The media has been awash with shock, horror news articles describing the perilous financial state of the the Queensland racing industry and Racing Queensland’s new acting CEO, Ian Hall has been given the task of facilitating a pathway back to prosperity.

There has been lots of commentary about possible cuts to prizemoney, abolition of funding to country race clubs and breeders incentive schemes etc with most media attention being focussed on the thoroughbred side of the industry.

This is not surprising as the thoroughbred industry generates 75% of Racing Queensland’s revenue stream (2014-2015 annual report).

Certain individual trainers who are members of the Australian Thoroughbred Trainers Association – Brisbane branch have been quick to back possible cuts to prizemoney at country thoroughbred race meeting as long as Metropolitan prizemoney isn’t touched.

However the media, Racing Queensland executive management team and ATA – Brisbane branch have all been very low key in their comments about how the performance of the different racing codes has contributed to the overall RQ net operating loss of $11.18 million for the last financial year.

It is true that the thoroughbred industry produced a net operating loss following depreciation of equipment of $2.86 million. This is not brilliant but considering the upheaval to betting revenue caused by major track refurbishment programs and closure of racing at Eagle Farm, Queensland’s premier race track,  and also Townsville for a large part of last financial year, it is not total gloom and doom.

The greyhound industry also generated a net operating loss following depreciation of $1.2 million and it is certainly prudent that a thorough analysis of cost savings for this code also be investigated.

Howver the major financial problem becomes apparent when one looks at the harness racing industry result. Harness racing is haemorrhaging money and on life support. It generated a loss of $7 miillion dollars before depreciation of assets and after depreciation a net loss of $7.1 million.

This performance by harness racing is totally unsustainable and the industry requires radical surgery if it is to survive at all.

For anyone with even a passing interest in harness racing or the “trots” as it was once affectionately known this is a very sad situation.

However harness racing has been a very sick and stagnant industry for well over a decade now with no real cure in sight.

The glory days for harness racing commenced in the early 1970’s with the public flocking to the new spectacle of night racing often referred to as the “ribbon of light”.

Queensland developed regular night trotting at Albion Park, Gold Coast, Redcliffe, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsvile, and Cairns.

Saturday afternoon trotting at Rocklea, Toowoomba, Charters Towers and Innisfail, offered opportunity for battlers and beginners to either get a start or remain connected to the sport.

Crowds at the “trots” on Saturday nights continued to grow and the betting rings were packed with bookmakers and punters. Townsville boasted a ring of in excess of 20 bookmakers during the heady days of the late 70’s. The Rockhampton opening night for harness racing at Callaghan Park in May 1974 was huge with a crowd of thousands cramming the course facilities to the brim.

Harness racing continued to grow in popularity to such an extent that thoroughbred racing adminstrators in many locations were quite worried that there would be a drift away from the races on Saturday afternoons and consequent reduction in betting turnover.

The trots reached a peak in popularity in the late 80’s and since then has been in decline mode.

One could speculate what went wrong and there are multiple reasons.

For one. poker machines were legalised in Queensland and there was a huge growth in lavish facilities at clubs and pubs which offered various forms of additional entertainment and incentives to woo patrons.

Queenslanders no longer needed to sneak south of the the border to have a flutter on the pokies and enjoy a different level of entertainment.

 The harness racing industry itself also lost it’s way. The focus moved from smaller circumference tracks which held a certain fascination for the public who could be close to the horses and action. Harness racing on small, tight cornered tracks, often at a showgrounds, held a certain type of comparison to Roman chariot racing and the public loved the skills displayed by reinsmen in this cauldron atmosphere.

However harness racing administrators and breeders in particular developed a fascination with speed and the magical 2 minute mile barrier. New larger size tracks were developed and racing took on a different feel with the focus all on speed racing. Funny thing is the punting public didn’t really care as to whether a horse won in 1.58 or 2.03 they wanted a close exciting contest and a run for their money. This new style of racing often ended up with a procession of follow the leader racing with short priced favourites. The punters simply uned out.  Stewards jumped in and imposed penalties on drivers if they didn’t carve out minimum set times when leading. The days of rating a horse to give it the best chance of winning were gone. If a driver tried to stack the field up and sprint home, catching his opponents napping he would be fined and ran the risk of suspension for multiple infringements. As far as intergrity went it was open slather. As one reinsman at the time said to me – “if I want to get a horse beat what better way than to just cut him loose early knowing he’ll tire, all with the stewards blessing”.

Harness racing was widely labelled as the “red hots” with many industry participants were up to their necks in shenanigans. The probelem for harness racing was that the punting public were not completely gullible and decided to move their gambling investment to other avenues.

