The glamour racing days won’t fund the 364-day-a-year industry
It may not have been surprising to anyone who has remotely paid attention to the federal government’s inquiry into Australia’s wagering industry, but the release of this week’s You Win Some, You Lose More report will send shockwaves reverberating across the gambling sector – and racing.
There’s still a lot to play out – and lobbyists and government relations specialists will be charging top dollar – before anything is enacted but one thing’s for sure, the saturation of gambling advertising (Tom Waterhouse was the original fall guy) will be no longer.
Australia’s principal racing authorities were digesting the report on Wednesday and what the ramifications are for the industry, if and when, any or all, of the 31 recommendations are legislated.
It appears as though the committee acknowledged racing by recommending that the industry is not part of the advertising ban on racing channels and programmes, which suggests Sky Channel, Racing.com and Channel 7’s Saturday coverage would be spared from the prohibition.
The four-day Melbourne Cup carnival, whose rights have been sold to Tabcorp which is seeking expressions of interest from free-to-air media, would also, it is safe to assume, fall under that umbrella.
Racing radio stations such as Tabcorp’s Sky Sports Radio and RadioTAB, WA’s TABRadio and Racing Victoria-owned RSN are also likely to be safe.
What isn’t so clear is whether racing print media, specifically form guide providers Winning Post and Best Bets (both owned by Racing Victoria), would also be exempt under the recommendations. The publications would become immediately unviable if it was not granted.
Would that also be extended to the mainstream newspapers where TAB-branded form guides run in publications such as The Daily Telegraph whose racing coverage is underwritten by Racing NSW.
The generosities – for example, money back for second and third in the first four races at Flemington – have played a huge role in driving turnover, particularly as punters migrate to digital bookmaker platforms.
Citing the 2021-22 Racing Victoria annual report, the incentivised bets accounted for 4.8 per cent, or $437.7 million, of the $9.16 billion turned over on the state’s thoroughbred racing in the 12-month period.
In an interview with Racenet earlier this week, prior to the release of the government report, RV chief executive Andrew Jones was confident that existing customer agreements and bonus bets would be quarantined from any possible restrictions.
However, the report isn’t so clear, and Jones did highlight the importance of the generosities in encouraging punters’ focus on racing rather than the same game multi on the footy – the latter an absolute river of gold for the bookies such is their popularity and likelihood of actually winning for the bettor.
“If you get a bonus bet and win, the bookie gets to deduct those winnings from its Racefields fee calculation – they pay on net wagering revenue so they get to take off winnings from bonus bets, so that encourages bonus bets, and then there is a fund that is funded out of Racefields which is reinvested into generosities by agreements with the WSPs,” Jones told Racenet.
The glamour racing days – The Everest, Cox Plate, Melbourne Cup or Stradbroke day – with fashions on the field, champagne and Sweet Caroline won’t fund the 364-day-a-year industry without the casual and diehard punters captivated week in, week out.
For the significantly engaged, semi-professional punters – the ones already banned from the inducements – the committee made some encouraging recommendations where across-the-board minimum bet requirements are likely to be put in place, overseen and enforced by a federally run body.
The bigger concern for racing is whether bookmakers – already hit with rising taxation costs (the ACT government this week announced its Point of Consumption Tax would rise to an Australian-high of 25 per cent!) – push up their percentages (thus reducing their odds) as they have year-on-year, hurting the punter the most.
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For any racing industry service provider – trainer, syndicator, bloodstock agent and so on – you just never know where your new, big client will come from.
A few years ago, young Perth-based trainer Luke Fernie, a kid from Kalgoorlie, was trying to make his way in the city up against the Adam Durrants, Grant and Alana Williams’ and Neville Parnhams.
Along came Perth-based residential builder Kim Doak who took five per cent in one of Fernie’s horses. Now he, his father John and partner Maria Manfredini have up to 50 horses with the young horseman.
Fernie and Doak are effectively in partnership in every thoroughbred they own together and this week they sold the Pride Of Dubai half-brother to JJ Atkins winner King Colorado for $260,000 and the two-year-old’s dam More Aspen for $720,000. They paid $42,500 for the mare in 2021 in foal to Pride Of Dubai.
“So, going back a while, I had a significant interest in the pacing industry over here [in WA] with my father but we eventually sold out of that,” Doak told us.
“We sat idle for a while before we decided to go back into it in some way. My dad’s pretty old now and I just wanted to have one last chapter of having something to do together, so we decided to get into the gallops.
“I had a look around and I decided I wanted to be with a young, up-and-coming trainer. Luke stood out, we met and I bought a sneaky five per cent share in one of his horses just to see how he went dealing with a ‘nobody’, if that makes sense.
“He is just an easy going, country-raised kid who treated us really well and I thought he was the right way to go.”
Since then, Doak and his family have invested heavily with Fernie and among their stock is talented Perth Stakes (Listed, 1100m) winning two-year-old gelding Ripcord (Written By) who finished third in the Karrakatta Plate on Quokka day in mid-April.
“We’ve probably got 40 to 50 horses with him now and, as I say, it’s all on a handshake but we treat it as a partnership,” the builder said.
“He’s been good enough to fly around the country to the different sales and help us choose stock and things like that. We’re all in it together.”
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Last week, I took the chance to visit the Macedon Lodge training facility and Eddie Hirsch’s private training centre near Tylden in Victoria.
The 120-hectare Macedon Lodge, developed by the late Kurt Stern and later sold to leviathan owner Lloyd Williams, was sold for the first time in more than 15 years late last year.
Five Melbourne Cup winners were trained from the facility under Williams’ ownership while Blue Diamond winner and stallion Bel Esprit was prepared there by John Symons when the property was owned by Stern.
Liam Howley was the first trainer to commit to using Macedon Lodge upon its purchase by pub baron Bruce Dixon, while New Zealander Andrew Forsman has opened a satellite operation.
In training last week were Howley’s talented stayer Virtuous Circle (Almanzor) and Forsman’s Mr Maestro (Savabeel), Group 1 winner Aegon (Sacred Falls) and promising rising three-year-old filly Ethereal Star (Snitzel) who landed the Challenge Stakes (Listed, 1100m) at Pukekohe last November and finished second to boom juvenile Tokyo Tycoon in the Karaka Million (RL, 1200m) in her maiden racing campaign.
Construction was in full swing, with additional walkers and boxes being built at Macedon Lodge with the expectation that more trainers will have a base at the facility, about 50 minutes from Melbourne’s CBD.
Enhancing the training tracks, and potentially a deep sand circuit, is also in the works and there’s certain to be a steady stream of winners being produced from the complex.
As for Hirsch’s facility, about 20 minutes from Macedon Lodge, the stables are something to behold and no wonder the property, which was originally known as Wadham Park, cost a reported $20 million to build.
Hirsch has, at a seven-figure expense, remodelled the training track to make the corners more forgiving, which was one criticism under the original build, while he has also invested in other improvements in recent months.