Chief Stipe

The Racing Integrity Commissioner has called on Stewards to provide evidence at an own motion inquiry next week. Photo: George Salpigtidis INDUSTRY Laming stewards ordered to give evidence over bungled case Article Author Gilbert Gardiner 4:15PM15 April 2021 0 Comments Racing Victoria Stewards involved in the bungled Richard Laming case will give evidence in a three-day hearing next week. The Herald Sun has established the Office of the Racing Integrity Commissioner has launched an “own motion inquiry” into RV’s failure to prosecute the high-profile integrity matter. Up to 10 people, including RV employees and members of the Victorian Racing Tribunal, received a notice from Commissioner Sean Carroll this week to attend and give evidence behind closed doors. Under the Racing Act 1958, the Commissioner has the power to summons persons or documents, administer an oath and examine a person under oath. Persons that fail to comply with these requirements could be penalised under the Act. It is understood phone records will form part of the inquiry. Carroll signalled an own motion inquiry last month. Evidence to be heard next week will not be made public. RV last month demoted the senior steward at the centre of the Laming case. RV confirmed former Compliance Assurance Team manager Dion Villella, who gave evidence to the VRT, breached an order not to contact witnesses, or interested parties during an adjournment. An internal RV review uncovered Villella “initiated contact” with steward Mark Stevens, who was also due to give evidence, “on three occasions over three days”. Carroll would not be drawn on the matter on Thursday, but confirmed his preliminary report and recommendations, to be delivered by the end of April, remains on track.

I thought there was data sharing between the jurisdictions otherwise how does the Betting Integrity Analyst (do we still have one?) check that drivers and jockeys are not betting? Hell if it was that easy that all you needed to have was an offshore account to bet on the races you were steering in! That part of the story doesn't seem quite right to me. I hope it wasn't another case of the RIU turning a blind eye hoping to find something bigger.

Is that the one they race on or another training track?

I'm not sure it is profitable as I haven't finished the financial model - still working on getting the costs. But assuming that you are "in the know" Pitty it is clear what the intent is and thanks for declaring their hand. That is - more of the same. Which quite frankly hasn't worked so far and is what has got us into this shyte - namely suck the provinces dry and shift from a low cost model of operation that had a wide market reach to a high cost model with less market reach. Here's hoping stakeholders wake up and fight back because quite frankly going on the CJC's record to date I don't have much confidence that your lot are going to get this right.

So basically the AWT at Riccarton is going to suck the regions dry? Some good turf tracks mentioned there are going to lose revenue. Low cost tracks as well. Will there be enough extra revenue to fund the renovation of the turf at Riccarton?

So what if the person has only a 1% share or less? It is only one line of data. Someone has to keep track of the source data all they have to do is share it with the HRNZ registry. As I said above - SOMEONE has to record the details and presumably electronically. All they need to do is share it with a central registry. But hell with Kerr in one case there was only TWO owners and in the other 6 or was it 7 owners. Hardly onerous. Geez as I keep saying people are quick to put the boot into those caught doing wrong but damn forgiving of the over paid administrators who seem to do nothing and have no responsibility. Galah you are quick to talk about Harness Racing being a professional sport but why can't we have a professional administration system?

Especially if they have to pay $80 a gallop on a track that doesn't suit their horse.

Very optimistic of you Pitty. With regard to the Business Case "Strawman" at this stage I'm focusing on the costs. Now the machinery costs I referred to isn't the capital cost but the annual opex costs i.e. fuel, maintenance and depreciation. So the capital is irrelevant. With regard to your "positive" approach with regard to revenue I'd rather we were realistic than Pitty in the Sky. Currently, according to the last annual accounts, the revenue obtained from "Services Rendered" which includes rentals and track fees is $514k however that includes rentals to members. Only $253k from track fees. So where are the 300 horses coming from? What will be the track gallop fee? It is AUD$80 a gallop at Pakenham. Are local trainers able to afford this? Or owners for that matter! Where are the trials shifting from? What will be the trial fee? In the model I have to be careful that I don't double dip on revenue or expenditure.

Well it wasn't particularly kosher in the first place when McKenzie was doing BOTH roles!

Mmmm a new dedicated Marketing Manager in a shirt skirt and heels that designs glossy brochures selling the virtues of the new training setup (the stables and lack of lights and security will be photo shopped out of the pictures).

