‘There's already been a huge amount of interest and that doesn't surprise me’ - Racing NSW pitches to buyers of The Star’s Everest slot

When The Star relinquished its slot in The Everest earlier this year, the casino group’s cash reserves were a month-to-month, if not a week-to-week proposition.

The Star’s chief executive Steve McCann, a prominent owner-breeder and shareholder in Vinery Stud, was working day and night scouring the globe for a financial lifeline that would help secure the company’s immediate and longer-term future.

The $700,000 annual slotholder fee to participate in the $20 million The Everest, even with the cost shared by Arrowfield Stud for the past four years, could not be justified as the operator of casinos in Sydney, the Gold Coast and Brisbane battled for survival.

The inevitable decision meant, and not for the first time, that Racing NSW suddenly had a vacant slot in The Everest, a race that has become Sydney’s and the state’s pre-eminent thoroughbred racing event.

On Thursday, after reportedly receiving at least three offers from interested parties when it was revealed in early April that The Star would hand back its slot, Racing NSW announced that the vacated slot would be for sale for a minimum of three years via an expression of interest campaign.

“Interested parties are invited to illustrate their proposed commercial terms and to also show how their offer will benefit the growth and engagement of The TAB Everest and thoroughbred racing generally,” Racing NSW wrote in its campaign statement.

Inglis was one of the original 12 slotholders and in agreeing to commit to The Everest concept – at a cost of $1.8 million over the first three years – one of the stipulations was that its auction house rival Magic Millions could not own a slot.

For the past two years, with the cost of a slot rising to $700,000 a year, Inglis has leased its slot to Trackside Media, wagering giant Entain’s New Zealand racing broadcaster, but the auction house will be in control of its own Everest destiny this year.

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Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch believes the profile of the race “has grown exponentially since its initial running” and as a result the latest opportunity to buy a slot via Racing NSW’s expression of interest campaign was likely to be a competitive process.

“We’ve had the experience not just of managing our own slot, but we’ve been involved with the sale of slots for different people and different arrangements and facilitating different arrangements,” Hutch told The Straight.

“So, from that end, we’ve been privy to a level of external interest that we might not ordinarily have been, or other slot holders might not ordinarily be, and it certainly appears that there’s good awareness of the concept.

“I think if it’s pitched to the right people in a commercial sense, it can make appeal. It’s obviously more challenging for people who are private horse owners. It’s very much contingent on having a horse of suitable quality.

“But my understanding is that there’s already been a huge amount of interest in the slot and that doesn’t surprise me in any way, shape or form.”

Dynamic Syndications’ mare I Am Me, who was sold for $2 million at last week’s Chairman’s Sale, filled The Star and Arrowfield’s slot in last year’s race.

“My understanding is that there’s already been a huge amount of interest in the slot and that doesn’t surprise me in any way, shape or form,” – Sebastian Hutch

Adam Watt and his father Dean held discussions with numerous slotholders before and after I Am Me won Everest lead-up races, the Concorde Stakes and The Shorts.

Soon after I Am Me’s victory in The Shorts, Dynamic inked a deal with The Star and Arrowfield.

Adam Watt, speaking carefully in not wanting to breach confidentiality agreements related to Everest negotiations, indicated that most slotholders “wanted to protect their positions” because “they’re putting a heck of a lot of money into the race”.

“The ATC slot is different because it’s a member-based club, then dealing with a couple of the stud farms who had sort of carte blanche on what they could do and then dealing with slot holders that were partners,” Watt said of last year’s negotiations for get I Am Me into the race.

“Every slot holder was completely different and they’re looking for different things. But the reality is they’re all still looking for the same thing and that’s trying to win the race.”

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The Straight reported last year that Tabcorp chief Gillon McLachlan ordered his executives back to the negotiating table with the connections of eventual winner Bella Nipotina to ensure the publicly listed company limited its financial exposure if the mare underperformed.

In doing so, Tabcorp also forewent some of the prize money upside if the Ciaron Maher-trained mare finished in the placings in order to mitigate their risk.

The owners of Hong Kong’s sprinting superstar Ka Ying Rising, the even-money favourite for this year’s Everest, are expected to sign a lucrative agreement with a slotholder to secure a spot in this year’s edition.

The ATC looms as the leading contender to land the David Hayes-trained gelding, with Ka Ying Rising’s appearance at Randwick expected to generate more than $1 million in revenue directly to the cash-strapped club via World Pool parimutuel betting on the race.

Unbeaten colt Private Harry, who was spelled after the Group 1 The Galaxy win in March, will run in the slot owned by Yulong while partners Max Whitby, Neil Werrett, Colin Madden and McCann, the latter the boss of the financially embattled casino operator The Star, last week locked away TJ Smith Stakes winner Briasa.

Hutch indicated that as the significance of The Everest has grown each year, the potential downsides for participants, particularly the slotholders, has been negated.

“It’s a very valuable race, it has the best sprinters at the moment in Australasia racing against each other and t’s had an international feel to it for a few renewals, and might have a more international feel to it in 2025,” Hutch said in reference to Ka Ying Rising.

“From my personal perspective, I feel like a lot of the concerns that people had about the race (in its formative years) have been refuted.

“The fields have been competitive and there’s been a good depth to the race every year.”

Although I Am Me finished 10th in last year’s edition of the race, with Maher, jockey Nash Rawiller, the mare’s owners and the slotholders taking their share of the $700,000 prize money, Watt says The Everest is one of the syndicate’s most enjoyable experiences.

“It was the experience of a lifetime and our owners didn’t care if there was a negative net position at the end of the race, if their horse was to be unsuccessful, which unfortunately at the end of the day, she was when the rain came, they still had the time of their lives,” Watt said.

“They all still talk about it now and not one owner walked away unhappy out of the race being a part of it. So there is a real magic to the whole Everest carnival.”

The expression of interest campaign to buy the Everest slot will close at 4pm on Friday, May 30.