Cover image courtesy of Australian Turf Club
Graeme Hinton will become Chief Executive of Racing NSW from December 1, succeeding Peter V’landys after 22 years in the role and completing what Chair Dr Saranne Cooke says has been a succession plan several years in the making.
The identity of the new CEO will surprise few people in NSW racing. Hinton joined Racing NSW in 2012, became Chief Operating Officer in 2016 and has been Acting CEO since July, when V’landys began an extended period of long service leave. He has spent more than a decade near the centre of the organisation and brings considerable knowledge of wagering, regulation, government and the commercial machinery underpinning racing in the state.
More unusual was the speed with which his temporary elevation became permanent.
V’landys confirmed last Thursday that he would leave Racing NSW when his contract expires on November 30. By Monday, four calendar days and one full business day later, the Board had unanimously appointed his successor.
Racing NSW did not conduct an external executive search or a wider recruitment process following the departure of the longest-serving chief executive in major Australian racing.
Cooke instead told participants that the Board had maintained a succession plan “for a number of years” and, during Hinton’s period as Acting CEO, had consulted “key stakeholders across the industry”. Their support for him, she said, was “resounding”.
Saranne Cooke | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
TTR asked Cooke on Monday to identify the key stakeholders consulted as part of that process. No response had been received at the time of publication.
Hinton the obvious internal candidate
There is plenty in Hinton’s record to explain why the Board settled on him.
Cooke credited him with playing an important role in the G1 The Everest, the expansion of the NSW Spring Carnival and Racing NSW’s equine welfare programs. His knowledge of wagering is also a considerable asset as governments examine gambling advertising and racing bodies across Australia contend with changes in betting behaviour and pressure on traditional revenue streams.
He has represented Racing NSW before state and federal governments and, during his brief period as Acting CEO, has been regarded by several industry bodies as accessible and willing to engage.
Graeme Hinton | Image courtesy of FanDuel Racing
Thoroughbred Breeders NSW President Hamish Esplin said breeders had maintained a constructive relationship with Hinton despite frustration with Racing NSW on several longer-running issues.
“TBNSW has had an ongoing working relationship with Graeme, and while TBNSW has been disappointed at the lack of progress on a number of fronts for several years, we have always found Graeme to be a very easy person to deal with and keen to do the work required to improve our sport.
“We have always found Graeme to be a very easy person to deal with and keen to do the work required to improve our sport.” - Hamish Esplin
“There are a number of areas that need immediate attention in our industry, including the falling foal crop, the dropping number of breeders, and the increasing costs for all participants. I know Graeme is conscious of that and is willing to work with us to come up with ways to try and improve returns to participants.”
Hamish Esplin | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Those concerns provide a substantial brief before Hinton reaches the broader questions surrounding the structure of Racing NSW.
The breeding base is under pressure, costs continue to rise and several relationships across NSW racing have been badly tested in recent years. Hinton has the advantage of arriving with a detailed understanding of those problems, rather than spending his first six months discovering them.
Importance of the Hazzard Report
There is certainly such a thing as allowing an executive search to drift on for too long, but Racing NSW has managed to avoid that particular criticism.
The more relevant point is that there was no obvious operational pressure to settle the permanent appointment this week. Hinton was already acting in the role and will continue to do so until he formally takes over on December 1.
The Board simply decided that the matter was settled. But that decision becomes harder to separate from the unreleased review conducted by former NSW minister Brad Hazzard.
Hazzard was commissioned by the NSW Government following the parliamentary inquiry into the proposed sale and redevelopment of Rosehill Racecourse, with his review examining the Thoroughbred Racing Act and the structures under which Racing NSW operates.
Brad Hazzard | Image courtesy of ACA NSW
Its terms include governance, industry consultation and whether the existing legislation remains fit for purpose. The report was completed months ago.
The NSW Government says it remains part of a Cabinet process, while the Legislative Council has ordered its production and censured the Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council, Penny Sharpe, over the failure to provide it.
Racing NSW has appointed its next permanent chief executive before the industry has seen the recommendations of a government review into the organisation he is about to run.
Esplin believes that leaves Hinton in an unnecessarily awkward position.
“We have to acknowledge that the administration of the sport in New South Wales needs changing from the very top. Mr. Hazzard's report operates from that exact premise. I find it unfair for someone in Graeme's position to be given this role with that report hiding in some red box in a politician's office.
“I find it unfair for someone in Graeme's position to be given this role with that report hiding in some red box in a politician's office.” - Hamish Esplin
“Graeme would be in a far better position if we could all read the report and sit down with the government to shape a better structured Racing NSW together.”
Continuity was always likely
Cooke’s announcement leaves little doubt that Racing NSW sees Hinton as the continuation of an administration it believes has been enormously successful.
She described him as having been integral to many of Racing NSW’s achievements under his predecessor, while V’landys provided an unusually enthusiastic endorsement of his long-time deputy.
Peter V’landys | Image courtesy of Racing NSW
For Hinton, that association is both an asset and something he will have to manage.
He knows the organisation intimately and arrives with none of the learning curve that would have accompanied an external appointment, but he has also spent much of the past decade among its most senior executives during a period when criticism of Racing NSW’s governance and its relationships with clubs and participants became increasingly public.
The Rosehill dispute exposed some of those tensions in spectacular fashion and eventually broadened into a political examination of Racing NSW itself.
What may change is the manner in which the organisation deals with the people around it, and Hinton’s first message as permanent CEO placed considerable emphasis on being available and willing to listen.
“Anyone who knows me knows that I am always willing to listen and always keen to help,” he said.
“I want to continue to do that, so we can tackle the industry’s challenges together and ensure that it is here for generations to come.”
Given the state of several relationships around NSW racing, Hinton will have no shortage of chances to show whether that more accessible style translates into a different way of doing business. The first few months of his tenure will be watched closely for signs that Racing NSW under Hinton is prepared to deal differently with clubs, breeders, and participants than it did in the final years of the V’landys administration.
