curious

No idea why they haven't done that here and years ago. No brainer.

Dean has already announced this. While the full year results for RITA will be outlined at the AGM in November (and featured in the pending Statement of Intent), the unaudited net profit for the 2018/19 financial year at $137 million was significantly below last year’s result of $145.9 million and well below the budgeted $173.5 million. In spite of this, distributions to the Codes for both the 2018/19 and 2019/20 season have been held at the current level of $151.6 million.

Yes, they can probably do that if a club has a betting licence, but if a club's race dates are taken away, surely they can bugger off and do what they like within the limitations of their constitution which can be altered by members at any general meeting?

If that's the "mantra", I disagree with it, if you can disagree with a mantra. Any funds that have gone into clubs building assets were earned by the clubs as recompense for providing a venue and a product in the form of racedays FOR the industry. That's leaving aside the fact that some of the funds earned by some clubs went to subsidise the earnings of others. Such an argument frankly sucks and is untenable.

Isn't it kind of that bad and desperate already? Otherwise why would this even be on the agenda?

I thought the intent was that ALL club assets would somehow be vested in NZTR or Rita or some other body's hands?

If a club no longer has a licence, they will no longer be a member of NZTR, nor come under the legislative powers of the Act (as it stands) will they?

Can anyone really see the likes of the ARC let alone Reefton signing over there assets to NZTR without a fight?

Yep. https://app.businessregisters.govt.nz/sber-businesses/viewInstance/view.html?id=229a78e05307b6d8bf1b29667f00cb1765d96e860579051d&_timestamp=2447896640324261

Same. Will be all in trees in another 12 months. One small paddock left (just in case I change my mind!). Tie-ups converted to a workshop a couple of months ago. Incredibly sad. 40+ years with a thoroughbred in sight 24/7 and my retirement dream was 2 or 3 in work. Went out the window 5 years ago.

Maths test. Anyone work out how $17m p.a. can be guesstimated (note the spelling error too..is this bloke a journalist?) to total $130m over 10 years?

The introduction of FOB was a long time ago TC. 1996? from memory. That probably underlies some of the problems currently faced but it's an awfully long time ago to blame trainers then for not intervening effectively as an excuse for today's situation.

