Nic Coward exit thrills John McCririck

TV betting guru John McCririck says he is delighted that "racing's invisible man", British Horseracing Authority chief executive Nic Coward, is set to quit the post in the spring.

And he insists that BHA chairman Paul Roy should be next to go.

Coward was appointed four years ago to run and then merge the British Horseracing Board and Horseracing Regulatory Authority into the BHA.

He said last night: "I think it's job done. It is absolutely the right time to hand over."

Roy paid tribute to Coward, stating that he had done a "magnificent job at a time of change within our organisation and in the sport of racing".

McCririck, however, offered a different take on Coward's tenure.

He said: "It is wonderful news. The whole of racing should be delighted. The only worthy thing he has done is improve security. Racing is cleaner than ever before. Otherwise, he has left a huge bureaucracy that they are currently trying to dismantle, with millions of pounds wasted on reviews, commissions and focus groups.

"It has been an era of public relations and it has produced nothing. I asked him what he expected the Levy yield would be at the BHA's AGM in 2006 and he forecast between £132million to £135m. It was laughable.

"Racing has less than half of that now. It showed then he had no clue about the industry. If you were a businessman in the City and got things that wrong, you would have been kicked out long before now.