Chief
I had a listen to the CEO and HRV Chairman on the radio this morning with Gareth Hall. It was an interesting listen.
This is purely my observation of what needs to happen and whilst I’m no rocket scientist, I have a reasonable handle on things. So I offer this as some information that may help bridge the gap in knowledge on a number of levels.
I suppose my biggest issue and most people is that the participants have been told virtually nothing for so long up until now and then all of a sudden it’s cut after cut after cut – which participants simply cannot afford.
It’s not all these guys fault per se (Chairman has been on the Board since 2018 – so he doesn’t get off that easy) but essentially they have inherited a shit sandwich.
In short – HRV is owned by the State Government that is both good and bad. It is not owned by the Industry. Anything sold goes back to the Government (change in legislation goes back to 2019). The Board is appointed by the Racing Minister, its a “skills based” board, industry representation is minimal and based upon recent history you would have to query what they have been doing.
The additional parcel of land at Melton (that was originally purchased to become a training centre like Menangle) had basically been borrowed against to prop up the losses of the last few years and so when it is sold – very soon – there will be no money going back to the Industry as either prize money or infrastructure. So many in the industry have hung onto this as a pot of gold that the industry could fall back on when it needed it. Unfortunately it’s a bit like Old Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard. The failure to communicate or consult with the industry’s participants is the major thing hurting now. Trust has been lost and that’s why many want blood. I’m not sure spilling blood or the Board is going to help anything.
Wagering – which like it or not funds the industry is off the cliff. Given the current climate it is not coming back – Covid was a one off. The investment in Trots Vision has been a failure, no one watches it other than participants and it’s had no impact on boosting wagering. Sky Channel continue to screw us – our races take too long and don’t always run on time for numerous reasons – Sky 2 is effectively dead air – no one watches or punts on it. It is hard to see what the vision was by the previous administrations, regardless it has been a dismal failure.
Wagering will continue to come under pressure from the anti gambling lobby, the breakup of the TAB and the influx of corporate bookmakers has been a mistake but we can’t fix that now. The horse has bolted. Combined with the ever increasing POC tax it is a diminishing pie of which Harness Racing’s share is also declining sharply. Clubs have zero visibility of the current turnover on their meetings, the muddied wagering landscape ensures this. As good old Lloyd Williams pointed out in the press on the weekend, the destruction of the TAB has not helped Harness Racing.
Comparisons with NSW are probably not entirely fair – HRV provides a lot of infrastructure to the entire industry that HRNSW does not. Streamlining tracks should help this.
NSW effectively have only 4/5 Regions – 1. Metro (Menangle/Penrith) 2. North (Newcastle Tamworth) 3. West (Bathurst). 4. Riverina (Wagga). The clubs are all self administered. I understand there are smaller clubs around these but in essence these are the major centres that sustain the industry.
We have 6 and currently one of ours is getting shafted – South West.
Many years ago HRV introduced a plan to try and streamline things and cut tracks known as V3. Unfortunately, it meant the closure of many of the old country tracks and people rebelled and eventually they went the other way and spent money upgrading them which had proven to sadly be a mistake and a waste of money.
To get out of the shit, prize money will have to be cut and small tracks will have to close to save the expense of maintaining them.
Here’s my take on how the tracks might fall.
South West
Needs one meeting per week in the region – Terang needs 26 meetings per year. There are two major training operations training in excess of 80 horses within 3km of each other, how the hell Terang only got 12 meetings needs serious explanation from the boffins. I’m not sure what’s going to happen with Stawell, Ararat, Hamilton & Horsham. 3 of those have pokies but each have challenges – Hamilton lack of volunteers/participants, Ararat no pokies, volunteers, participants and a shit track, Stawell a shit track, Horsham a lack of participants, distance from the majority and trouble getting fields. Both Horsham and Stawell clubs are extremely financial but I’m not sure if that helps. Ararat had a light tower fall over last year and they replaced it. It made no sense given the current scenarios.
North West
Mildura is it’s own little world – self sustaining in terms of horse population and participants. It provides competitive racing with a few little problems – programming is not a problem providing they take into account the weather in Summer – only an idiot would program Day meetings from October/November thru March.
Swan Hill is a colossal failure and the decision to move from Nyah a gigantic waste of money. It goes. Ouyen, Gunbower, Birchip and Boort unfortunately go as well. Lots of history but tradition doesn’t pay the bills.
North East
It’s Shepparton only, Echuca is a shit pot track with virtually no participants and cannot be expanded due to its closeness to the River – if it survives its only just, Wangaratta unfortunately has to go. Cobram has a good track but thats it, it cannot be sustained.
The majority of the participants in this region race regularly at Wagga for the better prize money and are only an hour from Bendigo and Kilmore.
Central Vic
Bendigo & Ballarat are obviously the main tracks in the region and Charlton has a Training Centre so it probably stays. Maryborough should stay but meetings being programmed on the same day as Bendigo is quite frankly bizarre. Kilmore apart from historical significance is a cold soulless place (as are all venues with tracks inside gallops tracks) but realistically apart from once a year days, crowds are virtually non existent and provide limited revenue. Kilmore does have pokies but even they are in decline and provide no revenue to the industry. All of the other once a year tracks in the area get the arse St.Arnaud, Wedderburn, Elmore.
Metro
Melton / Geelong / Ballarat
Melton is a point worthy of discussion, located within a growth corridor it was supposed to be central so that the punters would turn up and fill the joint every Saturday Night. They don’t and they won’t. People can yearn for the Showgrounds or Moonee Valley but the reality is at the end no one was going there and as much as i loved the Paceway (Harold Park) at the end it was a ghost town. The argument that it is too far out of the city is just an excuse – the Trots is now a TV / pub tab sport. Originally the Melton parcel of land was bought to be dual purpose to be the Metro home of the sport and provide a training centre, which has fallen by the wayside. An argument could be made do you really need Melton? Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Terang and Cranbourne all have tracks and facilities capable of hosting metro class meetings. Unfortunately the way the legislation is currently framed the $$ will not return to the industry, which probably stifles a serious debate.
Geelong is a problem. Its a track with an issue (turn out of straight) and virtually no interested participants/committee with ageing infrastructure. Given its proximity to Melton/Ballarat you would have to question its future – Terang should have these meetings.
South East
Cranbourne has a small training centre with approximately 40 horses trained there – it is a nightmare to get to given its location for the majority of industry participants. Sunday’s would appear to be its day, just from a traffic point of view. Warragul probably has to go. I am unsure of Yarra Valley but given its location you would have to query whether it survives.
Its not a pretty picture and I am not sure a rally or a war with HRV is going to solve anything. Lots of $$ have been pissed up against the wall but unless the industry can get together and put all the cards on the table as a whole and work out a plan then the future will be very, very bleak indeed.
Cheers
Gamma from Gnotuk