More evidence to help you assess the question in the header. Open letter to Minister Winston Peters The Optimist www.theoptimistco.nz the optimistnz@gmail.com Rt Hon Winston Peters Deputy Prime Minister Minister of Racing Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control Minister of State-Owned Enterprises 3rd October 2019 Dear Winston Re: Your letter 2019/20 Ministerial Expectations of the Racing Industry Transition Agency I decided to write to you personally in response to the publication of your Letter of Expectation to RITA Chair Dean McKenzie which inexplicably appeared on the RITA website last week for reasons unknown despite the fact the letter was two months old. Yes, it was receipt stamped 25 July, but no date appears on the actual letter – very strange!. Being a suspicious type which was conditioned into me through reading so many NZRB Annual Reports, I decided to ask you personally if you could clear this mystery up, and in the interests of transparency for the racing industry, I further decided to make it an open letter. So, did you tell RITA to post that letter on their website? I’m presuming the answer will be yes because RITA would not have suddenly posted it two months after the event of their own volition, given that the contents of the letter was in-reality putting the RITA board on notice; giving them a bit of a euphemistic smack around the ear to incite some action – that’s the way I read it – how could it be anything else? A couple of readers of my blog independently of each other, both involved full-time in the industry, claimed you were throwing the RITA board under a Wellington bus (one that was running late) and wiping your hands of the industry, and saying ‘I’ve done all I can and you’ve let me down.’ But I reject that accusation. I didn’t see it that way at all. On the blog I posted two weeks ago, I highlighted four or five promises listed in the NZ First pre-election racing manifesto that had not come to fruition. Not for a moment would I presume or suggest the release of your letter had anything to do with that, but I find it interesting, and I’m sure that most stakeholders in the racing industry also find it so, that you thought RITA needed a stern reminder of the reasons for their existence. And the reason for RITA’s existence, which formerly was MAC, is clearly stated in the MAC Terms of Reference released in January and confirmed in the MAC Interim Report which your office released in April. And that is to operationalise the Messara Report which at this point in time, in this writer’s view, is clearly not happening. Why it’s not happening is very much a mystery, but in the end it probably comes back to leadership; it comes back to decision making or the complete inability to make a decision. It comes back to getting the job done, transparency, and accountability which RITA said they would have but haven’t delivered. We still have none of those attributes, so the question is, Winston, do we have another ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing?’ In a TV interview last Sunday, RITA CEO Dean McKenzie made it very clear that RITA has no appetite for a partnership outsourcing of the TAB. When questioned about the future of the FOB he said, “The betting platform is there, so the industry has invested a significant amount of money in it – the decision has been made – so we have all got to get on and make the best we can of it .” Without outsourcing, Winston, this industry has a very bleak future and not to outsource flies in the face of the priority recommendation of the Messara Report and would deny racing its most significant revenue income stream for increased stakes money. What we currently have is the same NZRB/RITA leadership team lead by CEO John Allen who apparently hasn’t gone on gardening leave after all, and RITA which is a board that’s met four times and therefore not involved in the day to day running of the industry. And who can RITA be listening to and gleaning advice from on the direction they take going forward – certainly not the codes. No, they can only be collaborating with the same executives who all remain employed – the same team that has cost racing $200 million in the past five years. In your letter to McKenzie you say, “The Government remains committed to resolving key long-term challenges facing the country including sustainable economic development, increased exports, decent jobs paying higher wages, a healthy environment and a fair society and good government.” That may be so – your commitment, that is. But the next bit you wrote is entirely wrong. You say: “The racing industry is well positioned to contribute to addressing these challenges.” The racing industry is not well-positioned at all. Just the opposite, in fact; it’s bleeding, badly hurt and dying a slow death. Everyone knows, Winston, that you are busy with Foreign Affairs, and all that other stuff, and have only two hours per week to devote to racing – and fair enough. But in the last month I have been visiting racing people in the Waikato, Hawkes Bay, Otago, Southland, and Canterbury, and I can tell you that many are distressed or penurious or as some Aussies might say – flyblown! One breeder in Southland said, “unless we get some good news from Winston in the next few weeks, my eight mares will not be bred this breeding season.” Also in Southland, a prominent trainer categorically stated he would retire if stakes did not increase in the near future. Your letter also makes some excellent points to RITA including what Cabinet agreed to on April 15: “agreed to the overall intent of the Messara Report as providing the best approach to delivering a New Zealand Racing Industry that is financially sustainable, internationally recognised and competitive.” The letter also goes on to say: It is expected that RITA will: Change leadership • lead a programme of change to return the industry to a well-managed and sustainable growth path • deliver on the Government’s intentions by taking decisions in the commercial interests of the industry – considering the long-term vision for a revitalised and sustainable industry, where participants are valued and able to prosper and the industry contributes to its full potential for the benefit of the NZ economy. • make best use of the $3.5m Crown contribution to the cost of industry change – ensuring that this funding ‘buys change’ rather than underwrite business as usual activities. The $3.5 million mentioned above was part of the last budget, and it clearly states it’s for the cost of industry change. So, why isn’t it being used? What is RITA waiting for? RITA was MAC and between the two they have had nine months to plan and execute substantial changes – the industry doesn’t buy into the excuse currently used about RITA’s ‘newness.’ Winston, the RITA comment on cost reduction: “We expect the costs to be less,” which was conveyed last Sunday on Weight-In, is the same vernacular we heard from NZRB. What are the real cost reductions? When can we expect to see a budget for the current season? We are now into the third month of the season and no Statement of Intent. The commitment made by RITA in the Interim Report was to be inclusive and transparent with the participants of racing – it hasn’t happened. Last week I made an error when I stated NZRB/RITA were $25 million in debt to the bank, but since then, digging around I’ve discovered the figure is $10 million higher at $35 million. Chairperson McKenzie said that RITA was not borrowing any more money from the bank, but what he didn’t say was the nothing was paid off the debt when due at the end of July. If RITA has rolled over the debt into the new season isn’t that effectively reborrowing it. I also slipped up by saying the Paddy Power commitment was for ten years, and Openbet was for five years. On checking up, I found it was the other way around, but it doesn’t alter the commitment to pay $17 million annually which is guestimated to total $130 million over the ten years. Overall, your Letter of Expectation was confirmation of what should be happening, but nothing tangible has so far come out of it for the stakeholders – and you sent it well over two months ago. As one observer remarked privately during the week: “We have seen a lot of hui but not much do-ey.” More importantly, the finances don’t stack up – anyone who reads January’s Half-Year Report from the NZRB, studies the TAB figures, and has access to a calculator will soon be able to work out we are diving head-first into a large bin of wet horse manure. In the meantime, before that occurs, on behalf of the industry we all hope you are now fully recovered from your old rugby injury procedure? Please note that on your list of Ministries at the top of this letter I have elevated Racing into first place from fourth above Foreign Affairs – more in hope more than in expectation. Yours sincerely The Optimist

True. And another board, another CEO on megabucks. All managing what is most likely to be a diminishing revenue stream. That's maybe what Messara meant by "economies of scale"?

Wasn't racing great when we had proper handicaps?

The P&E audit is 5 yearly. I understood eljay to be asking about annual audits.

No annual audit of anything else I'm aware of.

Presumably the annual accounts?

An auditor?

Oh dear. Where has he been? I'm beginning to see why the likes of the Informant have gone overboard if they were employing the likes of BdL to write editorial content. Pretty sure I read that letter two months ago when it was first posted on the DIA site. Now he writes about it as though it's news. Post says 25 July. https://www.dia.govt.nz/Racing-review Hopeless.

I agree "Let do this" sometimes works.

Maybe "best practice" should be redefined as "getting the job done"?

