by Brian de Lore
Published 23rd July 2021
The New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing board proved conclusively this week that it lacks integrity, scruples, and the nous to recognise its proper role in the racing industry.
Racing people this week are aghast by the appointment of the new NZTR Chief Operating Officer announced on Thursday – NZTR’s own board member Bruce Sharrock after the advertised position drew an international response.
This board needs a sign nailed to the board room wall for its next meeting, with this C.S. Lewis quote in large letters: “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.”
Well, the perenially diminishing number of racing’s participants and stakeholders are watching and are fed up with the treatment they’re getting from an organisation that exists supposedly to run the thoroughbred racing business smoothly for the people that fund it with hard-earned cash – the owners, and the hundreds of volunteers who have been serving this industry forever.
As New Zealand racing has continued to suffer from years of substandard administration and contracting numbers of horses and owners year after year, NZTR in its wisdom this year decided to expand its executive staff with the creation of a new position called Chief Operating Officer. The question is, why when we are an industry strapped for cash?
How can it be justified? What are they paying? It’s unlikely to be less than $250,000 or $300,000/pa. Why does NZTR suddenly need this new person now, or is this an orchestrated set-up to replace the outgoing Bernard Saundry who leaves in July 2022?
In a phone conversation with Bernard Saundry on June 16th, I asked why they were advertising. He said: “We’ve got that much work that we’re not doing what we need to do, and there are projects that need to be completed, and I can’t do it with the existing resources.”
All you get out of Saundry and the media releases are the same old platitudes without detail, but The Optimist suspects that Sharrock, when he takes up his new role on August 30, will start dealing with the likes of the Dargaville Racing Club to try and enforce land sales and the equity transfers to NZTR from the clubs earmarked for closure.
Sharrock has been appointed to the new role after two of the current seven-man NZTR board applied for the position. It is also known to The Optimist that a highly qualified Australian applied for the job, but he realised he was no hope (just as everyone else who applied was no hope) when informed during his second Zoom interview of two rival applicants coming from within the board.
High-quality applicant not in the hunt
Needless to say, that applicant was ropable, as will any other applicant will be who wasted his/her time going through a process designed for appearance sake. The interviewing was done by Saundry, who reports to the board, and was appointed by the NZTR board four years ago. Draw your own conclusions.
Boards are entrusted with responsibilities and should be accountable, but as we saw with the NZRB board that existed until 2019, the behaviour can be appalling and the Directors’ Police never turn up. Don Argus AC FAICA outlined five principles for directors in Australia about 20 years ago which are still applicable today. Here are three extractions:
- Every board owes its primary duty to the company or stakeholders. No stakeholder (shareholder, employee, customer, or any other) is entitled to preferential treatment.
- In discharging their fiduciary duty, directors should disregard their own interests.
- The real key to effective governance is a properly functioning board where mutual trust and respect lead to open, informed and timely debate on any and every aspect of a company or entity’s affairs.
The NZTR system of board appointments has faltered, otherwise, you wouldn’t have four directors residing in Auckland, three of which were well known to each other before their appointments. Another lives in Hamilton while the remaining two come from Hawkes Bay and Canterbury.
Current Chair Cameron George, who currently resides in Australia, is well-known as CEO of the Vodafone Warriors. Bruce Sharrock is a Global Director of Esportif, a sports management company that manages a large number of Warriors’ players, and Andrew Fairgray worked for Vodafone. These three are far better qualified to run NZ Rugby League than they are racing.
Fairgray and George are on Facebook together, photographed with the Vodafone NZ Derby trophy in March 2017. Was the Members’ Council who make the appointments to the board aware of the association of the three before the appointments? Did they do their due diligence?
The strong rumour in the racing industry has been that Waikato Racing Club CEO Andrew Castles was the likely successor to Bernard Saundry when he leaves in 12 month’s time. When I repeated that notion to Bernard Saundry in June, he confirmed that he was also hearing the same rumour. He didn’t comment further.