As the stagnation continued harness racing authorities over time closed all tracks across Queensland except two, Redcliffe and Albion Park in the South East corner. The statewide support base withered and the industry has become very closed and insular. It has almost lost the support of mainstream media and for most Queenslanders they wouldn’t even know a harness racing meeting was on. There is limited publicity and nil free to air coverage of races. Even the Interdominion ( Harness racing’s equivalent of the Melbourne Cup) barely gets a mention these days or even a few seconds replay of the final on TV news channels.

It’s hard to say if harness racing is terminal but at present it continues to decline whilst requiring constant life support funded by revenue generated by other racing codes in Queensland.

Ian Hall was quoted in the Sunday mail newspaper on 20th Septemer 2015 as saying he thought that cross subsidisation of codes was  acceptable and it was not likely that the various codes would be split to operate under individual umbrellas.

This might be ok in the short term. However it is imperitave that he and his management team at RQ enunciate a vision and strategy which will assist the harness racing industry to survive on it’s own revenue stream without additional support.

Howver in order to formulate a strategy and then implement it effectively, perhaps they should do a lot more comprehensive market research and business analysis to determine if harness racing will ever come off life support.

In order to find the answers they really need to talk with the public and punters and find out why they have shunned the “trots’ – they alone will determine the harness racing industry’s future survival.

Time will tell if the RQ team actually has the will or the intellectual and business skills to carry out such a comprehensive study and then has the intestinal fortitude to act on any findings.

The thoroughbred industry’s future prosperity relies heavily on their actions in regard to harness racing’s viability.

 

 

 

 

Racing Queensland is still trying to lobby industry stakeholders to agree to a proposed downgrade for Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns race meetings from provincial to country status.

RQ has stated that this change in status will only apply to apprentice claim allowances whereby they will only be able to utilise their allowed country claim when riding at these venues. (One could be excused for wondering if prizemoney status is next in line)

As part of this proposal apprentices will only be able to use their provincial allowance when riding at Gold Coast, Suncshine Coast or Ipswich meetings.

The Queensland Trainers Association has grave concerns regarding the merits of this proposal. It appears to offer very few benefits to apprentice jockeys or trainers,  particularly those based in regional areas.

RQ conducted a comprehensive review in 2011/2012 ” Apprentice Jockey Training and Welfare” which involved extensive interviews with trainers etc across the state. It is still available for perusal on their web site.

There are many issues which came to light during this review which have YET to be implemented and this “new proposal” from left field was not identified or discussed in this review at all.

Wade Birch in early January 2015 alleged that the key driver for this proposed changed was due to a review conducted by the integrity department in 2014 that showed that many jockey and apprentice riding skills were perceieved as not being up to some determined standard.

If this is the real reason for the proposed change the “solution” does nothing to address how to improve a rider’s core skills.

It ultimately only serves as a deterent to restrict opportunity for indentured apprentices based on the post code where they live and undergo training.

If skills are lacking in some groups of apprentices then RQ really need to focus a review on it’s ability to offer an appropriate level of training which can deliver improvements.

Jim Rundle, QTA president has requested facts and figures from RQ to help explain why they feel there is such urgent need to change the status quo.

Shane Scriven, who now works for RQ in the apprentice training department, was a very high quality jockey but has struggled to provide any factual information to support this proposal and his answers to date lack any clarity.  

He has stated that Queensland has “the most complex apprentice jockey licence format in Australia”.

However Qld apprentice claim allowances etc are exactly the same as that which apply in NSW.

The difference in NSW is that apart from their metropolitan clubs they only have 5 provincial status clubs. These are Gosford, Wyong, Kembla Grange, Newcastle, and Hawkesbury which are all within relatively close driving distance of Sydney.

All other clubs have country status in regard to apprentice claims.

RQ seem to have the view that somehow this enhances opportunity for apprentices to compete and utilise their claiming allowances at metropolitan, provincial and country level more effectively than is our current scene in Qld.

The QTA has done some preliminary analysis of information publicly provided on Racing NSW and RQ websites in regard to jockeys and apprentices riding statistics for the 2014/2015 racing season.

