Chief Stipe

Coolmore stallion Wootton Bassett dies www.racenet.com.au Wootton Bassett, the world's hottest young stallion, has died suddenly due to illness. Coolmore Australia confirmed Wootton Bassett, 17, had passed away on Tuesday having suffered from choke before developing acute pneumonia. His condition deteriorated rapidly and he was unable to be saved by Coolmore's team of vets. "We got the best veterinary care we could to the horse, we did everything possible but we couldn't save him," Coolmore Australia supremo Tom Magnier said. "He got sick a couple of days ago and went downhill very quickly. It only happened about an hour ago so it's very raw. "To lose a horse like him is devastating and I feel for our staff who have always cared for this horse, day in and day out. They are shattered." Wootton Bassett was standing for $385,000 at Coolmore for the upcoming season. One of Europe's best two-year-olds during his short but successful career, he started his career at stud with Hara d'Etreham in France in 2012 before being sold to Coolmore in 2020. He has visited Australia as a shuttle stallion for Coolmore in recent times and produced 2025 Golden Slipper runner-up Wodeton in his first Australian crop. The Chris Waller-trained colt will look to deliver Coolmore an emotion charged victory in the Group 1 $1 million Golden Rose (1400m) this weekend. Ciaron Maher's State Visit, another Coolmore-owned son of Wootton Bassett, will also contest the Golden Rose. Royal Patronage delivered Wootton Bassett with a maiden Group 1 victory on Australian shores when he claimed the Canterbury Stakes (1300m) at Randwick in March.

Coolmore confirms Wootton Bassett loss www.racing.com Wootton Bassett, the sire of Melbourne Cup favourite Al Riffa, has died at age 17 at Coolmore Australia in NSW. Coolmore confirmed his death of the famed dual-hemisphere stallion from pneumonia on Tuesday afternoon. ‘’Wootton Bassett, one of the world’s great sires has sadly passed away today at Coolmore Australia having suffered from choke and subsequently developing an acute pneumonia which deteriorated rapidly,’’ the statement read. ‘’Despite round-the-clock care from a dedicated team of vets, overseen by Dr Nathan Slovis from Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Kentucky, he was unable to be saved.’’ A G1 winner in France over 1600 metres, Wootton Bassett first shuttled to Australia from Ireland in 2021 on a $71,500 fee. By last season, he commanded a higher fee than any other stallion at $385,000 at which he served 136 mares. Purchased after his racing career by Coolmore in 2020, Wootton Bassett quickly developed into a world class sire and currently boasts 25 stakes winners and six G1 winners from his current two and three-year-old crops conceived in Ireland,’’ Coolmore said. Canterbury Stakes winner Royal Patronage is also by Wootton Bassett and there are more likely stars yet emerging. ‘’In Australia, his first crop is highlighted by this year’s Golden Slipper runner-up and first colt home Wodeton, who lines up in the G1 Golden Rose Stakes this weekend for Chris Waller.’’

I didn't ask you.

