by Brian de Lore
Published 20th September 2021
In the interest of writing a positive slant on the thoroughbred industry, a searching effort to find an uplifting and positive twist on the business has once again drawn a blank and delayed this post, so it’s The Optimist as usual.
Thinking hard about where the thoroughbred industry is heading long-term is an exercise in extreme frustration. Why, when you take the helicopter view of the business, which shows we are trending downwards, cannot the so-called leaders of the business get together and devise a plan to arrest the decline and futureproof this once great game?
Why, also, can’t the appointed administration simply follow the legislation delivered to them 15 months ago, known as the Racing Industry Act 2020? One reason could be they haven’t read it. Another might be that they’re arrogant enough to ignore it – precisely what NZRB did under Glenda Hughes and John Allen. A third reason could be the presumption they’re endowed with brains, which at this stage is unproven.
Clause 17 of the legislation:
17 Racing codes must prepare business plan
(1) Before the start of a racing year, each racing code must prepare a business plan relating to that racing year.
(2) Each racing code must publish a copy of its business plan on an Internet site maintained by or on behalf of the code.
So, where’s the plan? There is no plan; the industry lurches forward in a drunken stupor, not knowing where, how, why, or when. They posted a paper on the website called “Industry Reshaping – Our Actions, NZTR Strategic Priorities. It’s not a plan, though; it’s just nonsense.
The content of NZTR’s reshaping paper is enough to make you nauseous. It starts with a message from the NZTR Board and CEO saying – ‘A Time For Action.’ This introduction finishes with this one-liner, “It’s time to stop the talk and take action.” Well, Bernard, that’s what the racing industry has been saying about you for the past three years.
The paper is divided into seven parts, and under each of its seven headings, it states: ‘What success looks like,’ – as though they would actually know what it looks like?
Meaningless NZTR gobbledygook
The first of the seven says: “We have looked beyond the domestic wagering market, enhancing the racing product through adapting timeslots to support wagering broadcast opportunities, the introduction of key initiatives and feature events within the racing calendar. We have grown revenue, maximising the domestic market and focusing on international growth through, firstly, Australia and internationally, via a broader range of partners.
“We have innovated in key customer periods of the year to drive greater punter and mainstream interest, showcasing the sport in multiple ways. The focus is on growth and the subsequent returns this will provide owners and participants.”
Have you ever read more BS than that? I haven’t; worse than this poorly written spin by someone on a six-figure salary as the voice piece for NZTR, is they expect you to believe it, keep calm and carry on, whatever it’s supposed to say.
NZTR has sunk to new depths. They don’t have a plan, despite the legislation; they have a cartel board of mates that decide your future in a pub at the Viaduct; they have a Chair that resides in Australia that won’t return before 2022; they have a CEO on a substantial salary that won’t leave a positive legacy, who will return to Australia in July and will never be seen again; they have a board with little appetite to increase stakes from the minimum up; they have one of their mates ready to succeed Saundry as soon as he’s in the departure lounge.
“If you fail to plan you are planning to fail”
A man named Harold Ickes simply said, “I am against Government by crony,” and it was Benjamin Franklin who said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” Ickes and Franklin between them have defined NZTR.
So, where are the ethics, and where are they taking the industry? The one-word answer is ‘nowhere.’ Tweaking bits and pieces and closing down clubs to consolidate their financial position by stripping assets is only an interim and temporary fix and won’t curb the long-term decline, only slow it down.
This board hasn’t recognised its big challenge – to redefine the entire model and get $100 million annually into stakes and incentivise owners to reinvest instead of departing racing, never to return.
Half the NZTR board, including the Chair, are anecdotally quoted as saying they don’t believe increasing stakes from the bottom up is the answer to racing’s woes. These people are as deluded as the anti-vaxxers relying on their personal immunity to disease to fight off COVID. Have they never studied the Australian model?
…no awareness of the reasons for which they exist
So, why have we ended up with an NZTR board that no one in the industry wants? A board that doesn’t have a plan to post, which it should have done according to the legislation, a board guided by a poorly written constitution (doubting they have ever read it), and a board that appears to have no focus or awareness of the reasons for which they exist.
