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THREE WIDE NO COVER: John Messara answers questions about Racing Australia

The sun shining at Flemington (via @RacingInsider)
Expert
21st May, 2015
1

Racing Australia chairman John Messara, who also chairs Racing NSW, has answered a number of questions The Roar put to him regarding the recently formed body.

There is much to digest from the answers provided to these questions.

Clearly, Racing Australia isn’t seeking to take responsibility for racing in Australia, nor to take power from the states, with the board comprising the Chairmen of five of the Principal Racing Authorities (PRAs).

Messara’s comments regarding international racing media rights, the costs of running Racing Australia, and the production of a publicly available annual report, all make for interesting reading.

Let us know in the comments below as to what you make of it.

The Roar: Racing Australia has been formed by the joining of three separate racing entities: The Australian Racing Board (ARB) with main tasks of policy, national consistent rules and political lobbying. The Australian Stud Book – the records and commercial rights for the thoroughbred breeding records of Australia. And RISA – the central data registry of thoroughbred racing in Australia including the centralisation of race and ownership records and providing the nomination and acceptances procedure plus race fields on behalf of all states. Is that a fair representation?

John Messara: Yes it is.

Roar: So is this a standard limited company with shareholder and a board of directors. Who are they?

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Messara: Yes, it is a public company limited by shares. The board comprises the Chairmen of five PRA’s, namely, Kevin Dixon (Queensland), David Moodie (Victoria), Bob Pearson (Western Australia), Frances Nelson (Western Australia) and Des Gleeson (Tasmania and the Territories).

Roar: As per the open letter penned to Racing Australia, will Racing Australia produce and publish an annual report? If not why not?

Messara: Yes, it will produce an annual report.

The Roar: How did Racing Australia fund the purchase of the Australian Stud Book from the VRC/ATC for $18M? Must be a profitable business?

Messara: The purchase of the Stud Book was funded with internal capital and bank borrowings. The acquisition was based on an independent valuation.

The Roar: RISA did not publish an annual report but reading through the Racing NSW annual report you can deduce revenues of approx. $7.8M with profits of approx. $2.5M. Can you confirm these figures?

Messara: No, those figures are not correct, but RISA will be disclosing its financials as part of the next financial accounts of Racing Australia Limited.

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The Roar: How much did is cost to run the ARB?

Messara: It cost approx. $1M per annum to run the ARB.

The Roar: The above commercial revenues all received from the participants in the industry, owners, trainers, breeders etc. So you can increase profits – but that will increase costs to participants. How will Racing Australia address this or do you have specific mission statement and KPI’s.

Messara: While we seek to run the merged group on commercial lines, this is more in terms of governance, costs, technology and efficiency. Our aim is to keep the costs to owners, trainers and breeders as low as possible.

The Roar: My thoughts on racing administration for jurisdictions should be prioritise issues regarding wagering, integrity, infrastructure (facilities) and ownership. Will Racing Australia be tasked with anything re increasing ownership numbers?

Messara: I think this is more in the domain of the PRA’s. However, if there is some generic marketing that Racing Australia can do effectively it could be considered.

The Roar: Aushorse is a separate entity funded by Thoroughbred Breeders Australia via a levy on yearling sales. Does Racing Australia overlap Aushorse especially in area’s re promoting ownership?

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Messara: No, I do not believe so.

The Roar: Media rights. These have been very topical recently for NSW and Vic. Will Racing Australia look to “own” the international media rights of all thoroughbred racing in Australia? Would this be a good idea?

Messara: The media rights are owned by the race clubs and our industry is regulated on a state by state basis. It is a long bow to envision any of the media rights being owned by Racing Australia. Having said that, many international recipients of our media rights would not make that distinction about Australian racing and in a different world bundling up those international rights might well have allowed us to market them more effectively.

The Roar: Will Racing Australia have a marketing budget? What ideas do you have for marketing for Racing Australia?

Messara: We have other objectives this year and we are devoting ourselves to a smooth implementation of the merger of the ARB, the ASB and RISA so as to enhance the services provided to participants by those organisations. and optimise the synergies. And ,of course, rulemaking and integrity will remain at the forefront of our activities. Once this has been achieved I feel sure that Racing Australia could broaden its remit.

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