Participants Bulletin From Racing NSW Chairman Dr Saranne Cooke PARTICIPANTS BULLETIN September 2025 CHAIRMAN'S REPORT Dear NSW Racing Industry participants, Unfortunately, there has been much misinformation relating to the Australian Turf Club (ATC) and why Racing NSW has issued a Show Cause Notice as to why the ATC should not be put into administration. Racing NSW wanted to take the opportunity to reassure all participants that this action was being taken to protect the interests of the entire NSW Thoroughbred Racing Industry. Racing NSW will work through this process with the ATC, in the best interest of all our 50,000 participants to ensure their jobs and livelihoods. Why Racing NSW Intervened: • ATC is heavily subsidised by the NSW Thoroughbred Racing Industry and it depends almost entirely on Racing NSW for both operating and capital funding. • Cash reserves have been shrinking raising concerns around ongoing solvency. • Recent developments have raised alarms regarding Governance practices. This is notwithstanding Racing NSW having: • Increased funding from $31 million per annum (2015) to $164.7 million per annum (2025). • Negotiated an extra $42 million per annum in agreements to support ATC on top of the $164.7 million additional funding mentioned above. • Bailed out the ATC on multiple occasions when it couldn’t make payments needed for loan repayment, redundancies and Grandstand cladding. On top of all of the additional funding provided by Racing NSW for prizemoney increases, the ATC also receives $38 million per annum to use towards funding its operations. This funding has increased by 35% since 2015. Wagering Revenues – A Common Misunderstanding A frequent claim is that ATC should simply receive all wagering revenue generated by betting from all wagering operators on all its races. Based on this claim, the ATC would receive $80.1 million. The actual money it receives from Racing NSW from wagering highlights why this argument is absurd given that in 2025, the ATC actually received $233.1 million in total funding from wagering revenues (TAB distribution + Racing NSW contributions). That’s $153 million more than the ATC generated itself. It also received an additional $42 million per annum from agreements negotiated by Racing NSW with TAB, Sky Channel and Channel 7. This means Racing NSW is already giving the ATC far more than its own races directly produce from wagering. Without Racing NSW’s intervention, prizemoney levels and operations would be unsustainable which demonstrates the extent to which the ATC is subsidised by the NSW Thoroughbred Racing Industry. How the ATC is Funded? The ATC is heavily subsidised by the NSW Thoroughbred Racing Industry as set out in detail below. To fully understand the ATC’s funding model, we need to break down where the money comes from and how it has changed in the past 10 years (2015 → 2025). Main Sources of Revenue: • TAB Distribution – ATC’s share of the TAB distribution. - 2015: $80.7 million - 2025: $68.6 million ➝ Decline of $12.1 million despite overall industry growth. This means TAB income has been shrinking as a proportion of ATC’s funding. Racing NSW has however provided a $12 million top up of the TAB distribution included in below additional funding. • Racing NSW Additional Funding – extra support provided by Racing NSW in addition to the TAB distributions. - 2015: $31.0 million - 2025: $164.7 million ➝ Increased by more than 430%. Racing NSW is now the major funder of ATC, covering gaps that ATC cannot fill on its own. • Revenues Negotiated by Racing NSW in new agreements with TAB, Sky Channel and Channel 7 - 2015: $14.4 million - 2025: $40.9 million → growth in these additional revenues due to Racing NSW negotiating new agreements. • Other Revenues: - ATC Commercial Revenues (after costs): $15.6 million in 2015 → $13.6 million in 2025 → no growth over a 10 year period. - Other Racing Revenue: $7.5 million in 2015 → $9.4 million in 2025 - ATC Other Income: $10.4 million in 2015 → $15.0 million in 2025. Total Revenues: • 2015: $159.5 million • 2025: $312.2 million ➝ Overall revenue has nearly doubled, but the entirety of the increase comes from Racing NSW, not ATC’s own commercial activities. 1. Prizemoney • 2015: $89.3 million • 2025: $216.9 million which more than doubled, with the increase funded entirely by Racing NSW. This increase was critical for keeping Sydney racing competitive and providing the ATC with additional opportunities to drive commercial revenues 2. Wagering Revenues – A Common Misunderstanding A frequent claim is that ATC should simply receive all wagering revenue generated by betting from all wagering operators on all its races. Based on this claim, the ATC would receive $80.1 million. The actual money it receives from Racing NSW from wagering highlights why this argument is absurd given that in 2025, the ATC actually received $233.1 million in total funding from wagering revenues (TAB distribution + Racing NSW contributions). That’s $153 million more than ATC generated itself. It also received an additional $42 million per annum from agreements negotiated by Racing NSW with TAB, Sky Channel and Channel 7. This means Racing NSW is already giving the ATC far more than its own races directly produce from wagering. Without Racing NSW’s intervention, prizemoney levels and operations would be unsustainable which demonstrates the extent to which the ATC is subsidised by the NSW Thoroughbred Racing Industry. 3. ATC’s Costs ATC revenue growth from non-wagering has been limited however cost increases have been significant: • Staff Costs - 2015: $36.6 million - 2025: $60.2 million ➝ Up by 65%, far above inflation. Meanwhile, ATC’s own non-wagering revenues only rose by $2.6 million in 10 years. 4. Current Financial Concerns • Loans and Debt - ATC has $35 million in debt facilities (bank loan + overdraft). - ATC could not meet a $5 million repayment to its bank so Racing NSW had to pay it on behalf of the ATC and further had to be guarantor on the ATC’s $35 million debt facilities. - Racing NSW had highlighted to the ATC that its cost structure was unsustainable and required to put in place a much more cost effective executive management structure. Racing NSW paid $1.5 million to the ATC so they could pay the redundancies on the executive staff that were made redundant. Unfortunately, these admin costs continue to rise. • Cash Reserves - 2015: $50.1 million - 2025: $21 million ➝ Decline of nearly 60% in cash reserves. • Assets vs Liabilities - 2015: Net current assets of +$31.5 million - 2025: Net current assets of -$8.7 million (excluding $30 million loan) ➝ Deterioration of $40.2 million. - Also concerning, the $21 million in current cash reserves is less than the $32.1 million of revenue received in advance meaning ATC has less cash than it needs to cover these future commitments. Overall: ATC is losing financial resilience. Rising costs, falling reserves, and heavy borrowing have created significant doubts about its ability to survive without ongoing bailouts. 5. Capital Infrastructure? The major infrastructure improvements at ATC racecourses over the past decade were not funded by ATC itself, but by Racing NSW and NSW Government support: • 2012: $150 million funded by Racing NSW from the sale of an industry-owned asset to the TAB which funded Queen Elizabeth II Stand. • NSW Government: funded $24 million of improvements at Rosehill Gardens. • 2021: $47 million from Racing NSW (via TAB agreements) funded construction of the Winx Stand. • 2015–2025: $20 million additional funding, including $7 million committed in 2023 to replace cladding on QEII Grandstand (for safety compliance). This shows that the ATC has not been able to self-fund its major projects. Racing NSW and the NSW Government have consistently stepped in as evidenced above. 6. Corporate Governance Issues Financial stress is not the only concern. Governance problems at the ATC are also serious: • Three Board resignations recently. • Two of these resignations explicitly cited governance concerns. • Racing NSW has evidence of breaches of ATC’s Code of Conduct by Board members, and has written to ATC outlining these concerns, which have not been adequately addressed. These governance failures compound financial weaknesses, making it harder for Racing NSW to trust and rely on ATC’s management to effectively operate our metropolitan race club. 7. Comparison to Country and Provincial sector on key metrics As compared to the Country and Provincial sector: • Trading Performance: ATC decline of 16%, Country and Provincial increase of 41% • Net current assets: ATC decline of 128%, Country and Provincial increase of 96% • Cash: ATC decline of 59%, Country and Provincial increase of 87% Key Comparisons (2015 vs 2025) 1. Funding Sources Source of Revenue 2015 ($m) 2025 ($m) Change TAB Distribution 80.7 68.6 ▼ -12.1 Racing NSW Additional Funding 31.0 164.7 ▲ +133.7 ATC Commercial Net Revenues 15.6 13.6 ▼ -2.0 Revenues Negotiated by Racing NSW 14.4 34.9 ▲ +20.5 Other Racing Revenue 7.5 9.4 ▲ +1.9 ATC Other Income 10.4 15.0 ▲ +4.6 Total Revenues 159.5 306.2 ▲ +146.7 As can be seen, nearly all revenue growth is from Racing NSW contributions and negotiations and not from ATC’s own activities. Dr Saranne Cooke Chairman Racing NSW

