Horse Racing: Richard Hannon ready to boycott Windsor

Champion Flat trainer Richard Hannon has thrown his weight behind the move to boycott race meetings where prize-money falls below the recommended Horsemen's Group tariff.

Godolphin, Sheikh Mohammed's powerful worldwide operation, have declared they will not patronise British races where tariffs were below the minimum, and now Hannon has added his support.

With race tariffs to be introduced in Britain on Saturday week, Hannon will recommend his owners swerve these tracks, beginning with a meeting 48 hours later at Windsor where he has been so successful. "I am not one to get involved in racing politics, but the time has come to make a stand and I fully agree with the Godolphin team that radical action is required," said the Wiltshire handler.

"It costs on average between 16,000-17,000 a year for an owner to have a horse in training, and with these cuts, the powers that be are simply driving them out of the sport. Windsor is one of my favourite tracks and I don't miss many Monday nights there, but unless my owners insist on me entering their horse I will be opting out of the first meeting there and, if things don't change, we could continue to be absentees.

"Windsor has been a lucky course for us and I have not taken this decision lightly, but we are getting the rough end of the stick and sometimes you have to say, 'Enough is enough'."

Godolphin have made their position clear through racing manager Simon Crisford.

"We will be supporting the tariffs and will not be running horses in any below-tariff races," he said. "Basically this is all about stable staff - it's about trainers being able to pay a reasonable wage and people being potentially made redundant. Of course owners need prize-money but the whole thing is about lots and lots of stable staff in Britain being made redundant if this whole matter is not sorted out. People will take their business overseas if British racing cannot do what is necessary.

"Some owners don't need prize-money as much as others and we are obvious candidates. But we have got to remember prize-money is not just for the owners - it filters all the way down through the industry to every single member of stable staff and all the others who are the backbone of the British horseracing industry.

"We'll still be based in England for the summer but you might see even more of our horses racing overseas.We like Newmarket as a summer base - all our facilities are there - but if England has not got suitable races, we will go and find them elsewhere."