Jim Allen worked for Arena Racing Company (ARC) in the UK for 15 years, the last five as director of racing. ARC is the biggest racecourse ownership company in the UK, proprietor of 17 racetracks hosting 40 percent of the British fixture list.
After leaving ARC, Allen (pictured left) sold his farm in southwest England, moved to Florida and bought a farm there. After selling it for a large profit, he embarked on a couple of years as a race-tracker around the States (2018-2020) with his single horse, Hardest Part.
He stayed in motels, watched the NFL on his iPhone and doted on his horse. He raced him all over the country, from Gulfstream and Tampa, to Aqueduct to Indiana Grand, from Turfway Park and Belterra Park to Laurel. After five seconds, Hardest Part went on at last to taste victory - at Presque Isle Downs.
From the States, Allen spent a year in France, racing at Deauville and Chantilly. When I spoke to him recently, he was in Ireland, selling another property, and is now threatening to return to the U.S. once more. I labelled him a traveller years ago, but I had no idea …
Who do you think is the most important figure in the history of racing around the world?
I’ve got to say John Magnier. I read Horse Trader years ago, about his strategy of finding the very best yearlings to win the best races. He changed and revived the bloodstock and breeding market to the point where you had an unraced 2-year-old sell for $16 million. He saw an opportunity when the industry was struggling a bit.
He has supplied and bought horses that provide the dream for hundreds and hundreds of breeders and owners around the world. He grew the industry and continues to do so.
What is your favorite race and venue (anywhere in the world)?
Gulfstream Park in Florida is my favorite racetrack. The paddock, the fountains, the sunshine beside the sea, everyone in floral shirts. The sun is out and people are happy.
For my favorite race, without a doubt it is the Kentucky Derby. My three favorite Saturday nights of the year are Kentucky Derby, Breeders’ Cup and Eurovision Song Contest, and I bet on all three.
The Kentucky Derby IS the greatest two minutes in sport, and the second greatest couple of minutes is the walk over to the paddock before the big race. I think it’s a shame it’s run on dirt as Tapeta is a much safer surface, but it’s a great race.
I think they’ve got the qualification on points system right. It gives a narrative all winter and spring. You know if you are in or not and it forces the horses to compete against each other in the races leading up to it, whereas they can all duck and dive each other in Europe. It’s the race I look forward to most every year. Nothing else gets close.
As I get older I am always thinking how many years I have left to have a runner in the Kentucky Derby.
What is your fondest memory in racing?
Training Beach Rhythm to win at Southwell in the UK, my first winner, and Hardest Part to win at Presque Isle Downs in North America. Small races at small tracks, but they were cheap cast-offs with issues.
It took me six hours to get to Southwell driving the horse box, and the journey home felt like three minutes with everyone calling me.
A UK trainer told me that you will always remember three things in your life as you get older - the day you passed your driving test, the day you lost your virginity, and the day you have your first winner.
They were two horses that had been given up on. It took time and money, but they and the winning pics will be with me until our dying days.
What is the biggest challenge racing faces today?
Its image - and the effect that will have on its betting handle. And that’s not just in the states, it’s everywhere. Horses being hit for sport, falling attendances, lack of interest, people turned off by drugs, by fatalities, by injuries.
The Europeans are ahead of America in terms of doing something about it. They have much more advanced rehabilitation programs for horses. They have marketing and communication departments getting the good news stories out there and managing the bad ones.
The sport has some image issues everywhere, but it is a bigger problem in the States without a doubt.
Horseracing is still popular, people still bet on it, but with sports betting emerging, the image of horseracing could become more and more important. People could turn away and bet on other sports, which would drastically drive the funding for the industry downwards.
U.S. racing is currently well funded but sports betting is a major threat.
The lack of an effective governing communication and marketing department, which is still missing even with the formation of HISA [the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act] is a serious problem and oversight. They need a promotional arm, especially now sport betting is opening up.
If you could change one thing in racing, what would it be?
In the States, it is already happening, HISA! The creation of a governing body. The U.S. is 30 years behind major European racing nations in terms of regulation and organization. HISA is a great start, but I hope it evolves quickly enough and it needs to go further. There is a blueprint that exists, in the formation of the British Horseracing Authority.
I think U.S. racing needs a full-time managing executive and departments set up to control the whole industry and to promote it, to improve its image, to get young people interested and to look after the sport and its participants.