[AusRace] Turf war

[L.B.Loveday]

The ultimate turf war


Racing NSW has made its boldest bid yet for the spring spotlight.

By John Stensholt <https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/John+Stensholt> 

They are the four most crucial weeks in horseracing, a period now
threatening to spark the biggest turf war between the two biggest and most
powerful forces in the industry.

In one corner is traditionalist Victoria, the home of the Melbourne Cup and
its associated carnival that includes the hugely popular Victoria Derby Day
and historical lead-in races such as the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate.

Throwing a $45 million shot across its bow is Racing NSW and its innovative
and aggressive chief executive, Peter V'landys, who in a decade at the helm
has probably brought in close to $1 billion to the racing industry and his
state and beyond via a series of strategic -victories. He beat the corporate
bookmakers in the High Court and helped more than $500 million flow in race
field fees since 2012, and won $70m annually from the NSW government in the
form of tax relief over five years to bring it in line with Victoria.

He also oversaw the $150m Randwick racecourse grandstand rebuild and
launched the $14m -Everest, now the richest turf race in the world and the
centrepiece of his latest plans.

V'landys's big bet

V'Landys made arguably his biggest move yet on Monday, announcing a series
of lucrative events that will take place on the same days as the biggest
races on the Victorian spring carnival calendar, which for more than a
century have dominated attention in the sport, carried the biggest amounts
of prizemoney and attracted the largest crowds at the course and on
television.

NSW now unashamedly wants a piece of that action.

At stake is the attention and wallets of fans and punters in the crucial
period leading up the Melbourne Cup, on the first Tuesday of November. Those
four weeks are the only relatively clear air racing gets - with wider sports
fans and the general public following the AFL and NRL grand finals at the
end of September and early October, and before the action heats up in the
cricket season in summer - and are usually dominated by Victorian racing.

Once-a-year punters spend their money backing horses in the Melbourne Cup
and the Spring Racing Carnival is the biggest period of the financial year
for bookmakers. General interest in the sport is heightened every Saturday
with feature races across all of Melbourne's big tracks and provincial
courses.

V'Landys, described to The Australian by one billionaire horse breeder
yesterday as "the best racing administrator in the country by the length of
the straight", makes no secret of wanting to steal a piece of the extremely
rich pie - which has upset his Victorian counterparts.

"Like it or not, (the spring carnival) has been a monopoly, and in the
corporate world monopolies don't exist any more. It is no secret we don't
exist during that time at the moment. Our punters go to bet on Victorian
racing, and it takes a long time for them to come back," V'Landys tells The
Australian.

"We have to have a have a presence during that time. That is the best period
to race. What we are doing is in the best interests of racing in NSW, which
is actually our responsibility. This is not just about Victoria against NSW.
But what they have to do is get over their sense of entitlement."

Tough negotiator 

V'Landys has a history of rubbing plenty of people the wrong way -
particularly south of the border - though his supporters say that while he
is aggressive and one of the toughest negotiators around, he acts in the
best interests of his constituents and is a master -networker.

He has become one of the most powerful sporting figures in the country and
has a considerable group of friends and supporters in business and the
media, led by radio broadcaster Alan Jones and other racing identities.

But has V'Landys finally gone too far in first sparking and now trying to
win a turf war -between NSW and Victoria?

Could his latest move to run $45m worth of races across the biggest time of
the year in Victorian racing, the Spring Racing Carnival, upset the delicate
balancing act between the races in Sydney and those in Melbourne, and
ultimately confuse prospective fans, upset punters and undermine the pattern
racing system for Australian horses?

And does he risk - in shifting The Everest to Caulfield Cup day in October
and introducing the $7.5m Golden Eagle on Derby Day, considered the best
racing day of the year and the start of the Melbourne Cup carnival at
Flemington - splitting the industry if the best horses, jockeys and trainers
are forced to perennially choose between the industry's two biggest cities
at the most lucrative time of the year.

Racing Victoria chairman Brian Kruger, the former chief executive of
transport and logistics firm Toll Holdings, certainly thinks so, while
Moonee Valley Race Club chief executive Michael Browell has said NSW "wants
to sit right on top" of Victoria at spring carnival time, threatening iconic
races such as his Cox Plate.

Kruger has signalled his state will retaliate, telling radio station RSN
yesterday: "There will be lots of emotions out there but we need to make
sure (there) are ways we can respond. And that is something we will look at
in the future.

"We have not been sitting on our hands . we've been lifting our prizemoney
around some of our iconic races.

"We will keep looking at opportunities. It is still fresh for us to look at
the range of announcements made . and say, 'Here is what we are going to do
about it'.

"But we will look at whether there are things we can do with our prizemoney
or our programming to respond."

One option could be for Victoria to strike back and use its financial muscle
to either boost prizemoney for existing races during the autumn months, the
traditional time for NSW racing to shine with its championships and feature
events like the Golden Slipper, or come up with new events like the $5m All
Star Mile it ran for the first time in March.

Both strategies could be rolled out with the idea of stealing punters away
from NSW, as well some of the best horses. V'Landys is not frightened at
that prospect. "I congratulated them when they came up with the All Star
Mile. It is innovative. Good on them. I could hardly sit back and complain,
could I? It would have been a bit hypocritical."

