NSW thoroughbred breeding industry heavyweights still remain at arm’s length from the state’s racing regulator and its powerful chief executive Peter V’landys, as key issues remain unresolved a year after the leading figures were summoned to Racing NSW headquarters.
Twelve months ago, V’landys, having sensationally called out what he said were smears by ‘wealthy breeders’ at a parliamentary inquiry into the proposed sale of Rosehill, subsequently called the breeding industry’s most influential figures to a meeting at Racing NSW’s Druitt Street offices.
Aushorse chair, and Widden principal Antony Thompson and colleagues including Godolphin Australia managing director Andy Makiv, prominent businessman Matthew Sandblom, Newgate’s Henry Field and Arrowfield’s John Messara were among those to meet with the Racing NSW board.
At the time, Thompson described the late September meeting as “constructive”.
V’landys was, in part, attempting to quell unrest, having squarely targeted members of the breeding industry before and during the NSW Upper House inquiry into the unsolicited sale process of Rosehill that could have seen the racecourse sold to the state government.
Many months later, in May this year, Australian Turf Club members voted against the sale of the important racecourse and training venue to the Minns Government for a proposed price of $5 billion.
Asked this week if relations between V’landys and stakeholders had improved since the hastily convened meeting a year ago, Thompson said dialogue between breeders and the governing body hadn’t progressed far in that time.
“I guess everyone has their own personal relationships with Peter, and then there's industry relationships with Racing NSW. But there hasn't really been a lot of reason for a lot more discussions (to take place),” Thompson told The Straight.
“The Pattern is where most of the discussions have been … and we've been in discussions with Racing Australia on that front, and as an industry, we'd all be keen to see it resolved.
“It's been widely reported about the potential ramifications and the cost to the Australian industry if we don't get it right … with the damage it's causing to our reputation internationally.”
V’landys, as Racing NSW’s nominee on the Racing Australia board, has been central to the attempted reform of the Pattern, with the CEO’s attempts to have a purely ratings-based approach taken to the national stakes race calendar rejected by fellow principal racing authorities and the Asian Pattern Committee.
It has led to a stalemate over Australia’s black-type calendar, aside from The Everest and All-Star Mile receiving the Group 1 tick of approval in the spring of last year.
Early last month, the Asian Pattern Committee rejected a proposal that could have seen a wave of Australian races have their stakes status upgraded, including four races to group1 level in NSW: The Golden Eagle, Apollo Stakes, Russell Balding Stakes and this Saturday’s Premiere Stakes.
More than a dozen NSW races, including next week’s “Listed” Tapp-Craig at Rosehill for three-year-olds, were upgraded by Racing NSW soon after the breeder-PRA gathering but they are not acknowledged on pedigree pages or sales catalogues.
At the late September 2024 meeting, the board of Racing NSW was told in no uncertain terms of the breeding cohort’s disapproval of V’landys’ direct attacks on them at the parliamentary hearing.
“They want to get rid of me, so they can put horses into abattoirs,” V’landys said before the Select Committee on August 9 last year.
“Because it's no longer a commercial proposition to these people, no matter how old the horse is, they want to send it to a knackery. Well, we won't allow that.”
The statements followed quotes by V’landys published in the Sydney Morning Herald on the eve of his appearance at the inquiry in which he accused Upper House MP Mark Latham of acting for “some very wealthy breeders who don’t wish to be held to account for animal welfare”.
The powerful breeders and bloodstock agents’ block still wield considerable financial influence in New South Wales, including involvement in nine of the 12 slots in The Everest.
Tim Rowe
The continuing angst between various parties and the regulator had been centred around the failed sale of Rosehill and where that leaves the ATC, which a fortnight ago was issued with a show-cause notice by Racing NSW as to why it shouldn’t be placed into administration.
The show-cause hearing was due on Friday, but earlier this week, ATC chair Tim Hale revealed that Racing NSW had granted a three-week extension to allow the club to focus on its Everest carnival.
One participant said the politicisation of racing in NSW at present made it hard to gain satisfaction from the sport in its purest form.
“Because it's so political at the moment, I'm not enjoying going to the races. You can't talk,” they said.
“It's like the Gestapo there. You're either on one side or the other.”
