In today's Straight Shorts, Adam White to lead Vinery management in interim appointment, Cambridge Stud to concentrate solely on Karaka sale in 2026, regulator says Entain's New Zealand exclusivity deal a winner and service fee for Tasmanian sire Stratosphere announced.
White to lead Vinery in interim capacity
Adam White has been appointed as Vinery Stud’s interim general manager.
The long-serving White, who has spent 25 years at the Hunter Valley nursery, replaces Peter Orton who resigned earlier this year.
“It is such an exciting time for Vinery, with the rapid rise of a stallion like Ole Kirk and we have such a great resource in the farm itself as it continues to produce racehorses of the highest level,” White said.
“Having such a dynamic team of people that I have enjoyed working alongside for a great deal of time will ensure that this sale ring and racetrack success continues.
“We are actively building our broodmare band with the wonderful clientele we have around us and we look forward to building those relationships further.”
The appointment comes into effect from July 1.
Cambridge Stud backs Karaka in totality
Cambridge Stud will sell all of its 2024-born yearling crop at the New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale in January.
The commitment by Cambridge Stud owners Brendan and Jo Lindsay is a boost ahead of entries closing for the 100th New Zealand national yearling sale to be conducted from January 25 to 29.
In recent years, Cambridge Stud, as has many of New Zealand’s leading commercial thoroughbred breeders, have offered a proportion of their yearlings at Magic Millions and Inglis sales in Australia as well as at Karaka.
“We will be selling all of our yearlings at Karaka this season, which gives buyers clarity about where they need to be to source our stock,” Sir Brendan Lindsay said.
“(NZB owner) Sir Peter and the Vela family have done an incredible amount for the industry for many years, and it is important to acknowledge and support their ongoing investment in the industry here.”
Entries for NZB’s Karaka sales series close at 5pm (NZST) on July 11.
Ballesty welcomes New Zealand betting monopoly
New Zealand’s thoroughbred regulatory body has welcomed the monopoly given to the country’s wagering provider, Entain, by the government.
The change to the legislation, which prevents overseas bookmakers from taking bets from people domiciled in New Zealand, triggers a $100 million payment from Entain, which operates NZ TAB and its online brand, betcha.
“This legislation reflects a clear recognition by government of the social and economic contribution of the racing industry, while modernising the regulatory framework which was no longer fit for purpose since its original design in 2003,” NZTR chief executive Matt Ballesty said.
“For thoroughbred racing, it provides a degree of certainty that is essential for long-term investment and planning, not just for NZTR, but for our racing clubs and administrators, trainers, and jockeys, as well as owners and breeders right across the country.”
The enshrining of the legislation, which took place in parliament on Wednesday, is expected to come into effect as soon as next week.
Fee set for Stratosphere
Tasmanian stallion Stratosphere will stand for a reduced service fee of $5500 (inc GST) in 2025.
The Grenville Stud resident stallion, a son of Snitzel, has stood for a fee of $7700 for the past two years.
Stratosphere, whose oldest crop are four-year-olds, is the sire of 39 individual winners including this season's two-year-old winner Sanniya and first crop four-year-old Greatham Boy, the latter a stakes winner in Singapore before returning to Australia with his trainer Tim Fitzsimmons.
He is also the sire of the stakes-placed Azonoto, Cairns and Encounter Sphere.
Australian racing’s marathon road trip for Bush finale
No trainers in Australia this week have likely spent more hours on the road in search of a city win than Shryn Royes and Ricky Ludwig.
Royes will make a 3200km round trip from Richmond in northwest Queensland to Eagle Farm in Brisbane to give Mr Metrics his chance in the $200,000 Battle of the Bush final on Saturday.
Growing up in Julia Creek, 650km west of Townsville, Royes has never been to Brisbane.
But she will turn up with a chance to claim the richest purse of her training career, confident that Mr Metrics isn’t going to let her down.
As with a lot of racehorses in outback Queensland, Mr Metrics has seen a few stables during his career.
The six-year-old, a $35,000 buy at the Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale, started with Richard and Chantelle Jolly before switching to trainer Mitchell Beer in NSW.
In 10 starts for Royes since January, Mr Metrics has won three races and qualified for the final with a last-start victory at Cloncurry.
For Ludwig, it will be even further as he travels Deep Field four-year-old Recruiter from Atherton - a round trip of 3400km.
Recruiter is one of the favourites from an inside draw for Sydney jockey Tim Clark.
PointsBet predicts annual revenue will hit target
Pointsbet has indicated its revenue for the 2024/25 financial year will be at the lower end of the $260 million to $270 million range projected at the half-way mark of the year.
In a statement to the ASX on Friday, PointsBet clarified that its expectations were that its revenue would meet mid-year expectation, albeit at the bottom end of the range, and it was a similar story for its EBITDA expectations, which it projected to be between $11 million and $14 million.
PointsBet runs wagering businesses in Australia and Canada and is currently at the centre of a competitive takeover battle between Japanese-based MIXI and fellow Australian listed company betr.
MIXI has put forward a $400 million off-market offer for PointsBet after its initial deal did not receive the required approval of 75 per cent of shareholder votes on Wednesday. Betr will finalise its off market offer early next week.
Sky Thoroughbred Central to broadcast Inter Dominion
Sky Thoroughbred Central will broadcast harness racing’s Inter Dominion Championships to be run at Albion Park in Queensland.
The agreement with Sky Racing will see the pinnacle in Australasian harness racing beamed across the nation, with both rounds of heats and the finals at Albion Park broadcast on the channel.
The Redcliffe Gold Cup meeting on Saturday night will also be shown on STC, kicking off four weeks of dedicated harness racing coverage on the channel.
The showcase coverage will start at about 5.15pm on each of the four Saturday evenings, with a rotation of STC hosts Jason Witham, Ben Way and Ally Mosely joined by the code’s top analysts including Trackside NZ’s Brittany Graham, alongside Greg O’Connor, Ryan Phelan and Brandon Kreymborg.