How long do we have to keep quoting Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
The Racing Industry Act of 2020 says in Clause 15 under Functions of the racing codes:
(b) to develop and implement policies that are conducive to the overall economic development of racing conducted by the code and the economic wellbeing of people who, and organisations which, derive their livelihoods from that racing.
The 50 to 60,000 people in racing are working full-time, part-time, or volunteers plus the owners, trainers, etc. However, that five-figure number is now diminishing at an alarming rate due to the unsustainable way this industry is currently run.
The NZRB (later RITA and now TAB NZ) managed the TAB, but ignored a similarly worded 2003 legislation, and the funding was recklessly misused for its own expansive administration. That’s why we went from a cash and property-rich position of $104 million in the green in 2005 only to waste the lot and owe the bank $45 million by the year 2020.
Horse welfare first, owner welfare last
In the recently altered NZTR Constitution under the sub-title of Objects, the narrative fails to mention anything about a commitment to the people earning their living from racing, but prioritises horse welfare.
It states: “The Objects of Thoroughbred Racing are to develop and promote racing conducted by Thoroughbred Racing, as required by section 14 of the Racing Industry Act 2020, and in particular by: (a) Promoting and advancing thoroughbred racing in all its forms in New Zealand; and (b) Maintaining and striving to further improve conditions that support positive welfare outcomes for thoroughbreds in New Zealand; and (b) Considering and dealing with all matters submitted to Thoroughbred Racing in accordance with this Constitution and the Rules.”
We all know horse welfare is now an essential part of the horse business. Bernard Saundry talks with constant regularity about how well NZTR is doing with it, and COVID, but you never hear him talking about the urgent need to arrest the diminishing number of owners and horses or an urgency to get minimum prizemoney up.
The numbers don’t lie. The foal crop is annually diminishing as previously highlighted on this weblog. The number of individual starters in New Zealand has dropped 36.6 percent in the past dozen years. Not counting COVID year 2020, in 11 years, the number of races run has declined 19.6 percent between 2009 and 2019. The stats quoted here come from the back pages of the 2021 NZTBA Stallion Register – go check them!
Again, taking out COVID year 2020, the total prizemoney distributed in the same 11 years has risen only 2.5 percent – $58.4m in 2009 to $59.4 in 2019. In Australia in 2009, the distributed prizemoney amounted to $471.4m. By 2019 it was $807.5m, a rise of 71.3 percent (Australian Racing Fact Book stats), and that doesn’t consider the substantial increases we have heard about for this season.
11-year stakes money score: NZ 2.5, Australia 71.3
A New Zealand stakes rise of 2.5 percent, against Australia’s 71.3 percent. Let me say that once more – 2.5% NZ v 71.3% Oz. It’s not a score you will see in rugby, but it’s the 11-year racing score.
Establishing that differential as an actual state of fact, why hasn’t the thoroughbred code taken a long, hard look at itself in the mirror and concluded that only a ‘tip the business upside down’ remodel of the structure with drastic change can arrest racing’s sad and consistent decline.
The current board is incapable, and the system of board appointments and monitoring of the board’s performance by the Members Council has failed the industry miserably. The Members’ Council should be abolished; they are not up to the task.
Before the Racing Industry Act of 2020, NZRB/RITA/TAB NZ wielded a big stick over the codes, but with the devolvement of responsibilities to the codes through the Act, and the ownership of the IP established, the NZTR board potentially has the grunt to call the shots and get positive in a big way.
But ‘slow’ is their middle name. Fifteen months after the Act, a new commercial agreement with TAB NZ hasn’t even reached the discussion table. Under the terms of the Racing Act, the TAB’s objective is to maximise its profits as a wagering service provider to benefit the racing codes. Without a new commercial agreement, NZTR and the other codes cannot hold the TAB to account on meeting its statutory objectives.
The tail is still wagging the dog.
Clause 58 of the Racing Industry Act 2020, titled Functions of TAB NZ, states:
(f) to enter into commercial agreements with each or all of the racing codes or Racing New Zealand (acting on behalf of the racing codes).
