Billionaire racehorse owner and inheritor of the family fortune Andrew Munz has never been appointed to a position on the board of Racing Victoria, and doesn’t enjoy enough support among the members to get a vote up, but still somehow the bloke thinks he runs the show.
Munz’s most recent demand has been for RV to appoint one of his preferred new board members to the Chairman’s seat, rather than one of the longer serving board members with more experience.
As had become the pattern with such things, and as they should be, Munz’s demands were ignored
Predictably he spat the dummy.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
The powerful president of the Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners Association (TROA), Jonathan Munz, has slammed the decision to appoint Tim Eddy as the new chairman of Racing Victoria.
In an explosive statement, Munz declared that if Racing Victoria’s performance does not improve quickly, “the industry will take action to force further changes. Hopefully, there is no need.”
Munz had been clear in the lead-up to Friday’s announcement of Eddy as chairman that he did not agree with such a move as he continues his battle to force change on Racing Victoria, which he claims has lost the support of industry participants.
He attempted to oust sitting directors, including Eddy, in a special general meeting in February but failed with key voting blocs choosing to side with the incumbent board members.
In his statement, Munz listed the areas he considered needed “urgent fixing” that includes “reversing incorrect race programming, eradicating the failed tenth metro race, cutting bloated RVL overheads, ending misallocations of prizemoney for foolish pop-up races like the All-Star Mile, reforming poor regulatory vet performance and getting rid of non-performing staff. Even more importantly, it also means consulting with, and working constructively with, race clubs and industry participants, who they have arrogantly disregarded.”
He said he had nothing personal against Eddy but considered his appointment a mistake and a failure to deliver on a promised refresh of Racing Victoria’s board.
The board has made two new appointments with the addition of Tim Rourke and Mark Player but racing minister Anthony Carbines, who is responsible for signing off on the appointments, failed to land former AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan as the new chair. McLachlan was unable to take the position once he decided to become the new CEO of the ASX-listed Tabcorp, due to the obvious conflict of interest.