The Straight Daily News – RV board call goes out | NZTR’s executive refresh | Major Asian bookie enters Australian market
Two RV directors being sought
The two empty seats on the Racing Victoria board will not be filled until after the spring carnival, as the process for new appointments has only just begun.
The Victorian government has called for applications for the two vacancies on the board following the recent departure of deputy chair Sharon McCrohan.
McCrohan’s departure to fill a key executive role at the AFL in August left RV with two vacancies on the nine-person board, having spent the past 12 months a member short.
The Office of Racing, which sits under the Victorian government’s Department of Justice and Welfare, convenes a process to select eight of the nine directors, with the other position held by the chief executive officer, in this case Aaron Morrison.
The first part of the process began late last week, with expressions of interest open for the two vacant non-executive director positions.
Process begins to fill two Racing Victoria board vacancies
Charlotte Mills in NZTR appointment
New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing’s executive revamp has gathered pace, with three key appointments being confirmed on Monday under the leadership of chief executive Matt Ballesty.
Moonee Valley Racing Club’s head of racing Charlotte Mills will also take up a 12-month racing consultancy role with NZTR which coincides with the expiration of her current contract after this year’s Cox Plate.
Experienced racing and wagering executive Mitch Lamb assumes the role as NZTR’s general manager of racing and the well-travelled Zac Reynolds will be general manager of brand experience, communications and industry promotion.
NZTR appointments to complete executive shake-up
NextBet dives into Australia
Asian-based wagering operator NextBet has made a major move into the Australian market, securing CrossBet in what is expected to be the first of a swag of Australian acquisitions.
NextBet, backed by Philippines-headquartered AsianLogic, has a stated aim to build Australia’s next dominant tier two wagering group, and wants to do so through rolling up what is describes as undercapitalised lower-tier operators.
Scott Cross, who formed Brisbane-based Crossbet in 2020, will serve as executive director for the Australian operations of NextBet as it builds what it described as “inorganic expansion”.
CrossBet acquisition the first of many for major Asian bookmaker
First-season sires lead Breeders’ Plate charge
First-season sires Stay Inside and Home Affairs have a strong hand with their crop two-year-olds in the opening juvenile races of the season in Sydney on Saturday.
Stay Inside colt Eviction Notice, trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, is the $2.30 early favourite for Saturday’s Group 3 Breeders’ Plate at Randwick over his Home Affairs stablemate I’m Ya Huckleberry ($2.80) and Michael Freedman’s Incognito, another colt by Stay Inside.
The Gimcrack Stakes for two-year-old fillies, Too Darn Hot’s third crop juvenile Shiki is the $2.80 favourite over Better Off Alone ($4.50) and The Wildling ($7), who ran the trifecta in a barrier trial on the Kensington track on September 22.
The Wildling is by Newgate Farm’s first-season sire, Wild Ruler, a roster mate of Stay Inside.
The $250,000 Gimcrack attracted 15 nominations while the Breeders’ Plate received nine entries on Monday.
Agent-owner relationship now set in Stone, Tatts focus for Mulcaster, strong Rosemont connection to HK winner
In this week’s Rowe On Monday, bloodstock agent Sheamus Mills explains how he started working for Charm Stone’s owner Heath Newton, Guy Mulcaster on his excursion to the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale and a promising Hong Kong result for Rosemont Stud.
Rowe On Monday
Spring Cups shipments land in Melbourne
Japanese stayer Golden Snap has completed the arrival of the first wave of internationals set to figure during the Victorian spring carnival.
Golden Snap landed in Melbourne on Monday and joined a contingent of four horses from the UK, Ireland and France who have settled into the Werribee quarantine centre.
Trained by Katsunori Tanaka, Golden Snap is a grey mare by Gold Ship who has compiled a consistent record in Japan with four wins and seven minor placings from 16 starts.
She will contest the Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup, as will other weekend fly-ins Absurde, Meydaan and Presage Nocturne.
Onesmoothoperator has also returned for trainer Brian Ellison and will follow the same spring path as he did in 2024 when he contested the Geelong Cup and Melbourne Cup.
Fastnet factor to the fore in Poland’s biggest race
The legacy of the champion sire Fastnet Rock continues to felt globally, with a son of his Group 1-winning daughter Sea Siren victorious in Poland’s richest race, the Listed Warsaw Wielka Warszawska.
Galileo stallion Bremen, who was crowned champion three-year-old colt of Poland last year, is now one of 20 global stakes winners from daughters of Fastnet Rock in 2025 alone.
The son of Danehill, who died last month, has 151 global stakes winners as a broodmare sire across 17 different countries. Among that collection is 17 individual Group 1 winners.
He has been champion broodmare sire in Australia the past two seasons and comfortably leads again this season.
Sea Siren’s breeding career has traversed the globe, with her best horses being the Group 1 winner Warm Heart. She returned to Australia in recent years and produced a now three-year-old named Crusader Voyage, a two-year-old filly by Home Affairs and a yearling by Justify.
Travel subsidies, new meeting after Port Lincoln cancellations
Trainers based in the Eyre Peninsula region will receive a travel subsidy for the month of October for each runner they have outside their area due to a delay to the start of the Port Lincoln season.
Racing SA will apply the subsidy after Port Lincoln meetings scheduled for October 5 and October 26 were cancelled, with some parts of the course proper declared unfit for racing.
A replacement meeting for the October 26 cancellation at Port Lincoln will be conducted at Clare on the same date, with preference in the ballot order to be given to Eyre Peninsula trainers.
For this replacement meeting, as an alternative to the travel subsidy, Racing SA will arrange for horse transport to service the meeting at Clare. A truck service will travel from Port Lincoln to Clare and return.
Racing SA will continue to monitor the Port Lincoln track regularly and work closely with the club to have it back in operation as soon as possible.
Australian General Sires Table
Source: arion.co.nz
