Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Six months after the Asian Racing Federation’s pattern committee unilaterally rejected black-type upgrades to 17 races in New South Wales, Racing Australia has presented its principal racing authorities with a new set of black-type guidelines that, if voted in, will erase the concept of black-type racing as we know it.
The proposed guidelines, which has been spearheaded by Racing New South Wales, will assign black-type status based purely on benchmark ratings of participants, and promises to be an ‘objective’ system in the absence of an Australian pattern committee, which hasn’t met since 2018.
It was under these guidelines that RNSW attempted to get 17 races promoted in status in the 2024/25 season, and it would mean over 100 races nationwide are in line to be elevated, including approximately 38 new black-type events across the country and seven new 1200-metre Group 1s in New South Wales alone.
Voting on the subject is imminent - but feedback nationwide makes it abundantly clear that stakeholders have not been properly consulted on the ramifications of the changes. RNSW’s aborted upgrades already played havoc with the sales season, where vendors, buyers, and breeders were unclear as to the validity of black-type for their horses’ relations. They face the problem yet again, as Racing Australia bids to go against the pattern guidelines put down by the ARF, Asian Pattern Committee, and upheld by pedigree providers such as Arion.
Thoroughbred Breeders NSW president Hamish Esplin has called the handling and presentation of the guidelines “nothing more than disgraceful”.
“The proposal is nothing short of a complete bastardisation of the pattern as it has worked in Australia for over 50 years,” he said. “It's that simple.”
No guidelines
“The pattern is fundamental; it has existed as long as black-type has,” Esplin said. “What the pattern requires is considered thought and subjective analysis, to ensure racing is structured in a way that each part relates to the other. Without that balance, black-type risks becoming cannibalised, uneven, or distorted."
“What the pattern requires is considered thought and subjective analysis ... without that balance, black-type risks becoming cannibalised, uneven, or distorted.” - Hamish Esplin
“If you're just relying on ratings only, there's a real risk that it's too rigid an application, without consideration of other factors,” said Victoria Racing Club's Executive General Manager Leigh Jordon. “What could happen is that there could be a self-perpetuating cycle where ratings will just generate more ratings in the same category.
Leigh Jordon | Image courtesy of Victoria Racing Club
"We have a lot of sprint races in Australia, and if you're purely relying on ratings, you could then just get an explosion of sprint races that are being upgraded throughout the year, which perpetuates itself. It would end up being detrimental to other race categories.”
Esplin continued, “the Asian Pattern Committee’s guidelines talk about how any country's black type racing must have regard to the pattern; how the races fit in with the other races within the same system, to make sure that those races would relate to other races at around the same date, and of the same distance and of the same age range."
Section v of part three of the Asian Pattern Committee’s ground rules states:
“Each Committee member is expected to exercise good judgment to every grading decision taking into account all factors that include more than race ratings or statistical analysis, such as the effect on the shape of the Pattern in the country concerned and/or the effect on the shape of the entire Asian Racing Federation Pattern, as well as circumstances that may impact the race rating of a specific race.”
The Asian Pattern Committee resoundingly rejected all 17 attempted upgrades by RNSW earlier this year; while these black-type wins still appear on the RNSW website, they haven't appeared on Arion or been acknowledged in the Blue Book alongside true black-type races.
It appears that one factor above all others drives the proposed guidelines.
“All these things must be taken into account so that the racing authority in any given country - here, it’s Racing Australia - can't just willy-nilly create a system that ends up in effect entirely geared towards prize money,” Esplin continued. "Wherever the prize money goes, ostensibly, the higher rated horses will go.”
The proposed guidelines being presented by Racing Australia are in opposition to what the APC outlines. Despite the proposal suggesting that a pattern committee will be resurrected to implement the guidelines, Esplin pointed out that it will not function anything like the previous committee.
Hamish Esplin | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“The public should not be misled by Racing Australia suddenly saying, ‘oh, we have this new black-type committee’,” he said. “It’s not a committee. It's a bunch of people who add up the numbers based on ratings. There's no subjectivity to it, there's no analysis, there's no regard to a pattern. It’s basically just a mathematical model, and it’s a disgrace."
