out that NDR have been operating a ban on British horses for several years. This was known to the BHRC office, but licence-holders here have never been informed.

Why the ban? Lengthy correspondence made available to us by NDR (which we have now made available to all BHRC Committee members ourselves, despite BHRC opposition) makes it clear that the Dutch have been dissatisfied with the administration of the BHRC in relation to the movement and registration of horses from Holland. Since Peter and Denis were naturally upset by events and were asking what role TROTBritain had in all this it was made clear to them that we had no responsibility in this area. After Vice Chairman Bill Green had spoken to John Voskamp on the phone I followed it up with the letter, making it clear that for a variety of reasons we were also very unhappy with the BHRC’s dealing with irregularities in relation to horses from Holland.

The BHRC have suggested that the dispute was on the point of resolution and that Bixan Mortar would have been able to run if it had not been for my letter. We have the assurance of Mr Voskamp that my letter had no effect whatever on the decision.

The sequence of letters is self explanatory - BHRC 1, TB 1, BHRC 2, TB 2 (lawyer), BHRC 3, TB 3 (lawyer), BHRC 4,
BHRC 5...

Now that the BHRC has taken this precipitate and, we believe, unlawful action, TROTBritain must rethink its aims. The draft Memorandum of Understanding which was offered to the BHRC over two years ago as the basis for moving forward together was treated with contempt and is accordingly now withdrawn. We will seek alternative ways to advance British trotting as part of the European scene.