Some of the points raised have missed the mark
Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys – along with board member Garry Charny and chief operating officer Graeme Hinton – will face plenty of scrutiny at Friday’s NSW Upper House Select Committee hearing into the floated sale and redevelopment of Rosehill racecourse.
And rightly so, particularly when it comes to the transparency of Racing NSW’s equine welfare programmes, its “landbanking” assets and so on.
However, as V’landys has stated in the lead up to the second hearing, he will be well-placed to fend off many of the accusations levelled at him on July 22 by the cross-party committee and the nine witnesses who appeared on day one.
While this piece is not about defending V’landys’ almost 20-year reign of the state’s thoroughbred regulator – far from it – some of the questions and points raised by MPs and industry figures, both in NSW Parliament and outside it, have missed the mark or been plainly wrong. It doesn’t help their cause.
For instance, there were questions why Bong Bong Farm, which Racing NSW bought for $22.5 million from Paul Fudge in 2021, wasn’t being used to retrain and rehome retired racehorses. It is currently being leased by trainer Ciaron Maher.
That is because it was never intended to be used for equine welfare purposes. Initially, it was to be run as a pre-training site under the tutelage of respected horseman Greg Bennett, as ANZ Bloodstock News revealed in November 2021.
Bennett arrived and went, without a horse setting foot on the premises, and it wasn’t until Maher took over the property last year that it was being used for what Fudge had intended when he poured tens of millions of dollars into constructing the private training facility.
V’landys should answer questions about the status of the Cessnock development and that at Scone, where $20 million was promised to be spent on building stables and associated infrastructure in 2021.
Very little, if anything, has occurred at Scone in terms of stabling since that government and Racing NSW announcement in front of a big media throng. Why is that the case? V’landys can answer that question and many more, such as the high turnover of Racing NSW stewards and veterinarians at Friday’s hearing.
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A few years ago, when Rob Archibald was wearing Coolmore’s trademark navy polos and knitted Justify jumpers, for those looking from the outside it may have been difficult to foresee the talented horseman ever taking out a trainer’s licence.
But that’s exactly what he’s done, in partnership with Annabel Neasham, and he was off the mark with a winner on the first day with his name officially in the racebook alongside Hawkesbury scorer Sweet Proposal (Dundeel).
The former professional polo player did, however, have experience working for Gai Waterhouse and then Hugo Palmer and David Simcock in the UK, the latter as his assistant trainer.
But for Coolmore’s current racing and bloodstock manager John Kennedy, Archibald’s transition to trainer – after two years as racing manager at Neasham’s growing three-state operation – it wasn’t a complete shock.
“As much as he probably enjoys the admin and the sales side of the business, I do feel like his heart was always much more involved in being hands on with the horses, I’ve got to say,” Kennedy told us.
“I spent a lot of time with him at his family farm with the polo ponies [in the Hunter Valley] and you could always see he was a bit more relaxed being in and around the horses.
“He seems to be getting on well and he’s excited [about training]. It’s brilliant for him.”
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The Age reported on Wednesday that there were four candidates for the Racing Victoria chief executive role vacated by Andrew Jones in April.
After Jones and his predecessor Giles Thompson, who did cross from betting exchange Betfair, it appears the RV board under new chair Tim Eddy has zeroed in on “racing people” in its quest to appoint a new CEO.
Acting RV CEO Aaron Morrison, who is also chief commercial officer and chief financial officer, has been seen as odds-on to land the job on a permanent basis, but his competition also have extensive racing administration experience.
According to The Age, Thoroughbred Breeders Australia (TBA) and Aushorse chief executive Tom Reilly, former Australian Turf Club executive James Ross and Royal Ascot’s Nick Smith have also been interviewed for the role.
Ross, who was the head of racing and wagering at the ATC prior to his move to the Hong Kong Jockey Club earlier this year, has previously worked for the Victoria Racing Club as its racing development and strategy manager for about two years from 2014.
Englishman Smith has been with Ascot in the UK for quarter of a century and has been the recruiter of Australian horses, including Black Caviar (Bel Esprit) and this year’s winner Asfoora (Flying Artie), to race at the royal meeting each June.
Reilly, of course, has led TBA for a decade and has a strong understanding and relationship with many of the industry’s participants.
The lack of stakeholder consultation and understanding of the participants’ was one of the criticisms levelled at Racing Victoria’s past two CEOs Jones and Thompson.