FFS Gammalite this isn't complex! Example: Kerr has a colt called Hand's Down. He values it at $100,000. He tells everyone that it is $10,000 for a 10% share. Instead of 10 shares he sells 15 shares at $10,000 each. Each person who buys a share thinks they are getting 10%. None of them knows more than 2 or 3 of the other share holders. So Kerr effectively sell Hand's Down for $150,000. In reality the shareholders only have a 6.7% share. Now to stop this rort is simple. ALL Owners fill out a HRNZ ownership form that clearly states their % share. HRNZ checks that the total ownership of Hand's Down is 100% NOT 150%. If it isn't 100% then Hand's Down can't race or be sold. Now the syndicate manager might be in on the rort so he when he files the Ownership papers instead of 10 owners with 10% he files 15 owners with 6.7% banking on none of the owners knowing everyone in on the ownership. At the end of the day all you see in the racebook is the Syndicate name NOT individuals. So the filed papers pass the first HRNZ check. The second check in the system is as a registered owner you can access the HRNZ registry and check that you have the 10% you paid for. Now how hard is that? Nothing to do with who pays more of the bills than others. As you say that can be a private arrangement and of course it doesn't stop Kerr from inflating the bills sent to each of the other owners to cover his share, the syndicate manager's or his mates. Now this approach as described would also stop one of the other rorts that we saw in the Kerr case where ownership was sold in a horse that didn't exist. Every Standardbred is freeze branded and every Standardbred is recorded in the Stud Book and in HRNZ's registry. If a change in ownership occurs then the process I've described above MUST be promptly followed. If it was then there is no way someone could pay for share and get charged bills for a horse that didn't exist for OVER a YEAR!!!!! You could further tighten up the selling of registered horses by HRNZ having a compulsory escrow facility whereby the payment for shares in horses is paid and held in a HRNZ account until all conditions are met. It isn't as if HRNZ doesn't charge enough for change of ownership transactions.

Not quite! I thought I would create my own spreadsheet model as no one seems to have a copy of the business case and I can't be bothered going through an Official Information request and being told for commercial reasons I can't have it. So BOAY'ers perhaps we can put some assumptions together and jointly come up with a close estimate. Costs I have so far: 2 Extra full-time staff @$30/hr. The $30 includes overtime and all the extras that go with employing people. Total: $124,800. Should there be more additional staff? Annual Maintenance costs (including machinery opex): $50,000 Annual Reserve Account for 3 year renovation: $250,000 divided by 3 = $85,000 This figure comes from two club accounts one of which is Pakenham, Victoria, Australia. Annual costs so far: Approximately $260,000 Can anyone think of other costs? Depreciation for specialised grooming machinery?

Well we used to get a proper half yearly report. Now it is just a few marketing spin like statements and a piece of a spreadsheet on a web page. Where have all the details gone? Surely they have to do that for management purposes? I bet if you asked they would say "this is a cost saving measure"! Yeah right! Smoke and mirrors!

Fixed.....

Equity Total equity of $80 million is up $27 million (+51 percent) compared to 31 July 2020, driven largely by the retention of surplus funds to rebuild TAB NZ’s financial resilience. What does this statement really mean? Building up reserves again (when the industry stakeholders are starving) or what is required to be able to repay the $35m Overdraft that is due in August?

