Month: September 2017

By Brian de Lore
Published 21 September 2017

Cambridge Stud boss Sir Patrick Hogan has this week declared his allegiance to Winston Peters and NZ First following the party’s announcement last week supporting the racing industry’s urgent need for an all-weather racing surface.

In a surprise announcement made in a media release last Friday by NZ First’s associate spokesperson for racing Clayton Mitchell MP, the party declared its recognition and support for a state-of-the-art all-weather racing surface for the betterment of New Zealand racing and a foil against abandonments.

But don’t think the announcement suddenly won Hogan over to support NZ First; that’s not the case at all. What it did do was prompt the leviathan stud owner to publicly voice his support for an industry that he believes badly needs leadership, some restructuring and innovations which happen to include a modern, all-weather racing surface.

“NZ First has a good track record doing things for racing,” explained Hogan in a frank interview this week. “This is a huge, huge opportunity; along with its racing policy to have NZ First add its support to build an all-weather track is a huge leg-up, and if Winston Peters does end up being king or queen-maker, whichever way it goes, and takes the portfolio of minister of racing which he’s passionate about, we have nothing to lose by picking up the opportunity presented here.

“No other minister of racing has ever done anything for us. He has proved himself, and therefore we have only got ourselves to blame if we don’t take this opportunity – bang on! – we have to make sure that we support NZ First with the party vote on Saturday.”

To hear Hogan talk so openly in this manner was not only surprising but also music to the writer’s ears, as one might surmise it would be music to the ears of many people devoted to racing who have struggled over many years and advocated change and a better return to all stakeholders.

For someone so successful in the thoroughbred business over such a long period, Patrick Hogan has been a surprisingly quiet voice over the years, certainly on the political side of the industry. When suggested it was more than marginally un-Patrick like for him to voice this type of opinion he replied:

“The thing is, I’m not one who has stuck my nose in the political mix and become an annoyance to the industry over the 60 years I’ve been in it, but I have been able to see what’s happening, and although I haven’t ruffled any feathers I’m now at an age now where I can see all these things – especially now – I have to say something.

“It’s so annoying, and I just have to say it. Hopefully, whatever I say for the first time, and I have come out and said these things – and I can’t really put words to it – I am saying what I believe that hasn’t been done and also the things that are there that shouldn’t be there.”

It was a very different Patrick Hogan to the person I had first encountered by appointment in the members’ bar at Randwick racecourse in the autumn of 1979. The purpose of that encounter was to plan a promotion around his new stallion purchase, Marceau, a son of Kaoru Star which Hogan had thought should be promoted back to the Aussies in his first season at Cambridge Stud.

In those days Hogan was the outgoing entrepreneur, full of hope and new ideas for his fledgling stud farm. Now, almost four decades later, post-Sir Tristram and Zabeel with a few lesser names that will test the memory in between, we find a much more reflective Patrick Hogan but a man who still possesses the entrepreneurial spirit and sees an opportunity to be seized.

But to digress from the all-weather track for a moment and while Hogan was on a roll, talkative and willing to state his take on the industry, what about the state of our industry today?

“The NZRB is not interested in giving the stakeholders and everyone else connected to racing and breeding what they need to sustain a decent living,” he continued. “They are not interested – only interested in racing from their viewpoint in that it exists within their four walls in Wellington.

“It doesn’t go any further – doesn’t reach out to our industry – they seem to think the racing business performs and succeeds within those four walls and that’s where the money should be spent – not one of them would get a job on my stud farm because they would send it broke.

“And this thing about the present political party, and for the Minister of Racing to say that the racing board is a statutory body and so it’s governmental and he can’t do anything about it – get in there and do something about it!

“His answer to that is that he is there to oversee it and not to interfere. So it’s time that it wasn’t a statutory body, and they butted out and had nothing to do with it.”

But the primary reason for our chat was not the vagaries of the NZRB which have been well-documented here in recent times, but for Hogan to espouse his belief in an all-weather track and why he wants Winston Peters back in charge of the racing portfolio.

“Most of us in the industry have been crying out for an all-weather track with 34 meetings abandoned last season, and we have to start somewhere,” Hogan continued. “The industry is not going to build three to start with but without a doubt, we need one track, and one would be a start. It’s not going to be affordable to do more than one at the beginning.

