Two of Victoria’s most powerful owners have united behind Melbourne Racing Club committee member John Kanga’s push for the board to be spilled and the Club to abandon both its Caulfield masterplan and the potential sale of Sandown.
Kanga joined the MRC board just over 12 months ago, and with a background in investment, finance and banking, has said he has been dismayed by the decisions made by the MRC, including the borrowing of $160 million to finance the troubled construction of a new mounting yard and jockey rooms as well as a proposed new grandstand.
He established the Save Our MRC group, which has received the backing of leviathan owners Colin McKenna and Rupert Legh, and is leading a move to spill the board at a special general meeting and replace it with five members from his own ticket.
“I have been overwhelmed with feedback from members about their frustrations with what has happened at Caulfield recently and it is my belief these members need to be listened to,” he said.
“If the SGM is successful, we will endeavour to have the mounting yard returned to its original position in front of the grandstand during spring and return the unique atmosphere that Caulfield was famous for.
“In any event, the Club needs to own up to the problem and promise to rectify the position as soon as possible.”
“The board has been wracked by division and is in disarray. Voting in a new group of committee members with a clear mandate will allow the Club to move forward with a united purpose.”
McKenna, owner of one of Victoria’s biggest meat processing operations and a key backer behind Ciaron Maher Racing, owning such horses as Caulfield Cup winner Jameka, was unequivocal in his support for change.
“What they have done to Caulfield racecourse is a joke and the people responsible need to be sacked,” he said.
Legh, who has built his fortune in the finance industry, is one of Australia’s biggest owners and believes the moving of the Caulfield mounting yard has been a monumental mistake.
“The new mounting yard doesn’t work. It is not user-friendly for owners, members or the general public. It lacks atmosphere and has no soul and that defeats the purpose of being at the races,” he said.
“We need to return the mounting yard to its original rightful location as soon as possible. It would also, in my opinion, be irresponsible for the Committee to pursue its current proposal to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on replacing a grandstand that works perfectly well at it is.”
Warwick Barr
Kanga said there was strong support from within the MRC’s membership base for a major overhaul of the board and restoration of the mounting yard as soon as practical.
He also said the Save Our MRC Group believed Sandown racecourse, the future of which has been up for debate for several years, should be retained.
The Save Our MRC group ticket includes Lofts Quarries Founder, Paul Lofitis, the owner of star sprinter, Lofty Strike, Communications Executive Belinda Meyers, town planner and construction manager Robyn Gray, transport executive, David Gambell and bloodstock identity and food service businessman Frank Pollio.
Warwick Barr
