Racing Victoria has pulled up lame and the vet, Victorian Racing Minister Martin Pakula, has seen enough.
Pakula watched on as Racing Victoria lurched from one damaging incident to the next.
Former Chairman David Moodie was forced to resign after divulging confidential knowledge to trainer Peter Moody, who was under investigation for a cobalt irregularity in his stable.
Chairman before that, Rob Roulston, resigned suddenly after being found to have attempted to ask for a nomination fee waiver for an overseas horse in the 2015 Melbourne Cup, once the purchase of the horse fell through.
Roulston paid without hesitation, but the matter was considered serious enough to have compromised the integrity of the chair.
A press release this week by acting-chairman Mike Hirst appeared to absolve outgoing chairman Moodie. That release was then followed up by an extraordinary press release from integrity commmissioner Sal Perna, stating that he found Moodie guilty of misleading behaviour and leaking confidential information to Moody.
The Age’s Patrick Bartley was forced to publish his sources and at the same time exonerate chief steward Terry Bailey, who was temporarily dragged into the mud by innuendo.
The origin of the cobalt leaks are still unclear, but appear to come from up high. Meanwhile, the Mark Kavanagh and Danny O’Brien cobalt matters drag on, after years of back and forth in courts and tribunals.
Acting CEO Bernard Saundry, who resigned after a long stint and then waited for a replacement to be appointed, is set to make good on his commitment to walk away by the end of 2016. Still no replacement CEO.
Then there’s poor Azkadelia, the wonder mare with ownership links to conman Peter Foster. She and her connections are set to be stripped of her Group 1 wins, and prizemoney of more than $1.5 million. (The joke is that she’ll now likely be valued much less as a broodmare. Funny how breeding works based on black type, as opposed to actual ability.)
Add into the mix the stepping down of VRC Chairman Michael Burn. He walks away clean – it just happens that his professional life within Macquarie Group may have been seen as a conflict of interest following a consortium, that involves his company, bidding for Tatts Group, in opposition to Tabcorp. The TAB are the joint venture wagering partner of Racing Victoria – and Flemington.
Racing.com was supposed to bring Victorian racing together but seems to have been unable, despite showing the way in terms of quality coverage of pre-race and post-race atmosphere.
However, despite all the rumblings at the top, the product on the track hasn’t suffered – yet.
Confidence for anyone from owners to potential owners to trainers to connections to the all-important punter have been lowered. If that affects turnover, the product on the track will suffer in time.
Queensland is rejigging to get things back on its feet. Racing NSW appears, comparatively, in rude health, hand-in-hand with clubs including the ATC, and Tabcorp, their 99-year partner. They don’t have quite the carnival that Melbourne offers in spring, but they’re working on it.
In any case, Pakula has seen enough. Conflicts of self-interest are everywhere in racing, but the fingers in the pie are about to be given a whack the likes of which haven’t been seen in the state for some time.
The Victorian Government moved to start proceedings to replace the Racing Victoria board in 2017 with an independent board, following in the steps of the AFL Commission and the Australian Rugby League Commission.
The announcement came in a release, stating “it is no longer appropriate for the board of RV to be chosen by the people and organisations that it regulates”.
Within moments, social media and commentary were lit with hope from punter to owner.
Lloyd Williams, the very definition of a prominent racing identity, told News, that it had been coming for some time.
“Conflicts of interest cannot exist in the governance of racing,” he said. “I commend the Andrews government and racing minister Martin Pakula for their decision to move with an independent board. It’s absolutely the right thing to do.”
Nick Williams, son of Lloyd and the spokesperson for the stable, told Fairfax it was “fantastic”.
“It’s the single greatest thing that has happened in racing in the last 20 years,” the younger Williams said.
Why is that? It’s hoped that the independent board will be able to wrangle the three Melbourne clubs into a cohesive band that favours racing generally, rather than each club. It’s also hoped that true leadership can better serve racing Australia-wide, working more closely with other states and Racing Australia to develop a harmonious product that works so well for Hong Kong.
It won’t be easy. Political appointments often attract their own ire. Those with enough acumen to be in a position to be appointed to an independent racing board, and have an interest in racing, will surely be industry participants in some manner.
Will the independent board receive remuneration, and to what amount? Racing club boards across Australia do not, but the Racing Victoria board disclosed its board members did receive remuneration.
A final thought, will punters get a say? Not representatives of those that enjoy the revenues from the punting dollar, but from those that fund the industry? One of Saundry’s best moves late into his CEO stint was to implement minimum bet laws after punter pressure.
Further action is needed to force corporate bookmakers to stop banning successful punters, to stem the flow of racing betting into sports betting. But maybe that’s just punter self-interest.
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