Horse Efficient and jockey Michael Rodd win the 2007 Melbourne Cup- AAP Image/Julian Smith
Racing NSW Chairman, Alan Brown, a lawyer by trade, released a very carefully worded media release yesterday, in conjunction with his Chief Executive, Peter V’landys, addressing details of their new Strategic Plan.
You may recall that V’Landys released his initial Strategic Plan just after he was appointed in December 2003 which has turned out to be a rank failure and his patch, Racing in NSW, has gone backwards in comparison to Victoria.
Yesterday’s media release, where V’Landys has promised the world to all participants in the industry, is predicated on Racing NSW being successful in court defending legal challenges against the current Race Field Legislation regime.
That is like telling the missus that you will buy a new house and a car if we win the lottery, or Wayne Bennett saying he will bid for Jonathan Thurston if the salary cap is increased.
Why are these industry leaders not focusing on the job at hand, and working on what is real now and find some way to develop new revenue streams for the industry without wasting millions on a Plan that may never happen?
So if they do not win the court case, do they blame the corporate bookies who have taken them to court for the poor state of affairs that Racing NSW is in?
It is irresponsible by Racing NSW to release this plan with no confirmed funding.
The industry has been living in a false economy for over half a century, relying on TAB handouts to fund prize money and infrastructure. This culture created laziness when industry leaders should have been growing their product in new areas and not relying on contributions.
Racing Victoria has been able to negotiate a deal with the bookies that has allowed the industry down south to flourish.
The suspicious timing of the Racing NSW Plan has come days before the court ruling.
If the judgment is in favour of racing NSW, the big winner will be Tabcorp and the big losers will be the punters who are the real funders of the industry as we will not have a level playing ground and the wonderful products that the corporate bookies offer to promote Racing will either become less competitive or they will be lost to offshore.
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