Tom Reilly has been announced as the new CEO of the Melbourne Racing Club.
Reilly has been CEO of Thoroughbred Breeders Australia for over a decade and is set to join the MRC ahead of the autumn carnival.
A formal announcement from the MRC was made on Friday afternoon.
“The committee is very excited to have Tom lead the team at the MRC. We wanted someone with deep racing knowledge and experience and Tom will bring that to the Club," MRC chairman John Kanga said.
"He is well respected throughout the racing industry and with his extensive contacts and knowledge, both in Australia and internationally, he will be hitting the ground running.
“Tom will also bring real strength and energy to the role and, as a true racing person, has a genuine love and passion for the industry. He shares the vision of the committee to make the MRC more efficient and properly accountable to members, customers and participants, with an overarching aim of putting on better racing programmes and events and benefitting racing in general.”
The recruitment of Reilly is a major milestone in chairman Kanga’s reform agenda since taking the role in September after a spectacular rise to prominence.
He has already reversed the strategy behind the Caulfield masterplan, securing the future of Sandown racecourse, while he recently revealed the club had decided to sell off a seven-hectare parcel of land at Caulfield in a deal worth $195 million.
That deal with Mount Scopus College is set to clear the club’s debt, a major chunk of which was incurred during a renovation of Caulfield that has been heavily criticised.
Reilly will come into a role with the club in a state of flux and with a major executive refresh still on the agenda after such a dramatic change of direction from the Board.
A former senior journalist and editor at the Sydney Morning Herald, Reilly’s long tenure at TBA, which also includes marketing company Aushorse, has been seen as highly successful.
“It’s a great honour to be given this opportunity. The MRC is one of the great race clubs, not just in Australia, but globally," Reilly said.
"For anyone passionate about the future of racing, then running the MRC is a wonderful opportunity. The Club ran more race meetings than any other in Victoria last season and has three great racecourses, as well as some of the major Group One races in the Australian racing calendar, including the Caulfield Cup, the Caulfield Guineas and the Blue Diamond."
“Having met with the committee, I’m excited by their shared vision to make sure racing is at the heart of the MRC’s endeavours and to ensure that we are maximising the potential of our three racecourses and other assets.”
Reilly was a leading candidate for the Racing Victoria CEO job this year, but that went to Aaron Morrison, who had held the role on an interim basis since the departure of Andrew Jones in April.
The MRC CEO role had been vacant since late August when Josh Blanksby departed the club after seven years in the chief executive role.
Reilly’s appointment will be seen as a continuation of the racing focus of the club under Kanga.
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British-born Reilly, who has lived in Australia since the mid-2000s, has strong contacts in the breeding and racing industries, but also in politics, media and wagering circles.
He also has previous practical experience in the thoroughbred industry working for three years in stables in the United Kingdom and the United States.
He will start in the new role in January and relocate from Sydney to Melbourne.