“The Waikato region badly needs one first; that’s where the population is. You only have to look at the Cambridge where there’s over a thousand horses trained and Matamata where there’s over 700, and it’s not just a case of winter, it’s now a case of wet tracks from autumn to spring – they are too wet to be racing on for six months of the year.

“I don’t want to be too specific on what type of all-weather or where it should be. If Winston became minister, then it will go ahead and then it can be decided where. They’re going to stump up with the money; it will be state-of-the-art track and with the population being in the upper North Island it’s obvious that’s where it has to be.

“In this election, there’s only one horse to back as far as I’m concerned. It’s NZ First who has the race record – twice he’s been there, and it’s now up to us to give the party vote to them, or we are not helping ourselves.

“The details have to be done after the election. Clayton Mitchell said that they are supportive of an all-weather track and I know Winston well enough that if he says he’s supporting it, then he will make it happen. He’s the only parliamentarian that’s had any passion for our business.

“Winston has made the announcement, and we have to get out there and support it, take it as positively as we can. The whole industry can’t afford to miss this opportunity – they are the only political party that has proved themselves in the past.

“Every eligible voter that has anything to do with the industry should get behind it and give us the opportunity for an all-weather track. It’s up to us. Winston has done his bit, and this is the only way we will get it.”

Hogan and the Chittick family at Waikato Stud have between them not only been the most successful commercial breeders in New Zealand over the past 35 years but have also each supported the industry as owners to the tune of more than $1 million in training fees annually over recent years.

Both know the value of stake-money and would fully understand the benefits of an all-weather surface and the possibilities of a new government and racing minister.

“In my time as a racing administrator we sought support from all political parties to enhance racing’s place,” said Garry Chittick this week. “Not only as a sport but as an important part of our culture and branding.

“It is well recognised that our industry is a significant employer of people of all levels of skill. To be fair, NZ First is the political party that has not only recognised our importance but delivered in a big way with the reduction in betting duty after they committed themselves to it.

“Their commitment to further support the racing industry is entitled to be taken seriously. Racing people should read the NZ First racing policy and vote accordingly,” concluded Chittick.

by Brian de Lore
Published 13th September 2017

Little more than a week before the general election it’s pertinent to examine the racing policies of the three major parties and contemplate the prospect of whether the racing industry will be getting more of the same, or renewed hope under a new coalition government.

After nine years of National government rule and a series of uninspiring Ministers for Racing that have yielded only crumbs to our eroded and sullen industry, is there still faint light at the end of the tunnel?

Or even more optimistically as Oscar Wilde once said: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

What this industry desperately knows is that the decay needs to stop; it needs to cut out the dead-wood; it needs to regroup and reinvigorate the troops and set the ship on a new course towards a port called prosperity.

Not everyone in racing understands or admits that racing has reached a crisis point which must now be arrested before it dives into insolvency. Consider that in 2006 thoroughbred racing had $70 million in cash reserves and $36 million in assets (all sold off). A total of $106 million which today is gone – flittered away!

A decade later, the NZRB is borrowing millions to increase stakes; an olive branch to long-suffering stakeholders well documented in previous stories by this writer.  Does it sound like good business practice to be borrowing money to raise stakes for the first time in over 150 years of racing?

So what conclusions do we draw from this? Graph it, and you have an Olympic downhill ski slope. We are assured by NZRB that when race fields legislation does eventually arrive and the promised FOB ‘silver bullet’ is launched the money will flow – but will it?

There is a saying that a cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. And the cynicism oozing from this keyboard certainly concerns the promised value of the FOB. It’s a high-risk promise that may not deliver – but wait; there’s an election next week!  

Under MMP the permutations for the final result are wide and varied. The polls have swayed to and fro in a never before experienced pre-election drama involving all the parties and their promises. But we need to know the runners’ form before we bet on either the election quinella or trifecta.

To find out, this week I spoke to the major players – current Minister for Racing David Bennett, Labour’s shadow Minister of Sport and Tourism, Kris Faafoi, and NZ First Leader Winston Peters.

Minister Bennett categorically stated that it’s not the job of the Minister to examine or interfere with the workings of the NZRB, but Faafoi and Peters both took a different stance.

“We are not going to tell the NZRB what to do,” said Bennett when verbalising the National Party racing policy which was still being written this week despite the proximity of the election. “Our policy is due to be released on Thursday, but I can talk now about the four points it contains.