Some of this info is provided below:

Total Metro race rides (all riders) Qld 8896 NSW8178

Leading senior jockey: wins/rides Qld: J. Byrne 71/563 NSW: H. Bowman 96/453

Leading apprentice: wins/rides Qld: L. tarrant 57/405 NSW: Ms W. Costin 41/396

Percentage of all rides by aprrentices Qld: 28.1 NSW: 19.5

Total Provincial race rides (all riders) Qld: 21172 NSW: 8753
Leading senior jockey: wins/rides Qld: A.Coome 80/345 NSW: B. Avdulla 45/251

Leading apprentice: wins/rides Qld: Ms E Ljung 55/307 NSW: Ms J Taylor 33/372
Percentage of all rides by apprentices Qld: 31.8 NSW: 18.1

Total Country race rides (all riders) Qld: 11162 NSW: 36201
Leading senior jockey: wins /rides Qld: A. Spradau 32/122 NSW: G. Ryan 111/639

Leading apprentice wins/ rides Qld: Ms T. Ticknell 28/163 NSW: A. Adkins 56/476
Percentage of all rides by apprentices: Qld: 33.0 NSW: 25.7

Even this very preliminary analysis would indicate that apprentices across Queensland have much better opportunity to compete against senior jockeys at all venues compared to their NSW counterparts.

This includes metropolitan. provincial and country racing and proves just how important apprentices are to the overall structure of racing across Queensland.

We know for a fact that over many years multiple SE Qld based apprentices with reduced country claim allowances have got their start at provincial racing with a 3kg claim at tracks like Rockhampton. Mackay. Townsville and Cairns.

They were embraced and given race rides by local trainers when their southern counterparts were very reluctanct to give them a go at their own provincial tracks such as Toowoomba, Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast.

Unfortunately over recent times the RQ management seems to operate in a very reactive manner, particularly if Brisbane based trainers have some type suggestion, often aimed at fostering their interests only. However one wonders if RQ ever conducts any sort of business analysis regarding their proposals and related impacts on stakeholders across the whole state.

The apparent use of “DATA FREE THEORY” by RQ has helped lead racing in Queensland into the overall mess the industry is in today.

Let’s hope they can supply a compelling argument to back up what appears to be the latest knee jerk.
At the time of writing Jim Rundle has requested more information from RQ Thoroughbred Management team but they have yet to respond.

The Townsville Turf Club announced this week that the refurbishement of the racetrack at Cluden Park is almost complete.

The agronomists looking after the new turf surface are happy with the overall growth and root development and the new spinkler irrigation system has been doing a terrific job whilst the north suffers it’s usual dry winter season.

Michael Charge, TTC CEO, has said that a trial schedule is being finalised to allow for horses to gallop on the track and truly test its surface prior to the return of racing on Saturday 19th September 2015.

Racing returns with the Ladies day program offering 3 x $25000 and 5 x $15000 races as a precurser to the tradition Townsville Cup and Cleveland Bay sprint carnival to be held the following week..

This years carnival will offer a new exciting spring flavour and it is anticipated that the Cup day crowd will exceed 10,000 guests.

The RSL Townsville Cup raceday ito be held on Saturday September 26th offers a massive $440,000 + prizemoney pool up for grabs.

This is spread across a 10 race card and will be the richest prizemoney meeting held in Queensland on that day. It is to be hoped that such a quality carnival receives the appropriate Sky and TAB coverage to showcase it across Australia.

All up there will be three $100,000 prizemoney races decided on the 26th September. These are the RSL Townsville Cup over 2000m, the XXXX Gold Cleveland Bay Handicap over 1300m and the Parry Nissan 3yo (set weights) over 1200m.

North Queensland trainers have all suffered to some extent due to the length of time that the Townsville track renovation works required. Trainers have had to travel widely to race their horses and the Queensland Trainers Association wish them well for the upcoming return to Cluden Park. It is also anticipated that local Townsville trainers will meet strong competion from trainers travelling from all over the state to partipate in such a quality carnival.    

 

Jim Rundle, President, Queensland Trainers Association attended a meeting in Brisbane yesterday to discuss ways for the racing industry to progress and move forward whilst at the same time living within a budget framework supported by current income streams.

Racing Queensland acting CEO, Ian Hall convened the meeting at Eagle Farm with members of RQ management team in attendence along with a group of other industry representatives. These included, Cameron Partington (ATA – Qld branch), Basil Nolan (TBAQ), Kerrina King (QROA), Vin Cox (MM), Dave Whimpy (BRC), Glen Prentice (QJA) and Michael Charge (TTC).

Ian Hall presented the current financial position of Racing Queensland, outlining the less than budgeted returns from betting turnover over the past 12 months.

Whilst factors such as the redevelopment of Eagle Farm and Townsville tracks may have contributed to this lower turnover there is also widespread concern at the percveived inability of UBET to compete effectively in the current marketplace.