Kruger says his big concern about NSW "encroaching" on the spring carnival
is that some of the best jockeys, horses and trainers will effectively have
to choose between being in Sydney or Melbourne, whereas previously most of
the industry would head to Melbourne for the biggest days.

"It is one of the things I look forward to in the spring. Most of our fans
look forward to it. There's no doubt there will be some impact on the issue
of the best racing against the best, and that is a concern for not just
Victorian racing but Australian racing." Kruger says.

One who has already made the choice is Bob Peters, owner of West Australian
four-year-old Arcadia Queen. He has said the horse, considered one of the
Cox Plate favourites, would instead target The Everest and Golden Eagle in
Sydney.

Jockeying for status

V'Landys does want Group 1 status for his biggest events, though, and has
criticised Victoria for blocking his plans via the Australian Pattern
Committee, which allocates race status. If the best horses start chasing
dollars in lesser-graded races in NSW, there is a fear it could hit the
Group 1 status or otherwise of some Victorian events.

V'Landys says the fears are "overblown" and "there are plenty of good horses
out there and this will create more opportunities for some others to come
through".

Kruger also questioned where NSW was getting the funding for the new races,
reserving particular criticism for the $7.5m earmarked for the Golden Eagle,
for four-year-olds.

V'Landys, who came up with an innovative way to fund The Everest's record
prizemoney by charging competitors $600,000 per race "slot", says he will
find another way for the Golden Eagle. "We've come up with an innovative bet
type that we will roll out, which will fund it. Most of what we are doing is
self-funded."

He would not be drawn as to what the new bet type or lottery would be, and
rejected accusations punters would have to pay a bigger margin to
bookmakers, who will pay higher race field fees to take bets on the new
races, and be turned off at the prospect.

"The Everest has become very popular with punters (it is now the second-most
popular race on the NSW TAB, with more than $20m turnover) and when it was
against the Caulfield Guineas last year, attendance and wagering at
Caulfield went up," he says.

The Everest will move a week later, taking place on the same day as the $5m
Caulfield Cup this year. But V'Landys says that will be as far as he goes,
and claims he has no plans, for example, to launch a similar race of 2400m -
The Everest is 1200m - or directly copy other big Victorian events.

He just wants good sprinting races on the days Victorian racing is focused
mostly on longer races, while also vying for attention in the wider market.

"Look, this is about competition", he says. "And there is nothing wrong with
competition. If you look at just about all industries out there, revenue
rises for everyone where there is competition. I think it will be the same
for racing."

-

Destined for a league of his own

 <https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/195fdb1f97beffcc729e0a654b9777f6>
Racing NSW chief executive Peter V'landys at Randwick in May. Picture: Getty
Images

Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter Beattie is said to have
made it known privately he would like to see Peter V'landys, the Racing NSW
chief executive, take over his job when his term finishes.

It would be quite a rise for V'Landys, who has spent 15 years at the helm of
Racing NSW and before that ran the state's harness racing body, but one that
would not surprise observers, including Beattie.

"He is one of the straightest shooters I have come across in my career, but
he is also one of the smartest," Beattie tells The Australian.

"He is very strategic and thinks four or five moves ahead, which is
something that not many people are capable of."

"He would be a good chairman in any organisation, be it rugby league or
racing, or anything else. He is very capable."

V'Landys has been an ARL commissioner since March last year and Beattie's
chairmanship finishes next February. While he has not ruled out continuing
for another year, he is unlikely to be in the role for much longer.

V'Landys says he will "certainly consider the opportunity" should the ARLC
role come up, but he stresses his current role has him "part of a team and I
am 100 per cent behind Peter as chairman and I think he has done a great
job".

But he certainly would be the short-priced favourite.

Prominent director Tony Shepherd, a Racing NSW board member, says: "Peter
would be one of the best CEOs I have ever dealt with. He is very good on
details and supports the big city races and what is happening in the
regions. And he is very good on keeping costs under control."

V'Landys's parsimony is legendary. One anecdote has him knocking backing a
couple of Racing NSW staff for a taxi voucher for a trip from the
organisation's Druitt Street headquarters in the Sydney CBD to Royal
Randwick racecourse. V'Landys is said to have told them they could take the
bus instead.

While he has been in his role since 2004, V'Landys says he intends to stick
around at Racing NSW and that it will be his last chief executive role -
even if he does not subscribe to the theory bosses should leave after about
five years.

"You get better as time goes on. My best years have been the last few, I
reckon. And just when you think you've done everything you want, something
else pops up and you do that too."

That means V'Landys could be around for a while yet to stay a thorn in the
side of his counterparts in Victoria, where his surname is one usually used
in disparaging terms or at best grudging admiration.

"Well, it's better than not being talked about. When they're talking about
you, it means you're still alive. Which is a good thing."

John Stensholt

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ausrace.com/pipermail/racing_ausrace.com/attachments/20190605/5fd42500/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 22497 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://ausrace.com/pipermail/racing_ausrace.com/attachments/20190605/5fd42500/attachment.jpg>