Where are the voices of protest from the sector groups, stakeholders, and clubs? To be aware of the history and decline (outlined above), it’s unfathomable the racing industry is standing by allowing it to happen without any sign of positive action from the want of emerging positive leadership.
Recommendation seven of the 17 in the Messara Review is the only course of action to save us from sinking further into the mire. If you don’t know what number seven is by now, then revisit the Review. Partnering the TAB should be the start of a new plan.
The industry requires a revolution to force the issue, and later this year, another NZTR AGM is due.
Apathy is rife in racing. My positive slant this week on racing – start a revolution or die wondering!
Well written article
Fantastic summary of an immoral organization , they should all be bought before a judge and charged with treason to the racing industry
Tommy Heptinstall
Correct Tommy, stay in aussie
I think we need to face up to one thing. If you love breeding horses in this country because it is possibly the best place in the World to do it then carry on but you / we will be breeding them to run in Australia or Hong Kong or Singapore .
There will be little point trying to race here.
Very little prize money
Less and less amenities re Racetracks that are looked after properly
Less and less places to train horses where the facilities are even half decent. Hosing bays with freezing cold water. At the training tracks How many athletes would have a freezing shower after working
Nothing to really attract people into the game. At least in Europe ALL stable staff get a % of the winnings. Here NOTHING.
The people who are running racing know very little and sometimes nothing about the fundamentals of the sport.
Owners and Breeders Names hardly ever mentioned . And yet no Breeders no Owners NO RACING.
YOU HAVE AND ARE DOING YOUR BEST TO AVERT CATASTROPHE . BUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS RUNNING AS FAST AS YOU CAN UP A DOWN ESCALATOR. NOT FAIR THEY ARE NOT AND DO NOT WANT TO LISTEN.
After all the years of listening to the issues (the recent 15 years since i brought my first slow horse at Karaka), I don’t understand why trainers and /or owners don’t get together apply an industry strike. Basically pull the plug on a race day or two or three and “drop tools and walk off”. Make them as random as possible, and the Racing Industry, TAB and Govt will go into a complete spin. It’s the only way to get the Govt to listen and then action a tidy up of the industry, which is 12-18 month task at best.
Owners own the product. So, owners, start acting like the chief in the kitchen instead of the rooster taking out the rubbish. It’s time to make the industry bleed a bit, once it hurts a bit more change will happen.
Leighton, you’re on to it, I like your advice, “Owners own the product. So, owners, start acting like the chief in the kitchen instead of the rooster taking out the rubbish.” Bernard Hickey take note, get the NZ Racehorse Owners’ Association to ‘bar-up’ and take control of the situation, and enlist the Trainers’ Association and control the product, as Leighton suggests. If you don’t, suffer the consequences.
Was Dairy Farming for years Brian and your Article is so much like reading about Fonterra it’s not Funny.
its hardly like george has any formal letters beside his name .Like his greatest footy achievement was when he played with himself
Can someone please point out to the Finance/Racing Minister that 40,000 extra people looking for work could bring down his government. He may then give it 5 minutes thought.
Not anything like 40,000 sorry to say Diane. Its a number bandied about all right when we wanted some help from the Government and their ministers were about as dumb as some racing administrators. I think they have settled on about 18,000 now-and its a number that will be dropping
A thought – why is it that we hear very little re. racing’s plight from the Racing Owners Association, the Trainers Association and the NZ Breeders? Is it because the majority are too busy trying to survive and the very few successful ones too busy trying to hang on to their wealth? So come on you young trainers, breeders and owners – get off your butts and save our industry or as Henrietta Bedford so wisely stated above there will be nothing to save
Another very good factual article Brian ….or as you are better known Detective Maigret! ……I do love a ‘journo’ that can walk the walk.
Good comments above as well.
If Tommy says it treason ….then its treason …..smart man Tommy.
Henrietta …..good comments …..however two points I disagree on were ….(a) Horses have been washed in cold water after exercise since the invention of time …..they don’t mind it at all and don’t need a hot shower like we humans do……and (b) You omitted to say that the backbone of the industry and the most important component is the forgotten piece of the puzzle … the PUNTER ……as without the punter you have no stake money for owners/breeders/trainers/jockeys to ply their trade for.