Jim was particularly encouraged by the tone of the meeting which seemed to focus on looking for ways to grow our industry in a cost effective manner rather than a “slash and burn” approach which many doomsayers in the Brisabne based media scrum have been intent on peddling over recent weeks.

Whilst discussions are still in a preliminary phase, smaller working groups were formed to provide feedback on what the industry could possibly live without to provide some savings and what could be improved to provide a more efficient process.

No final decisons have been made but suffice to say there seemed to be some concensus that the industy could still prosper without a $2 million Stradbroke and there could be some fine tuning of future QTIS prizemoney allocation which would not overly detract from it’s key objectives.  

Other subjects discussed included a possible return to Tuesday racing and perhaps some country clubs being granted TAB status for selected Sunday meetings etc.

Overall Jim felt that the consultation process started off in a very positive way and it didn’t appear that decisons have already been set in concrete.

All industry participants will be able to make comment in the near future by following the links for “consultation process” on the Racing Queensland web site.

This is an opportunity for all and it is hoped that people from all over the state will provide feedback for Ian Hall and the Racing Minister , Bill Byrne to incorporate into their overall understanding of the whole industry. 

 

 

 

 

 

The Queensland Trainers Association has been invited to sit at the table when the racing industry consulation process begins in August.

This consultative process has been been put in place by Racing Queensland acting CEO, Ian Hall and will allow for representatives of race clubs, QTA, ATA, jockeys association, Tattsbet, racehorse owners and other industry stakeholders to attend. All will be able to put their views forward on how to achieve a viable and vibrant industry that can live within its budget.

One of the hardest things for grass roots industry participants to come to grips with at present is how did the gaping “black hole” in Racing Queensland finances announced recently by Ian Hall actually occur.

Queensland Minister for Racing, Bill Byrne stated in parliament that RQ’s income projections were based on “rivers of gold” that didn’t actually exist.

Of course these “shock horror” announcements are in stark contrast to the industry hype and spin announced by Kevin Dixon when he disclosed the $4.5 billion 30 year product agreement signed with the Tatts Group in late June 2014. There was also an upfront payment of $15 million to help sugar coat the “deal of the century” which would lead racing in Queensland from the prizemoney wilderness.

Ian Hall has an obligation to all stakeholders to fully explain how this deal has failed to deliver the anticipated benefits to the industry.

He has made some preliminary announcements that betting turnover on racing in Queensland across all codes has been lower that what was initially projected.

The Queensland Trainers Association has asked for copies of figures to back up these assertions in order for stakeholders to determine what codes and racing precincts have had the largest impact on these turnover figures.

Tattsbet has not uttered one word publically as yet as to how they view any downturn in turnover.

Tatts Group were every slow out of the blocks with the launch of their much hyped, revamped UBET brand and we are very keen to hear what they have to say about their ability to compete and effectively market their brand in competition with other corporate bookmaking entities in Australia.

Just what is their overall marketing strategy that made them the standout candidate to receive an exclusive 30 year deal from Racing Queensland and what does their analysis conclude as to reasons for a downturn in betting turnover. Is it the “product” supplied by Racing Queensland or Tattsbet inability to compete in the market? Has Racing Queensland “backed the wrong horse? 

The TAB race clubs are effectively all franchisees in this corporate conglomerate which constitutes Racing Queensland and they are also often left in the dark when it comes to provision of key performance indicators. How many of the clubs have regular access to betting turnover information split by race club, week day, race times and race distances etc that they can use to benchmark their performances against all other clubs across the state?

We are lead to believe that Racing Queensland has all this information but it is rarely if ever downloaded to the “franchisees” or individual clubs. Therefore how can the clubs ever work towards improving the “product” if they don’t even have base line infromation to work with? 

There is a vast array of data sharing which is required before any talk of prizemoney cuts even touches the table.

The top down policies of the current Racing Queensland business model where it is assumed that the Deagon bunker is the font of all knowledge has to cease. The “secret squirrel” model of holding information in house and failure to share key financial performance indicators with industry stakeholders is a failed strategy.

A bottom up model has to be developed where there is much wider true consultation with industry on an ongoing basis.

Trainers and owners are the key drivers of the supply chain. They supply the “Product” (horses) to the frachisees (clubs) who then supply to Racing Queensland to on sell to Tattsbet to supply to the punter.

Racing Queensland has had difficulty in understanding its role in the supply chain and has failed to properly assist and supply the analytical tools to nurture a network of profitable franchisees (clubs) and trainers and owners over past years.

Now is the time to fix a broken model and stop a situation where Racing Queensland executives seem to operate as if they are running a Deagon based feifdom.

Sharing information and data is extremely powerful and empowering and that needs to start now.  

