Cover image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
TTR’s problems-and-solutions series asks people inside racing to name the industry’s biggest problem, but only if they are also prepared to offer a solution.
The first response came from Troy Corstens, who argued that racing needs a proper place for ideas: a room where the industry can think more boldly, test concepts properly and stop letting good ideas die without an owner. You can read Corstens’ answer here.
The second response comes from Newgate Farm’s Henry Field, one of the sharpest commercial minds in the bloodstock industry, whose perspective is shaped by the buying, selling, risk and long-term investment that sit beneath the sport.
What do you think is racing's biggest problem?
The Thoroughbred Report asked me two simple questions: What do I believe is the biggest problem facing Australian racing, and what is the solution?
In my opinion, the single greatest challenge facing the Australian racing industry over the next decade is simple.
It isn’t the declining number of owners and breeders.
It isn’t the rising costs for participants.
It isn’t the declining foal crop and field sizes, staffing or even aftercare, as important as every one of those issues are.
It is securing the long term funding that underpins the financial future of our industry.
Henry Field | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
Everything we value in the Australian racing industry ultimately depends on a strong and sustainable financial foundation. Without it, prize money stagnates, investment declines, confidence falls and the entire ecosystem begins to weaken or fail.
The recent developments in the United Kingdom surrounding overly intrusive gambling affordability checks should serve as a reminder to every participant in Australian racing. These reforms will significantly reduce legal wagering on racing, encouraging customers to either stop betting on racing altogether or (more likely) move to unregulated offshore markets. Either of which will reduce turnover and ultimately, significantly reduce the funding available to racing.
Whether or not you agree with the policy itself, the debate demonstrates just how quickly government decisions relating to gambling regulation and taxation can fundamentally alter the economics of a racing industry, often with profound and unintended consequences.
Australia (unlike the UK) has been fortunate. Over many decades our administrators have understood that wagering is the economic engine that funds racing. They have worked tirelessly to protect that model while balancing the equally important responsibility of promoting responsible gambling.
That cannot be taken for granted.
The future prosperity of Australian racing will depend on our ability to continue protecting and strengthening the financial foundations of the sport. If we fail to do that, every other challenge we debate will become significantly more difficult to solve.
What is the solution?
In my opinion, the solution has two equally important parts.
Firstly, our industry must continue to attract and retain administrators with the courage, intellect, commercial experience and political judgement to ensure governments fully understand the economic and social contribution of racing before introducing reforms that could unintentionally undermine its future.
We need strong administrators who are prepared to stand up for our industry, advocate for it with conviction and ensure Australian racing is never bullied into policy settings that weaken its long term sustainability.
Secondly, I believe we need to broaden our thinking beyond simply protecting our existing revenue.
We should be asking a much bigger question.
How do we build significant long term capital and income streams that make Australian racing less reliant on wagering alone?
Every major industry asset should be continually evaluated through that lens.
Rosehill Gardens Racecourse | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
The Rosehill proposal is a good example. Regardless of where individuals stood on the original proposal (and I was initially against it) if a transaction of that magnitude could be restructured to guarantee in excess of $5 billion for the industry, together with a transparent, disciplined investment strategy overseen by a genuinely independent investment body, I believe we would all have a responsibility to reassess it with an open mind.
If Rosehill is not the answer, or if that opportunity has now passed, then we should be actively searching for other opportunities capable of creating similar transformational wealth for the sport.
Imagine an Australian racing industry supported not only by wagering, but also by a professionally managed sovereign style investment fund generating hundreds of millions of dollars each year to reinvest in prizemoney, infrastructure, integrity, aftercare, research and participant returns.
That is the type of long term thinking our industry should aspire to.
Too often we become consumed by today’s issues. The truly important decisions are the ones that determine what Australian racing looks like decades from now.
Our predecessors built one of the strongest racing industries in the world. Our responsibility is not simply to preserve it. It is to leave it stronger, more financially secure and more resilient than how we inherited it.
Because if we fail to secure the industry’s financial future, every other challenge we debate will ultimately become impossible to solve.
So we put the question back to the industry: where should racing’s next major source of long-term funding come from, and how should it be protected?
Email your thoughts to vicky@ttrausnz.com.au.