Have a great evening …..
Graham Bruton.
No wonder the nztr is so hopeless look who’s in charge couldn’t organize a piss up in a brewery. Only got to look at his record with the Vodafone warriors haven’t looked like making the finals since he’s been there
Total waste of time and money and I bet the salary ain’t bad either
Get rid of the lot of them and get someone who cares about the industry and wants to see it grow
A lot of the top races in aus are being won by nz horses because they are cherry picking all the up and coming horses because most owner/trainers can’t afford to race them here because of the slack prize money and have to take the money to survive
Two points:
1) Closing down clubs is an excellent plan. The idea that a nation of five million people needs fifty-odd racetracks is nonsensical. Back in the pre-WW1 days maybe it worked, when New Zealand was a totally agricultural country, racing was the national sport, there were huge numbers of people willing to get involved, a level piece of ground was the only requirement to hold a meeting, every town and hamlet had a track and getting from Auckland to Wellington took three days.
But in the 21st century? I’d say ten tracks are sufficient. Plenty of people who know how money works would say ten is still too many.
2) Whatever your views on covid vaccines are, you aren’t going to win an argument about racing by introducing them into your column. The people who share your vax views won’t be influenced by them; the people who don’t share your vax views will see them as a turn-off.
Respect your opinion, Gil, I’ve expressed mine, and you’ve expressed yours. But I don’t write The Optimist to win popularity contests, and I couldn’t care less if I lose hundreds of readers because they’re anti-vaxxers. Thanks for trying to coach me on what to write, but I’m uncoachable.
Fair enough, Brian.
I just happen to think there’s more politics than science in the whole covid story. And I dislike, because I question some of the decisions being made around the battle to control it, being given a pejorative label that lumps me in with genuine nutters.
But, your blog, your call.
Gill you have to grow a business at the bottom grass roots , small tracks with local trainers local owners and very important local PUNTERS is where the growth and money comes from .Growth will come quick and fast if stake money is lifted your idea of closing tracks is so wrong ,The All Blacks come from all corners of NZ then end up on big stage in main centres racing is same Group ones in big cities if you think racing can survive on ten tracks sadly no chance of surviving at that you lose the connection of the PUNTER who pays everyone in racing
REVOLUTION
Well havnt heard that word used by anyone in this industry before.
Has the penny have finally dropped.
Pull The pin you drop kicks.
Queensland did and got $29 mill.
We got $72 mill to pay debt thanks to covid.
If the Industry fails to implement a vote of no confidence in NZTR then you will all die a slow death.
Good luck , I’m out
I’ve been saying we should go on strike for a month for well over a year!
I found the comments of the chairman of nztr strange to say the lest in his recent interview with BOYS GET PAID .BY A HORSE AT KARAKA and race it in NZ .Racing a horse in Auss does nothing for nz racing .Firstly NZ OWNERS AND TRAINERS have always wanted to compete in Auss the 1896 Grand national photo ridden by my dads great uncle sits in our lounge .They are only 3 hours away ! Their greater stake money will never stop ! 26 billion dollar turnover on horse racing .They are our biggest export market .Currently we have Savabeel sittting in 5th place on the Auss premeship .Most karaka million horse 2 year old winners are Auss bred ! once Mr George gets back from Auss with his NZ TEAM WHO COMPETE IN A AUSS CLUB COMPITION HE CAN TELL US about insular and totally out of touch policy .