“There's no subjectivity to it, there's no analysis, there's no regard to a pattern. It’s basically just a mathematical model, and it’s a disgrace.” - Hamish Esplin
“We’re unclear on who is actually on the pattern committee and if there is even a proposal to have a pattern committee at all,” said Jordon.
“It should not be allowed to happen, and it should not proceed," Esplin said. "The breeders have not been consulted on it. We have fought long and hard for to get the pattern committee put back in, but not on these terms. At no stage did we propose that you should have a black-type committee that effectively does nothing.”
No consultation
The rush to get these guidelines to a vote has realised the fears of many; stakeholders have been reportedly left in the dark about what’s to come.
Basil Nolan | Image courtesy of Racing Queensland
“I think the process that they are putting in place is fraught with danger,” said Basil Nolan, Thoroughbred Breeders QLD director and proprietor of Raheen Stud.
“It’s so important that we continue to have a black-type or a pattern committee with the stakeholders involved in making those decisions, whether they're upgrades or downgrades for particular races. It's so important that we get it right from the start. It’s very important for breeders that, when we have a pattern committee, that we do it properly.”
“It’s very important for breeders that, when we have a pattern committee, that we do it properly.” - Basil Nolan
“No breeder in New South Wales has been consulted that I'm aware of,” Esplin said. “I certainly haven't been consulted as the President of TBNSW. We have tried for many years, both personally and privately, through forums such as the Racing Industry Consultative Group, which is the statutory body in New South Wales, to consult on a range of issues, including this issue.
“Has there been any meaningful discussion about it? There was a meeting two weeks ago with Racing New South Wales, and they said, ‘oh, the system will all go ahead. Everything will be fine’. That's all we heard. We now learn in the last week that there's a proposal to go at Racing Australia to adopt this system under threat of legal action. It's just a reprehensible way for the governing body of the sport in this country to act.”
“It's just a reprehensible way for the governing body of the sport in this country to act.” - Hamish Esplin
Peter Murray, director of Thoroughbred Breeders Victoria, and Jordon both appreciated that Racing Victoria had reached out to consult with their respective organisations in response to the proposed guidelines, but expressed disappointment that the same courtesy hadn’t been extended from Racing Australia.
“We feel that Racing Australia has not consulted at all with the broader group of stakeholders that could have a knock on effect from the proposed guidelines,” Murray said. “We're also disappointed that it's going to be a purely numerical rating system that takes out any human involvement.”
No thought
Esplin said that he “strongly fears” for the direction the industry is headed if the governing bodies continue to be bent on not consulting appropriately before making such sweeping decisions.
“What will happen will be that, as prize money is attracted to certain types of races at certain times of year, you're going to necessarily change the participants in those races and you're going to change the nature of the black-type designation, and you're going to change the breed,” he said.
“The principal racing authorities (backing the motion) and Racing Australia are going into it saying none of those things matter. It's purely got to do effectively with prize money, which we all know is purely done on the basis of what turnover of wagering is.”
Peter Murray | Image courtesy of Thoroughbred Breeders Victoria
“We all welcome competition,” Murray said. “But I feel that the biggest states will come to have a bit of a monopoly over (Group 1) races, because they have the funds to put towards racing purses to attract those high rated horses. It also puts more of an onus on the racing clubs to come back and hit up their PRAs, in my opinion, asking for money to prop up the prizemoney for some of these races.”
“I feel that the biggest states will come to have a bit of a monopoly over (Group 1) races, because they have the funds to put towards racing purses to attract those high rated horses.” - Peter Murray
Esplin was quick to acknowledge the important role that wagering has to play in the industry; it both plays a hand in the funding available to each PRA and also access to the World Pool is tied to the black-type status of races. But he also knows that it isn’t the be-all and end-all of racing.
Going down this path would lead to a widening gulf between PRAs that could threaten the life of the industry altogether in certain regions; under the new rules, there would be no historical protection for races like the G1 Melbourne Cup, or the Derbies and Oaks races, that could see them lose their Group 1 status if three consecutive years have below par results.
“There is a lack of any thought about the historical black-type races," Murray said. "If something like the Melbourne Cup, for example, doesn’t rate well over a period of time, it could be relegated to being a Group 3, even though it’s one of our most historical races on the calendar. That is a scenario that could happen. If someone else puts a similar race on that day for $12 million, you won’t get the horses.”