Pattern Committee Report 2025 attached. Report-of-the-NZPC-2025_final.pdf

What date did she depart from the charity? Seems to be April 2023. Nairn was an original Trustee. I see that the last time they had paid employees was in 2022. Only volunteers since then. https://register.charities.govt.nz/CharitiesRegister/ViewCharity?accountId=9fa26d24-5da7-e911-9ba0-00155d6b7730&redirectUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fregister.charities.govt.nz%2FCharitiesRegister%2FSearch%3FSubmitted%3DTrue%26CharityNameSearchType%3DContains%26CharityName%3Dstable CC56878_UpdatedDetailSummary_NOC013.pdf Rules.pdf

She often talks about not having enough funding to do supporting analyses such as testing blood samples prior to dissection.

Well she did post a screen shot of the texts. What I have noticed about her claims is there is no verification of the "normal" to which she compares her "abnormal". That is there is no information on her control samples.

What are you doing about it?

Come'on @Special Agent the people and community that created it from "nothing" had long bailed.

Seems a bit incongruous how she wants to rehome horses but appears to absolutely relish dissecting them!

@Steven B on her Facebook page Nairn says that she received texts from Arcano's owner confirming the horse had been "fridge gassed". Is that BS?

I don't think it is the addition of slot and sales races that have made the Oaks less relevant. It is more the lack of regional patterns that give mulitiple pathways to the Oaks. All roads seem to lead to the KM or Slot races and that makes it hard for horses that are not eligible for those races. Also that bias means that most horses outside of the Waikato have to travel to pick up rating points and find suitable races.

Like most things nowadays no stamina. Let's face it @Huey you're still hanging in there on your Lazy Boy.

We all know who you are Wilf!

Yeah Na... that would be the @Comic Dog 's channel. As in the one you gave been banned from.

I get offended because when posters post statements that AREN'T factual and then they run for cover when it is pointed out to them. It gets tedious.

The reason it has been shifted is to try and save the Grp1 status. The odds are Trentham won't be up to scratch of they stayed there. Although they are playing the game with the rules and good on them.

https://bitofayarn.com https://bitofayarn.com

Of course there is confusion on other sites. They're too focussed on finding everything that is wrong with NZ racing and even then they mostly make it up. Nice ride by Fannin and kept the horses mind on the job.

What's your point other than yet again knocking Te Akau? What's the source of your beef with them @Huey ? I just don't get your negativity at all.

I see Damask Rose still picked up AUD@20,000 for running 7th.

The TAB didn't mind. Weren't they always in front on the ledger?