Whilst on the Te Akau thread….I thought I would add a few sobering comments to the hype…
They are setting up shop in the debt ridden capital of Australia - possibly 5 years too late, but that’s another story for another day.
It’s been well documented by industry participants the decidedly poor availability of suitable race meetings, especially for those horses with lower benchmarks…that’s why there are so many ex-Victorian horses in QLD., NT and northern NSW
In addition, prizemoney is heading south ….big time and on a sharp Deep South trajectory…which is a result of the very poor economic management leading to difficult conditions in Victoria impacting on the take from the corporate bookmakers crashed revenue (even though 8% POC tax is competitive.)
add to the mix to extortionate Workers Compensation charges by the Victorian Government will drive many trainers out of business.
A leading trainer (not one of the mega factory trainers) has a bill of $400,000 for the year…and rising. Victoria is by the far the worst state in Australia for WC charges…How can trainers not pass this cost onto owners? (By comparison a similar sized stable in NSW is $30,000…)
Also, they have a different tax structure in Australia…. Very different to NZ …..
Victoria is no longer the place to be training…all the above mentioned factors plus the dominance of the factory trainers, is going to make life interesting and most importantly, very costly for owners…