Straight Up – Clubland, politics and chaos

You might recall earlier in the year we wrote a story about the perilous state of the balance sheets of Australia’s biggest racing clubs.

The corporate betting revolution of the past 10 years has essentially enriched PRAs, while leaving race clubs searching for alternative business models.

The Melbourne Racing Club annual report released this week showed that less than half its revenue is derived directly from its racing activities. For the Brisbane Racing Club that number is around 61 per cent. On a pure revenue versus expenses basis, racing, taken as its own commercial activity, loses money for both of those clubs.

One club official recently said that when you consider that racing represented just 6.5 per cent in terms of the usage of their venue, it took up a lot of their bandwidth as a business.

Then there is the politics. Race clubs have always been political, but there seems to be a peak in the level of upheaval, either at executive or board level, in the past 12 months.

The Australian Turf Club has been the most public of these as it considers the proposal to essentially close and sell off Rosehill. This has caused a massive reaction from the membership, and a split in the board on a few key aspects, including on the potential valuation of the project. It has also put the future of chairman Peter McGauran under sharp focus.

Then we have the Melbourne Racing Club. The resignation of CEO Josh Blanksby was just the tip of the iceberg as the club committee has been fractured over the past couple of months. Three board members have campaigned, albeit unsuccessfully, for a spill of the board, while legal letters have rained like confetti.

With an AGM scheduled for Thursday night, Matt Cain leaves the chairmanship. He spoke to The Straight’s Warwick Barr about the key issues the MRC is facing.

The Brisbane Racing Club’s election is not expected to be as heated, but it will be competitive with two new candidates battling with three existing board members for three vacant seats.

The sudden departure of CEO Tony Partridge in July raised some questions, while there is set to be a change of chairmanship next year with Neville Bell in line to retire after a long-term on the board.

All of this when the BRC Masterplan, which has involved significant construction around Eagle Farm and Doomben, is at a crucial point of its development.

Meanwhile the new CEO of the Victoria Racing Club, Kylie Rogers, has been doing the media rounds ahead of the spring carnival and penned an impassioned letter to the members this week.

PRAs are far from immune from politics. In the latest development from the Rosehill inquiry, Racing NSW has been in the middle of discussions in NSW parliament this week, with a submission by the regulator referred to the parliamentary privileges committee for possible contempt.

Away from politics, and in the bloodstock space, recently retired Group 1 winner Autumn Angel is expected to command a seven-figure sum when she sells on Inglis Digital next week.

Meanwhile, Tim Rowe caught up with Singapore-based Donna Logan to chat about her decision to move back to New Zealand and continue her training career.

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