Your second para says it all Brian and the gobbledygook quote is just depressing. The previous commentators have all raised valid points and straight forward issues that if obvious to us why are they not to others? Alan Jackson went to Oz looking for an NZTR CEO because he could not find anyone suitable in NZ. Having met the then CEO I saw his point. Four years on the same problem remains. Despite the Mesara report and a way forward we do not have anyone to drive the bus. Who are the people with racing knowledge and business acumen that are being referred to by Brian and others? I do not think they exist in NZ if Dean McKenzie was the best available for the transition phase. Indeed, we seem to have exacerbated the problem with the choice of NZTR Chairman and Board. Clearly the “powers that be” have an aversion to diluting the TAB or any form of rationalisation. I assume this comes from Govt? Graham Bruton is right. The punter will ultimately decide the fate of racing in NZ. I no longer own or breed and I haven’t bet mid-week since they started racing at Cambridge. I wish I could change the trajectory of NZ racing but only a revolution can now achieve that and I think the moment has passed. There are simply too many comfortable people who won’t rock the boat. My terminally ill partner now has weeks rather than months and I can’t do anything about that either.
While I agree on many of these issues I think there is another side to the stakes story and we are watching it unfold. I refer to the level of maiden stakes compared with others especially at lower class meetings. At Gore this Friday we see maidens running for 12g and R65 horses for the same amount while open class horses run for 15g.This is what happens when you start social engineering.Sure many maidens are worth 12 g but not every maiden.There should be a difference between feature and bottom tier fields. And if had to run an open class horse for 15g when sales averages are well over 100g I would be looking for a deal immediately too
The overall support for average horses and some wonderful stuff for jumps racing ($30,000 for an amateur riders race last Sunday-the same day the Hannon Memorial for NZ Cup aimed pacers ran for the same money) but stakes are not supposed to be a subsidy for the poorly performed without adequate compensation for the well performed. And racing is for the public not just the participants. The public keep the whole thing going.
Every week we watch planeloads of horses leaving for Australia often still owned by Kiwis. The result is our G1 races are often imposters from a class point of view (A lot of Australian G1’s don’t have a lot of depth either but not as bad as ours). The trainers and the riders are following suit and our leading stables increasingly look to Australia to justify paying big prices at the sales.Australian racing already represents the majority of our turnover and that is only going to get worse. A lot of my friends only bet there.
Can this be reversed ? Probably not. The day we ringfenced the TAB at the time Australia was privatising was a complete game changer. Even when betting goes down in Australia (which it does) , the off course betting agencies there have fingers in so many other pies the profits from those pies make up the difference in maintaining and increasing payouts.
Personally I cannot believe the industry here has not established a significant business partnership with an Australian provider. At the time we did the ringfencing one of our gurus said you must control the product. Australians managed to still control the product and make huge increases on profits. While we play Fortress New Zealand (ironic considering the Australian-based roles in NZTR) we can never develop.Too small, not productive enough. Most of us might be happy that way but the escalation of the export rush-not just in sales-is reaching panic stations.
Doesn’t bother our breeders, or our auctioneers of course. They can still market their best results. But that doesn’t help the finances of local racing and its slowly killing us.
Thanks Brian, but I have a bit more flesh left on the bone but then again, it is not 2025!
We all have the right to express our views but just wanted to point out that NZ Racehorse Owners Federation has been highly active since the Racing Industry Act was implemented raising issues or questioning NZTR through the Members Council channel. The questions put and replies have been fully communicated to all and the Federation will continue to ask the tough questions of our Industry leaders if warranted. Communicating the outcomes may not being reaching all concerned and I’ll take this matter up.
My aim is to get a ‘Better Deal for Owners’ and function as their advocate and voice. Change management and concise communication with clubs, stakeholders, and the communities we work in is imperative to effect the needed change to boost the industry.
Leadership with the Industry is paramount, and we must let the Board of NZTR work through this. I know you are not a fan of the embers Council and the purpose of both NZTR, and the MC still needs further work but we are working well together.
Yes, the constitution of NZTR is well out of date and does not align itself with the provisions of the new Act but I am confident we will get there soon. If not, I will be the first to question the norm of our racing leaders with the backing of the owners. Though some may not see, the industry is working well together but there are just some small aspects that could be done better: that’s business in general and we will not please all.
It has been a tough time for the industry as a whole and NZTR have done well but not in the eyes of all. That is democracy! It is always good to express views and concerns, but the sustainability of the industry comes first. The Board of NZTR is working well together and maybe they will be a bit more communicative soon around some of the mechanics and rationale of their decisions they’ve reached to date.
Bernard Hickey
President
NZTROF