Background

"La Société d’Encouragement à l’élevage du Cheval Français" (SECF) (Society for the Promotion of French Horse Breeding) commonly known as the Société du Cheval Français (French Horse Society) and today Le TROT is a non-profit organisation under the administrative supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of the Economy and Finance and the Home Office. It is the parent company of harness racing. The Société du Cheval Français and its counterpart for flat racing, France Galop, own 87% of the voting rights at the PMU (Pari Mutuel Urbain) EIG general assembly, to whom they entrust the taking and processing of bets.

La Société du Cheval Français comprises a board of twelve directors and a committee of fifty members, who are elected every four years. The next elections will take place in autumn 2015.

The board of directors

The board of directors is elected by the committee and comprises twelve members, including the president and three vice-presidents. They are elected for a four-year period.

Two additional representatives also take part:

• a representative from the Ministry of Agriculture;
• a representative from the Ministry of Finance.

The committee

The committee is made up of fifty members, assigned the following roles:

• 16 elected members are socio-professionals

  (owners, owner-trainers, breeders, trainers, drivers);

• 9 are presidents of Regional Committees

  there is a Regional Committee for each Federation, which is the governing body that represents professionals;

• 16 are co-opted members;
• 9 are presidents of Regional Boards.

  There is a Regional Board for each Federation, which is the governing body made up of six professionals and six presidents of Harness Racing Societies.

The Commissions

The Committee designates six commissions, each of which is responsible for specific missions:

Commissioners SECF

The Committee also elects six Commissioners from non-elected members in the trainers and jockeys electoral college, and they have four Race Commissioners reporting to them, who are also elected by the Committee. The SECF Commissioners are responsible for applying the Harness Racing Code with respect to organisation and regularity of the races. Notably, they can directly investigate any case which seems to require their attention and take whatever course of action they deem necessary.

After making inquiries to the Home Secretary’s Gaming and Racing Department, they can grant licences to race, train and ride as well as give authorisations to people interested in owning or racing horses in contests determined by this code.

The High Commission

Depending on the procedures provided by the Harness Racing Code, decisions made by the Society Commissioners can be brought before the High Commission, which will investigate the cases it is presented with.

The High Commission comprises three SECF vice presidents and two to five members of the Committee who have been elected by its members. It is chaired by one of the vice presidents chosen by the Committee. The High Commission gives rulings either automatically, at the request of the SECF Commissioners or when there is an appeal against decisions made by the SECF Commissioners.