Perhaps it was that those editorials spruiking ridiculous uninformed strategies and forecasts became a bit old and folk stopped buying subscriptions?

Of course the Informant loss is entirely responsible for $1m a week decline in turnover this year? Bitter and twisted?

Probably a piece that doesn't deserve the light of day but just for the craic, here it is. Down in the mouth and critical of the same person and outfit that produced the figures which a matter of weeks ago he was blindly (what causes that again?) inciting everyone to believe. No time for celebrations; only lamenting the BBA by Brian de Lore Published 19 September 2019 The object of The Optimist as a weekly blog is to try and keep the truth flowing and the participants in the thoroughbred world informed on various important aspects of racing and breeding. It gets harder when some administrators close ranks and won’t talk, but funnily enough, it then becomes more intriguing. Over the past few years, I have developed a network of informers and supporters who are reliable and more than willing to help for one reason only – they love the game and want desperately to see it recover and achieve sustainability. They are racing people who possess passion; they know and live racing. Had it not been for them, I may long ago have curtailed this campaign of disseminating facts from the fiction and calling for justice on behalf of people at the coal-face of racing. They encourage me weekly and that’s what drives the blog. I merely write it but rest assured, it’s a collaborative effort which is mostly driven by a few die-hards who also refuse to allow racing to go down without a fight. Communication is everything, and almost everyone I speak to sorely misses The Informant. So many people relied upon it, and I don’t believe NZRB had any understanding of how valuable its form guide has been for TAB turnover. Directly from a TAB outlet this past week I’m told the retail side of the TAB is $1 million a week down on last year’s figures which were also down on the previous year’s numbers. It makes you wonder why the TAB denied The Informant free access to the form which necessitated the form’s purchase from Australia at an annual cost of $100,000. That was the main reason The Informant fell over, and the day it did, a spy communicated that TAB employees were high-fiving in the halls of the NZRB at Petone. That’s how sick these people are – all in the misguided belief the TAB’s money-losing publication known as Best Bets had scored a victory and would benefit with increased sales – perhaps my continual justified criticism of NZRB may also have been a factor. The circulation of Best Bets declined considerably under NZRB’s management; the unconfirmed talk is that it went from 3,500 down to 1,500 after NZRB reputedly purchased it for $250,000 when it was losing money and was effectively worth nothing. It continued to lose money and is yet another example of their fiscal irresponsibility. So, I’ve written seven paragraphs and haven’t mentioned the name of John Allen (until now). By this time everyone will know Allen resigned on Monday morning and officially will depart in December. However, it will not be surprising if gardening duty becomes his main activity between now and Christmas – perhaps only punctuated by questions from RITA arising from his decision making over the past four and a half years. It is no coincidence Allen’s resignation comes soon after RITA’s receipt of the Performance and Efficiency Audit from Grant-Thornton and the financial year 2018-19 audit by Price Waterhouse Cooper. They will be telling documents that will eventually become industry knowledge as we near the RITA AGM before the end of the year. Much of the content in Allen’s resignation statement to the media can be disregarded. The quotes were typical of an agreement between two parties when someone is getting the shove. They always say beautiful things when the letter writer is ushered through the door. And while I’m doing acronyms, it’s worth mentioning BBA which is a well-known one in the thoroughbred world – British Bloodstock Agency which has been a big player in the sale and purchase of horses worldwide for more than 100 years. But BBA in New Zealand could be construed as Brown, Bayliss, and Allen. They are the all-in-a-row last three CEO’s of NZRB. History will record them as a trifecta of characters who have left the horse industry with a legacy of unmitigated disasters – I can confirm that will be recorded in history because I’m currently in the process of writing the book. What can’t be allowed to happen is that the powers-that-be go for the First4. The cycle must be broken, and the criteria for the next appointment changed. The BBA common denominator of high academic qualifications, no skin in the racing game and no previous knowledge of the racing industry is a losing combo. V’landys type people are rare commodities, but if RITA could come up with someone half as good it would be a vast improvement on the BBA. Allen’s departure is a positive move forward, and while it will open the door for further inroads into cost-saving, it is only the first of a thousand steps. Below is a welcome letter of support received this week from NZ Trainers’ Association: Hi Brian, The Trainers’ Association wishes to record its support for the recent articles dated 5th and 13th September, you wrote and included on the blog, The Optimist. The Executive share your concerns regarding the perceived lack of progress in regards to the reforms as outlined in the John Messara Report. It is understood that the legislation has proceeded as planned with a focus on new revenue streams. However, there does not appear to be any urgency in the actual collection of this revenue, nor addressing the reduction of overhead costs at RITA. Dean McKenzie and Anna Stove attended the National AGM of the Trainers’ Association in August. The notes from the meeting follow this email for your information. Many of the concerns raised echo the views expressed in your blogs. The Trainers Association is very aware of the need for urgent action as the situation is so dire. There are many trainers very close to being unable to continue as their livelihoods are at risk due to the current state of the industry. Regards, Wendy Cooper Executive Officer NZ Trainers’ Association Inc