Charlotte Mills, Bart McCulloch join revamped Tasracing board

Respected racing administrator Charlotte Mills and Tasmanian breeder Bart McCulloch have been appointed to the Tasracing board

The Straight has confirmed that the pair were recently appointed to the board after the departures of David Garnier and Michael Gordon, who had served their maximum terms, and Suze Jacobsen, whose term also concluded in December.

Mills is working as a consultant for New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing, having left her role as head of racing at Moonee Valley Racing Club following the temporary end to racing at the Melbourne track in October.

She has worked across several principal racing authorities, including spells at Racing Victoria and Racing and Wagering Western Australia, where she spent 13 years, the last six as chief racing officer.

Although based in Victoria, Mills has lived in Tasmania and served as the chief executive officer of the Tasmanian Thoroughbred Racing Council in 2005 and 2006.

McCulloch, who runs Grenville Stud together with his father, Tasmanian Racing Hall of Fame member, Graeme, has also joined the Tasracing board.

McCulloch, who has an extensive background in agribusiness banking and has also been involved in a host of businesses in the north of the state, has spearheaded a major commercial shift at Grenville Stud in recent years.

That has seen the farm upgrade its broodmare band and send its best stock to the country’s biggest yearling sales.

In 2024, Grenville was rewarded for that strategy when it sold a half-brother to The Everest winner Think About It for $950,000, a record for a Tasmanian vendor, and an Exceed And Excel filly for $675,000.

The one-time AFL draftee is broadly seen as a future leader of the industry in the state.

McCulloch, who is 35, will be the youngest Tasracing board member during a time where the future of Tasmanian racing is in the spotlight.

The state government is working through its planning for the funding of Tasracing and the Tasmanian industry beyond July 2029, when the current deed expires.

It comes as the government also seeks to pass legislation to end greyhound racing in the state in 2029.

Greyhound racing figure Roy Higgins has also been added to the Tasracing board as the code-specific appointment following Gordon’s departure.

Deputy chair Steve Old has had his term extended, which is significant as chairman Gene Phair is due to step down in May.

Phair joined the board in November 2018 and will complete his mandatory two-term limit. He will need to be replaced as chairman at this point.