 

 

 

Since Bill Byrne, Queensland racing minister recommended the sacking of Queensland Racing all codes board Chairman Kevin Dixon and Chief Executive, Darren Condon there has been considerable debate in various circles about the fairness of his actions.

A number of Brisbane based trainers and journalists seem to be claiming that the actions were purely politically motivated and that neither sacking was justified.

Unfortunately some of the pro Dixon and Condon camp seem to have a very tentative understanding of the responsibilities which were attached to the positions which both men occupied within Queensland Racing.

Unfortunately both men were found to have erred in their ability to correctly oversee areas of corporate govenance covering all aspects of the three racing codes under their control.

One only has to look a little more closely at the Racing Queensland 2013/2014 annual report which was signed off by both men to gain an insight into the areas in which they failed in their duties.

On page 5 under the heading, “Our vision. Mission and Values” we see the following statements:

“We set the standard worldwide in the humane treatment of our animals and champion their welfare”

” Championing animal welfare – Expand welfare education programs and further develop guidelines for breeding, training and competition. Increase intelligence capability and share information with other welfare groups.”

“Upholding integrity – ensure the Queensland racing industry operates with integrity at all times. Build our intelligence capability and strengthen our grip on non compliant activity.”

When it came to the greyhound industry it appears these men could talk the talk but not walk the walk and their efforts to oversee the areas referred to in the annual report all came crashing down with the ABC 4 corners report on live baiting practices.

Whilst both men may have been passionate about thoroughbred racing their job responsibilities covered all 3 racing codes and and their efforts were seen to fall far short of what the Racing Minister deemed to be satisfactory.

Bill Byrne has installed Mr Ian Hall, from accountants KPMG as acting CEO of Queensland Racing and he has been given a brief to conduct a forensic analysis of the finances and procedures within the whole organisation in order to determine the true current state of play.

Dixon and Condon were widely touted as the saviours of racing in Queensland following their much publicised deal of the century with TattsBet in regard to the recently approved racing product and betting agreement.

Time will tell whether Ian Hall’s full analysis of current finances and future income streams from betting turnover come to the same conclusion for racing in Queensland.

In the interim the QTA congratulates Bill Byrne for his businesslike and methodical approach to separate out the “spin” and concentrate on the facts in order to ensure racing continues to thrive across all areas of Queensland.

 

 

 

A total of 116 selected yearlings have been catalogued for the 2015 Capricornia Yearling sale to be held at Rockhampton showgrounds, Sunday 12th April. Graduates from this sale will be eligibel to race in the 2016 Capricornia 2YO Classic with total prizemoney of $100,000 up for grabs. Many good quality horses have beeen paraded through the Rockhampton sales ring over the years, including the 2014 Stradbroke Handicap (Gr1) winner, River Lad.

River Lad actually won the 2010 Capricornia 2YO Classic and then returned the following year to also be the victor of the sales related Capricornia 3YO Championship. His carreer then continued to blossom culminating in his exciting Gr1 win last year under the tutelage of trainer Natalie McCall.

One colt sure to attract a high level of interest in the 2015 sale is Lot 15, the 3/4 brother to Our Boy Malachi, who has recently taken the Sydney racing scene by storm. Our Boy Malachi has an impeccable racing record winning 16 of his 18 starts, including the listed Razor Sharp Stakes at randwick in December 2014. Coincidently Our Boy Malachi is by the underrated stallion Top Echelon who is also the sire of River Lad

The overall quality of colts and fillies catalogued for the 2015 is exception for a regional yearling sale making this years offering one of the strongest in the sales proud 30 year history.

Stallions reperesented include, Al Maher (sire of 24 Stakes winners), Bradbury’s Luck (sire of Gr1 winner Luckygray), Choisir (sire of 63 SW), Jet Spur (sire sire of recent GR3 winner Mishani Honcho), Hidden Dragon (sire of Gr2 winner Hollowlea), Not A Single Doubt (sire of 22 SW), Oratorio(Ire) (sire of 42 SW), Real Saga (sire of 2014 GCTC Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner Real Surreal), Written Tycoon (sire of Gr2 winner Howmuchdoyouloveme).

Freshman sires including Benfica (by Champion racehorse and now sire Lonhro), Love Conquers All (by Mossman), Moshe (Black Caviar’s winning full brother), Pluck (USA) (by champion sire More Than Ready), Sidereus (Gr2 Pago Pago Stakes winner), Trusting (multiple GR2 winner in Sydney) and Zoffany (Ire) (by champion European sire Dansili, sire of 95 SW) really add to the depth of pedigrees represented in this sale.