And what of sales catalogues? None of the upgrades went to print this sales season, but the uncertainty still lingered. In the case of horses like North England (Farnan), who won the would-be Group 3 race $1 million Inglis Golden Gift, does your stallion prospect have a Group win or not? Gringotts (NZ) (Per Incanto {USA}) won two of RNSW's proposed upgraded races, and suffered the weight increases as a consequence without truly having the black-type to his name.
North England | Image courtesy of Sportpix
“Breeders race for black-type,” said Murray. “Prizemoney is great, but the black-type is our currency in the studbook and the sales catalogue, especially when you’re selling.”
“If something like the Melbourne Cup, for example, doesn’t rate well over a period of time, it could be relegated to being a Group 3.” - Peter Murray
“Every breeder and every leading participant in this industry that I've spoken to, trainer, owner, breeder, administrator of a race club that I've spoken to in the last week and a half is dead set against it,” Esplin added.
“To say that (wagering) is the only thing that matters and that all that you can do in this country, putting aside all of the supposed leadership we see from the PRAs, is to get together and say this is the only model that can be accepted under pain of legal action is just ridiculous, and it is infantile, and it should not be allowed.”
‘No leadership’
“There's no leadership on this issue,” Esplin said. ”There's no one sitting there going, ‘let's look at the bigger picture’.”
“We still haven’t actually seen the (proposed) black-type guidelines formally,” Murray said. “We don’t know anything. We don’t know what races will be upgraded, or if any will be downgraded.”
“We still haven’t actually seen the (proposed) black-type guidelines formally.” - Peter Murray
The vote comes at a particularly poor time, in Esplin’s opinion, given the fractured trust in the New South Wales racing fraternity.
The deeply inadequate handling of the proposed Rosehill sale, quashed by Australian Turf Club members less than three months ago, eroded faith in leadership. It has been pruned back further still by the recent email privacy breach, disclosing over 100 trainers' financial statuses, and a concerted effort by the PRA to change the workers' compensation arrangements for trainers.
Rosehill Gardens | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
In addition, Esplin pointed out, is this even the right time to be rushing anything into law?
“We're in an era where the legislation that sets up and regulates the operation of racing in this state, the Thoroughbred Racing Act, is under review,” he said. “And yet we are being told that this is the way the sport must conduct itself, by the same people whose body is effectively under review.”
“We are being told that this is the way the sport must conduct itself, by the same people whose body is effectively under review.” - Hamish Esplin
Less than 10 days ago, the New South Wales government announced that it had appointed the Hon Brad Hazzard, former NSW Minister and Liberal Party member, to lead a review into the Thoroughbred Act 1996 to determine its effectiveness and make recommendations on how it should be updated. Stakeholder contributions will be sought from October - a far cry from the due process, or lack thereof, offered by Racing Australia ahead of their most recent proposal.
The Hon Brad Hazzard | New South Wales Parliament
“It's absurd that the stakeholders must be subject to an agreement pushed forward by the PRA leading this charge, Racing New South Wales, when it itself is under review,” Esplin said.
“For years, we fought to try to get the leaders of the sport in this country to listen to the actual participants, the trainers, the breeders, the owners, the punters, but they don't.
“They just proceed on the basis that they know best. Well, it is a dark day, and it will be the darkest of days if they go to a system whereby they just completely eradicate the word ‘pattern’, and that is what they are trying to do.”
“It will be the darkest of days if they (Racing Australia) go to a system whereby they just completely eradicate the word ‘pattern’.” - Hamish Esplin
“You have to think of the ramifications not just locally, but worldwide,” Jordon said.
“I don’t think that’s been done. Racing Australia need to have a thorough consultation with stakeholders, and also look at the real ramifications of what they are trying to put in place.”
“I just think the PRAs that might have said yes to this probably don't really understand the full ramifications,” Murray added.
“Like most things in this racing business, people can make a decision, but because it's so convoluted and racing affects so many people, you don't really see the knock on effect until years later when it trickles down.
"You might think you know everything that's going to happen or who it will affect, but I don't think that's how it works. You'll find it'll affect a lot of people that you might not expect.”