TAB NZ half-year financials benefit from cost management and increased revenue 1 April 2021 TAB New Zealand’s results for the six months to 31 January 2021 were enabled by a range of factors including focused cost management with $11.9 million reduction in expenses (11 percent less than 2019) and increased revenue of $7.0 million to $193.5 million (4 percent above FY20). Profit before distribution was $94.5m for the period, which was $25.9m above budget and $19.0m (25 percent) above last year. During the period, the three racing codes received distributions and other funding of $83.2 million, including $9.8 million from Betting Information Use Charges (BIUC), $3.5 million from the repeal of the Betting Duty, and $6.6 million via Government support package for the racing industry. More than $6.2 million was distributed in commission payments to national sporting organisations, which was 5 percent less than the same period in FY20 due to reduced sport content during the year. HY FY2021 HY FY2020 Change % Turnover $1,589 million $1,500 million +6.0% Revenue $193.5 million $186.4 million +3.8% Operating Expenses $58.5 million $71.5 million -18.2% Profit before distributions $94.5 million $75.5 million +25.1% Total distributions and other funding to codes $83.2 million $83.9 million -0.8% The release of the organisation's 2021 Half-Year Financial Statements follows approval by the TAB NZ Board at its most recent Board meeting and supplements the publication of its monthly performance updates. Betting and Gaming Turnover Total turnover was $1,589 million, which was $89 million (6 percent) above last year and $190 million above budget (14 percent). Gaming turnover decreased -3 percent to $256 million (-$8 million), despite successful TAB refurbishments and EGM conversions. This was due to Covid-19 related gaming site closures with periods of no activity occurring in Auckland in early FY21. Revenue Total revenue for the period was $194 million, $7 million (4 percent) above last year. Performance was driven by higher betting turnover combined with favourable results experienced in racing and sport fixed odds during the year. Net betting margin remains consistent with prior year and budget at 12 percent. Net gaming revenue of $15 million (-3 percent) was consistent with the reduction in gaming turnover. Other revenue decreased by $10 million (-42 percent) against last year; a key movement in this category is an $8 million reduction in venue service cost recoveries to support the industry’s post-lockdown return to racing. Expenses Total expenses for the period were $98 million ($110 million, 2019) - an 11 percent improvement for the same period last year; this is driven by a combination of a slight increase in turnover related expenses (up $1 million due to cost savings of $4 million primarily on promotional and retail activities), and a significant decline in operating expenses versus last year (saving $13 million or -18 percent which includes a reduction of $8 million in staff expenses). Assets Total assets of $232 million have increased by $24 million (+12 percent) (as at 31 January 2021) due mainly to greater retention of cash and term deposits of $25 million. This was offset by other balance sheet movements during the period. Distributions Distributions to the Racing Codes totalled $74.2 million, with $60.9 million from betting profits, $9.8 million from BIUC and $3.5 million from the repeal of the Betting Duty. This is $5.3 million more than budget. Furthermore, total enhancement fund distributions from current year’s gaming profit to the racing industry amounted to $2.5 million (up by $0.9 million from the same period last year). Additionally, a further $6.6 million was received via the Government’s racing industry support package in August 2020 and passed on to the codes to support the industry’s recovery from the impact of Covid-19 ensuring that industry funding was maintained at pre-Covid-19 levels. Furthermore, excluding the impact of distributions for venue service costs (ie, direct costs to provide services to race meetings which the TAB has elected not to pass on to the racing industry since towards the end of last year), actual distributions and other funding is comparatively higher in the current period. Liabilities Total liabilities decreased by $2 million against 31 July 2020 as a result of debt repayment ($10 million), which was offset by an increase in customer account balances ($2 million) and the timing of settlement of payables at balance date. The total current provisions in the balance sheet included payment to Sport New Zealand and a portion held for harm minimisation purposes arising from the impact of the Betting Duty repeal; the former is anticipated to be paid in the second half of the year once regulations are confirmed. Equity Total equity of $80 million is up $27 million (+51 percent) compared to 31 July 2020, driven largely by the retention of surplus funds to rebuild TAB NZ’s financial resilience. Looking forward With this strong start, combined with the positive performance during the first half of this year, TAB NZ operated with a strong working capital and balance sheet position enabling it to further invest into the future and continue supporting the racing industry and sport.

New management role for McKenzie 14 April 2021 The TAB New Zealand (TAB NZ) Board have appointed Dean McKenzie as Chief Transition Officer, a full time management role leading the organisation’s day to day responsibilities and ensuring a smooth transition to a permanent Board once they are appointed. The selection follows the announcement earlier today by the Minister for Racing, Hon Grant Robertson of the appointment of Liz Dawson as Interim Chair of TAB NZ, replacing McKenzie who has stepped down from his prior role as Chair to take on the new position. Chair of the interim TAB NZ Board, Liz Dawson said the TAB needed surety and consistency through this critical phase of the business as it transitioned to its new focus following the passing of the Racing Industry Act last year. “By the end of this year the TAB will need to have supported the finalisation of racing reforms, developed a five-year strategy and a Statement of Intent, and ensured a smooth transition to a new, permanent Board once they are appointed. The Board recognises this ambitious programme of work, on top of leading day to day business, requires immediate focus and we’re delighted Dean has agreed to take on this responsibility, said Ms Dawson. “For various reasons the appointment of a new Board has taken a bit longer than anticipated, so provide surety to the business, its staff and racing and sport stakeholders, we’ve acted now to appoint Dean until a permanent CE is appointed by a new Board.” Chief Transition Officer, Dean McKenzie said he was pleased to commit to the business as it transitions to a more commercial, customer-focused business. “I’m looking forward to focusing on managing the business through this period of change and delivering on our immediate objectives while ensuring a smooth transition to a new Board and Chief Executive when it happens, said McKenzie. “From a day to day perspective, I don’t anticipate much change to our activities but I am looking forward to having a more hands-on role and working with the current leadership team to deliver great betting products for our customers and maximise profit for racing and revenue for sport.”

Well I guess that gets Dean McKenzie out of the hen house!