“The first thing is that we see immense potential for the industry going forward. We have that strong Australian market on our doorstep, and we also expect the Asian market to grow exponentially – we think racing is in a very good place for opportunity.

“The second is the race field legislation – we don’t envisage a lot of change or debate around it – in Parliament most parties are supporting it. Everyone wants to see it happen. The Bill itself doesn’t have a lot of clauses in it to amend.

“The third thing is the wider economic and political conditions that exist under a National government. Racing needs a strong economy to support it and we have fundamentally built the best economy in the western world – high growth, low unemployment, very stable interest rates. Those basic economic conditions are very solid.

“The fourth thing is the future. We have a very positive view of where racing is heading. We envisage structural changes but not the NZRB structure as we can’t get involved at that operational level. There may be some opportunities at clubs getting together to align or provide new infrastructure on new investments – we would like to engage in those conversations.”

The Labour Party manifesto of 2017 includes a ‘racing policy’ which more than anything else generalises, acknowledges and commits good intentions rather than specifying the problems and suggesting the fixes.

It’s about supporting race fields legislation, how skilled industry people are and how vibrant the business is and how vital exports are, plus its contribution to the GDP, and how much Labour has done for racing in the past and the recognition for sustainable growth, etcetera.

It’s flowery and tries to say all the right things, but is patently uninspiring and comes from a party that lacks empathy towards an industry it hasn’t had to think much about over the past nine years.

Labour’s two most inspiring paragraphs read: “Recognising that change must come from within, Labour will convene a round-table discussion of major stakeholders in the industry with a view to strengthening and enhancing the economic viability of racing in New Zealand. We will ensure that a strategic direction is developed and implemented.

“Labour recognises the difficulties faced by the racing industry in modernising itself for the 21st century. We will work with all major stakeholders to ensure the revitalisation of a strong economic performer which can do better.”

More impressive than the policy itself is Labour’s shadow racing minister Kris Faafoi, who spoke eloquently in favour of the race fields Bill at its first reading before parliament recessed in August.

“The racing industry has been waiting too long now and deserves to get this done soon,” he said when quizzed on how long we might have to wait on race fields legislation in the event of a Labour-led coalition government.

“We will examine all aspects of racing including the efficiency of the administration at the NZRB and look at helping in any way we can. We will consider all the problems and make every effort to solve them.

“We want to work in the best interests of all people in the industry and particularly those in the majority such as the stable workers, track riders, jockeys and trainers.

“We will not allow sports betting to muscle-in on racing and disadvantage racing’s percentage take,” concluded Faafoi when asked if the amendment to the racing act might work against the percentages returned to racing in the future.”

New Zealand First has a much more detailed and positive racing policy. Two of their 10-point promises include an urgent review of the operations and costs at NZRB and taxation relief. Another is to defend the rightful share of returns from the TAB to racing in the event of sports organisations demanding increased percentages.

“The next minister of racing has got to say they are going to fix this industry and fix it really fast, and that they are not going to be bound by the past or bothered by a conflict of interest,” said Winston Peters this week in obvious reference to the policy of Board member appointments.

“I couldn’t give a hoot what the conflict of interest is as long we make a fist of advancing the interests of this industry and growing it to its total and serious potential as fast as possible.

“The great thing about racing is that if it gets some early positive signals, it will adapt and react really fast. I don’t think most people understand the problem. The racing community that I have talked to all know it’s wrong, but they don’t grasp why it’s wrong, and it’s wrong because of political neglect for decades – they have got to face the facts.

“It’s seriously appalling that the cash reserves that existed a decade ago have since been squandered and frankly I can tell you that I have not put out definitively what will happen. I have one or two things up my sleeve, but I want to say to the industry you have got to give yourselves a break – you have to make up your mind if you want a change, and then if you do you have to start shouting from the rooftops.

“We need a dramatic flush out with the greatest of speed, but the key to it is the moment the election is over, and decisions have been made, and we know who is doing the administration and what needs to be done, the industry is going to have to get a small team together that knows what its objectives are, and that team must involve the most critical person – the owner.

“I can’t believe horse ownership has gone from being a good chance of getting a return after you go to the sales to buy a horse to what we have now. Today the chance of getting a return is a bit like walking into a casino and handing over all your money.

“There is salvation in some highly efficient cost-cutting changes; that’s true, but the second relief you need is some of your tax money back. Unless we do that the industry is less likely to survive – there’s no short-cut to it. “