Letter to the Editor: Racing for the Regions exposes a much bigger problem

Cover image courtesy of Manning River Times

In early April Scone Race Club got a rare visit from both the Racing Minister, David Harris, and the Chairman of Racing NSW, Saranne Cooke. The reason? The cutting of a ribbon to celebrate the infrastructure upgrades at the course. Local MP and shadow racing minister David Layzell also turned up, happily pretending to be a horse galloping down the track for the news cameras.

But what Cooke and Harris knew – but others attending did not - was that within 48 hours the NSW Auditor General would release a highly damning public report into the Racing for the Regions program; a COVID era grants scheme that saw the state government give $58 million to fund 14 racing infrastructure projects, including Scone’s upgrades, with a view stimulating the economy in regional areas.

I’m told by those who understand the media that the press conference was likely an attempt by Racing NSW and the government to get their narrative out ahead of the bad news that was coming.

And it certainly was bad news. The Auditor General’s report detailed a massive failure to deliver the promised projects, significant delays on the few that were delivered, no effective oversight of the scheme and no framework to judge whether taxpayers got value for money.

The report was embarrassing, but for those of us who pay close attention to racing around the state there was little in it that was surprising.

Before I go on, let me explain why I am writing this and why I have been keen to be involved in the Racing Reform Group (RRG). I may not have a high-profile like my RRG colleagues, Arthur Mitchell of Yarraman Park Stud or Julia Ritchie, who has served the industry on the board of the Australian Jockey Club and Australian Turf Club, but I spent the best part of 25 years running country race clubs: Scone, Muswellbrook, Tamworth and Manning Valley, so I have some idea what’s going on in racing across the state.

Why am I involved in calling for change? Two words: care and responsibility. Like so many people I know across racing – including all involved in the RRG – we care about the future of the sport. We want it to prosper, to grow and we believe it can be administered so much better than it is currently.

As for responsibility, having now retired from racing administration, I am free to speak my mind. This is a freedom not enjoyed by those who are dependent upon Racing NSW: whether for their license as a trainer or jockey or, if involved in administration, for their club’s financial future. Since RRG began I have been contacted by scores of people I know from racing across the state: all have been supportive of calling for change but many say they are too scared to speak out.

This may sound dramatic but scared is an accurate emotion. Their logic is, if you speak out, you (or your club) lose out. And with funding tightly controlled by Druitt Street it doesn’t pay to be critical of those governing the sport. So that’s where responsibility comes in: I want to use my voice for those who feel they can’t use their own. And before anybody rushes to call me an anti-Racing NSW agitator, I was also happy to work for the regulator, drafting their handbook on how to run an efficient country race club.

But back to Racing for the Regions: this program highlights the broader failures of Racing NSW as an organisation.

First of all, look at the projects they chose to fund: Scone, where Racing NSW owns the freehold land, got $20 million in grant money. Cessnock, a track owned by Racing NSW, got the next biggest sum, at $11.5 million. Hawkesbury, a club administered by Racing NSW received $4.8 million. Moruya, a club whose track is owned by Racing NSW, received $700,000 in grant funding.

Gosford is particularly interesting: Racing NSW told the club they would build 200 stables with $11.4 million in taxpayer money, but requested the club sell them the land on which to do the development. At Hawkesbury too, Racing NSW waited to buy land adjoining the course before submitting a development application on which to build 200 stables.

So, the reality is the four biggest projects in the scheme – which received more than $40 million in government funding – will provide little financial benefit to the clubs where they are sited, instead pumping up the bottom line of Racing NSW. It is their balance sheet that will receive the capital uplift that comes with the new facilities and they that will receive the ongoing rent from the stables.

Is this really what the government had in mind when they announced the program and said it would strengthen the finances of regional race clubs? And does this financial benefit explain the projects that were funded and why Racing NSW took charge of the program?

But the lessons from Racing for the Regions don’t end there. You also have the complete failure to deliver the projects on time and to be accountable for that delivery.

The business case Racing NSW provided to the government stated all 14 projects would be completed by September 2024. So far only six have been finished and the Auditor General noted at the time of the report that construction is still yet to begin on four. So much for helping regional economies through COVID.

And have Racing NSW been transparent about these delays along the way? I suggest not. When asked about the program in Parliament in September 2024 the racing minister tabled a document with updated completion dates; information which I believe must have been provided by Racing NSW.

That document stated Scone would be finished in July 2025, Tamworth’s stabling was to be completed in October 2024 and a function centre at Muswellbrook would be finished by February 2025. All estimates were out by more than a year.

The same thing was repeated this year: in the Auditor General’s report there was another list of timelines for the unfinished projects. Scone’s 300 new stables are supposed to be completed by December 2026, as is stabling at Gosford, while Cessnock is to be finished this October.

My connections tell me all of these timelines – which again, I believe, must been provided by Racing NSW, as they are in charge of the delivery of the projects - are a fantasy.

Four months on from the ribbon cutting at Scone and there are still no trainers using the newly built stable block, with construction yet to begin on the two further blocks that will house about 200 horses. Cessnock has at least a year of building work and Gosford trainers have now been told the stable complex may not now go ahead.

The failure of Racing NSW to deliver on promises goes far beyond the Racing for the Regions projects. In April 2024 Goulburn Race Club signed away the freehold land of their club in exchange for 80 new stables to be developed within 12 months. No construction has happened.

When Racing NSW bought a property at Capertee it was to become a destination lifestyle property for horse lovers. Nothing. They bought Bart Cummings’ farm near Penrith and promised to turn it into a visitor destination and staff training centre. Zero progress. The purchase of the TAFE building in Scone was to herald a new era in career development. It’s effectively been mothballed.

The chief operating officer, Graeme Hinton, in charge of these infrastructure projects, has now been promoted to acting boss as the CEO for more than 20 years, Peter V’landys, heads off to rugby league (at least for four months).

In a recent interview with SEN radio Mr Hinton took the opportunity to put forward his case to be the next permanent boss of Racing NSW, as well as extolling the virtues of the organisation.

“When you’ve got one entity (Racing NSW) that is able to drive things forward and able to get the best deals and able to build the confidence of government, you get the best outcomes for everybody,” he said.

Is there anyone in the industry or Parliament who believes this? Certainly, nobody who’s read the Auditor General’s report.

Fortunately, former Health Minister, Brad Hazzard, is conducting a review of the Act which sets up Racing NSW. The RRG made a detailed submission to this review, pointing out how the regulator had failed in its responsibilities to consult with the industry: the CEO or Chair is supposed to attend meetings of the Racing Industry Consultation Group, but they ignore this requirement of the Act.

Racing NSW has also ignored the Act’s requirement to produce a Strategic Plan in consultation with the industry every three years. Other changes to the Act have diminished the accountability of Racing NSW as an organisation, such as the removal of participant input on selecting directors and the terms of office of those directors blowing out to 12 years (up from an initial eight).

Mr Hazzard’s report is now with the racing minister and I – along with all those involved with the RRG – are calling for its public release. We need a governing body that serves in the best interests of the industry and is accountable for its actions, not one that specialises in spin and self-promotion.

The views expressed in letters and opinion pieces are those of the author.