New chair of interim TAB NZ Board appointed . 14 April 2021 Racing Minister Grant Robertson has announced he is appointing Elizabeth Dawson (Liz) as the Chair of the interim TAB NZ Board. Liz Dawson is an existing Board Director of the interim TAB NZ Board and Chair of the TAB NZ Board Selection Panel and will continue in her role as Chair of the selection panel to see through the recommendations to the Minister. The Interim Board is responsible for the governance of TAB New Zealand until the substantive Board of Directors of TAB NZ is appointed. Ms Dawson replaces Dean McKenzie, who is taking up the role of Chief Transition Officer for the TAB. He will lead the transition of the organisation to implement the reforms of The Racing Industry Act 2020, until the incoming TAB NZ Board is appointed and are able to recruit a permanent Chief Executive. Liz Dawson brings considerable executive and governance experience in companies that are listed on the ASX and NZX. She is a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit and was appointed to the Racing Industry Transition Agency in July 2019. She also has experience in private, community and statutory organisations, including in sports governance roles. “I want to thank Liz for stepping into this role, and indeed Dean for taking on the CTO role. “It is important that we have stability as we undertake a thorough process to appoint a high quality permanent board for the TAB,” Grant Robertson said. Last month the Minister expanded the search for nominations for the permanent TAB Board. That process is expected to take a number of months to finalise.

I've told a couple of key people in the industry that if I had a good two year old at the moment that was a potential 2000 Guineas competitor I would not want it to travel to Riccarton come November UNLESS there was a clear plan NOW to resolve the issues that the track has. If it was good enough to win then I would be looking to Australia as I don't have a lot of confidence in Te Rapa, Awapuni or Trentham either. I've been a long term critic of Ellerslie however that track seems to be racing better now but will leave judgement until after I have walked it. Te Rapa has had some renovation work done recently which was mentioned by the Track Manager in a preview for this weekends meeting. The rail is out 2m because the inside has not recovered to the same level as further out. Will be interesting to see how it plays.

I disagree. There has been a resurgence in some areas in Club rugby. Why? Because some unions have recognised that a strong club network results in a strong professional team e.g. Canterbury. Canterbury has also invested in their feeder Unions - e.g. West Coast, Tasman, etc. The Crusaders don't always play their homes games in Christchurch. In Auckland high school rugby is very very strong. Literally thousands will turn up to games with next to no facilities that would make any racing club in NZ envious. Where Auckland falls down is in the next level between school and the professional teams. They are slowly starting to recognise this. Unfortunately the value of our provincial and small town racing clubs has not been recognised. Racing Clubs that provide good racing surfaces and at low cost. The central administrators think they need to have better and better facilities and lots of peripheral entertainment to attract people oncourse but neglect or disenfranchise those that feed into the network.

Wrong Gammalite. You miss the point and I'm surprised so many other people are missing it as well. Two scenario's could be resolved by HRNZ maintaining and keeping up to date a central registry accessible by every owner who had a pecuniary interest in a Standardbred be it a racehorse, yearling or breeding proposition. We do it with damn motor cars and other motor vehicle assets why is it so hard for HRNZ to do it for the asset that drives the industry the bloody horse. So every owner signs an ownership form that details what % share they have of an identified horse that is already registered in the system - i.e. it has a freeze brand. HRNZ's system checks that the % of those who have signed an ownership form is not greater than 100%. Any owner then able to sign in online and check that the % they signed up to equals what is in the system!!!!! Get it? If an owner is charged for insurance of the horse they have a share in i.e. the horse is insured then that interest is again registered with HRNZ. Both the owner AND the insurance company have a pecuniary interest in the horse. Both the Owner and the Insurance Company can sign in and check online. HOW BLOODY HARD IS THAT TO DO? If it was done then Kerr couldn't have committed at least two of the examples of fraud that he has been charged for. If HRNZ aren't charged with protecting the interests of stakeholders WTF are they there for?! It really pisses me off no end that supposed industry fans are really quick to double down on ANYONE that is caught doing something wrong (minor or major) yet let the HRNZ administration just keep blithely going along spending millions of dollars doing Sweet Fanny Adams!

Riccarton?

What the hell does it have to do with the DIA? I'm not proposing that HRNZ manage syndicates but just that they register ownership and financial interest data centrally and readily available to all participating owners. How hard is that? When an owner gets a bill and it says 5% of training fees at $90 a day and that 5% matches the central register then all is good. But it appears currently we have a system where shares can be oversold and horses sales and transfers are not registered promptly.

More chance of two $15k races paying their way than a $30k one. Probably better to have a $20k race.