Cameron George and Andrew Castles are former flatmates. Castles is also a close friend of TAB CTO Dean McKenzie who in turn is a former co-director of a sports management company with Bruce Sharrock.
All up, this is a cosy group, a little bit too cosy for comfort. When Cameron George became Chair last November, his first media release stated NZTR would adopt a policy of transparency, but to date, we have learned little from him, and the transparency comes exclusively through The Optimist.
They are obviously taking their definition of transparency from our current government.
To have any hope of survival the racing industry needs, NO has to have a complete clean out of those currently in power.
As for taking closed racecourse to sell this will not solve the problem it will just delay the inevitable.
The industry could call a special general meeting and turf them out? Even if some clubs willingly sold up their land for the benefit of racing, would you put the cash in the hands of these people? Not likely.
On the ball as usual Brian. Jobs for the boys at mega salaries. What has changed ?! Why ever did we bother for so long? We should have gone on strike when we had the chance and ammunition. Yoo late now oe is it?
We can’t ever give up, but the decline hasn’t been arrested and it is worse than ever – and people driven.
Dargaville,s sale covers the Sharrock appointment.
Sorry about the sarcasm .
Am I a simpleton.
I have supported this industry from my 1st bet at 5 years and punted , owned ,breed,
horse exported, trained , rode trackwork, commentated, race day camera operator,
trimmed hooves, international horse transport groom, reaching the age of 63 year.
I,m out ,
Havn,t had a bet for 3 weeks, it was easyier than I thought, I just don,t look at the fields.
Your latest post is a cake taker and NZTR you can have it , but there is no more from table.
Already my bank balance is on the up .
For me to pull the plug ,there can not be too many left.
When I read of the appointment of Mr Shurrock from within the Board I was shocked. Such a lack if integrity and imagination.
Racing itself is getting less and less well served as no one being appointed seems to know anything about Racing or the Thoroughbred horse.
It seems unlikely that Horse Racing will survive very much longer in NZ.
Why should it when the owners and the Breeders seem hardly to exist looking at the recognition they get. They are mostly unnnamed and yet without them there will be nothing.
Hi Brian
Clearly the word “governance” has no meaning at all in the racing industry. Boy do we need some.
John
We’ve got too many Boards/factions in our industry now to compare with the days of the NZ Racing Conference— talk about confusing.
As for the appointment process some of the appointees are like bunnies —-they hop from role to role. Sorry but in my view our Country is steadily going down hill and I’m deeply saddened. When does one hear an opinion as to where we are heading, from vastly experienced thoroughbred icons,the likes of Sir Patrick Hogan,Brian Anderton,Kevin Myers and Murray Baker to mention a few.
Carry on with your investigative reporting Brian you seem to always hit the nail on the head as a fact finder.
Nothing had changed! Another job for for boys! With the you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours mentality! An industry run by volunteers at a huge cost of personal time and money only to see the money we save the industry squandered away on yet another over paid mate of a mate! While clubs stare down the barrel of having their assets confiscated in what will be the biggest land grab since the indigenous people of Aoteroa were robbed of their land hundreds of years ago! Where is the justice in this? Keep up the good work Brian you are our sole voice who had the guts to speak out. It’s criminal what’s happening! A few dictating on the future of our once proud racing industry. This is my personal view. In a country where free speech is still allowed.
Brian what’s changed! Another job for for boys! With the you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours mentality! An industry run by volunteers at a huge cost of personal time and money only to see the money we save the industry squandered away on yet another over paid mate of a mate! While clubs stare down the barrel of having their assets confiscated in what will be the biggest land grab since the indigenous people of Aoteroa were robbed of their land hundreds of years ago! Where is the justice in this? Keep up the good work Brian you are our sole voice who has the guts to speak out. It’s criminal what’s happening! A few dictating on the future of our once proud racing industry. This is my personal view. In a country where free speech is still allowed.
Very disappointing as a process. Even if Sharrock was the best candidate, for the sake of transparenxy existing board members shpuld have been disqualified as camdidates unless they resigned from the NZTR board before applying. It is too tacky. Awful for Brand Racing.
This is outrageous – the board approves the creation of this new position at the highest executive level then it a lolly scramble by board members to get their snout in the trough! Seems like we are going to need a bigger trough now that there are so many snouts barging their way in. And surprise surprise they are all mates.
I for one will be writing to the Racing Minister expressing my serious concerns about the lack of integrity and governance at Board level. This is our (owners/trainers/breeders/riders/punters etc etc) industry not theirs – because our industry is so diverse and unique it needs to be led by industry professionals who have proven integrity and respect within the industry – not these hangers who are on along for the ride and the money grab but have nothing constructive to offer.
I was appalled by Cameron George’s youtube interview where he said in essence he was going to do whatever he likes beyond Messara – “no more reports” and “our way of thinking” without any consultation with stakeholders. Who the hell does he think he is? And Bernard is irrelevant. He is on auto pilot until the 3 synthetics are up and running and then he is gone.
You are all right to be aggrieved, your comments – above – are on the button, but what can we do?
I realise hand-wringing is not going to cut it, but, we all, to a degree, sat around and watched, and let it happen.
Years ago, I realised that we, as an industry, lack a cohesive and reputable body of representation.
Owners, breeders, trainers, riders, punters, and even administrators all had their own point of view, and mostly, their own associations or groups.
In the days of Minister Annette King – who wasn’t unsympathetic to racing’s cause – she was attacked from all sides by groups wanting things to suit them. ‘I’d love to help,’ she was on record of saying, ‘but everyone has a different demand. If only they could present as a united body. At the moment it’s like herding cats. ‘
And it still is.
There was not a strong, representative body co-ordinating all factions into a group which could lobby effectively at govt. level. The Horsemen’s Association of North America [ H.A.N.A ] is one such body which comes to mind, I realise that the structure of N.A racing is somewhat different to ours, but you get my drift I’m sure.
Even just recently, when the land-grab motion went into legislation in the 2020 Act, Christ, how did that happen in this country?
There were submissions from many parties, but how many were listened to?
There were changes when the Racing Act 2003 came into being, the effects of that have been felt for the two decades since, but will we survive this latest effort?
100% the Board Members should have resigned once they made it their intentions to apply for an Executive position. Business moral ethics make that an obvious move to make. Just once again shows why the Racing Industry continues to struggle
eg personal interest situations often come before an Industry that one is there to look after.
The Auckland City Council demands any Board Member must resign from a Board if applying for an Executive position and NZTR should be acting no different as an act of good faith and transparency.
Board Source, a USA national organization devoted to quality board service, recommends if board members are allowed to apply for an Executive job, they should first resign from the board. It should be clear they cannot be considered for another board position for at least a year. If a board member applies but doesn’t get the position the last thing you want is for them to be on the board critiquing the hiring decision. If a board member applies, go overboard to create a transparent and ethical process. When you hire a current board member you run the risk of people thinking the outcome was fixed so do everything you can to make it clear the process was fair, open, and ethical. If board members are not required to resign before they apply, make sure they have absolutely nothing to do with the hiring process and are not receiving updates, information about other candidates, or any kind of preferential treatment. Every new Executive appointment gives the board a significant opportunity to create new energy and a new direction for the organization. Hiring a board member could continue the status quo which may or may not be a good thing. The skills to be a successful board member are very different than the ones needed to be a successful CO or CEO.
The board member has to bring a ton of other things to the table besides just their board experience.
A formal letter to the Minister of Racing outlining procedural and ethical concerns about this appointment is a meritorious suggestion.
What troubles me ( based on what others have stated) is the lack of a reputable recruitment consultant to vet candidates and conduct interviews. These consultants can critically assess the skills and experience of any candidate and –unlike the CE–are not beholden to Board members.
If the CE opts to interview a Board member, who is a member his employing body, to work under him, then I am afraid, both are horribly and irreconcilably, conflicted. The correct action would be to use an independent panel , so that there is no suggestion or inference that a mutual ” love -in/ bromance ” has occurred.