by Brian de Lore
Published 14 September 2018
Is this a game of chess that’s happening between the Racing Minister Winston Peters, an enthralled but poverty-stricken racing public, the NZRB and a very quiet NZTR which has now come out of the closet and renamed itself, Love Racing NZ?
That’s difficult to answer, but we do know chess is an intellectual game between only two players and there’s at least four in this game; perhaps this is a less complicated version of Snakes and Ladders to include all participants.
The moves in this game are so far thus: Messara delivered his report on 27 July, and the Racing Minister passed on his turn until 29 August.; NZRB moved early to publicly state they were ecstatic about the possible outcome of the Messara Report but then, the inevitable train derailment came at the report’s launch and its esteemed leader remonstrated with the Minister as they departed the Claudeland’s Hall.
This visual clash of the heavyweights came not too long after the Minister had said in answer to a question from trainer Shaun Clotworthy, “I know a dead horse when I see it,” referring to the NZRB. Clotworthy rightly asked when a full review of the NZRB’s performance would take place.
NZTR has remained silent throughout this process but in recent times has been dealing with important aspects of leading the thoroughbred industry forward by rebranding themselves as, wait for it – ‘Love Racing New Zealand.’ Meanwhile, a small percentage of highly volatile, parochial industry participants in the provinces have gone apoplectic about the prospect of their courses being closed.
As if this wasn’t enough to ‘centre-stage’ all of racing’s publicity for the past month; it’s being upstaged by a self-imploding harness racing industry which on this page will draw no further comment.
Everything considered, where has the thoroughbred racing industry placed itself in its quest for survival? We have politics; we still have a runaway NZRB gravy-train; we have administrative apathy; we have anarchy in the provinces, and we have a Minister of Racing who is displaying urgency about ‘fixing the facing game and fixing it fast which was catch-cry a year ago – pre-election.
It’s fair to say that no one in Australasia would have a better grasp on the state of the New Zealand Racing Industry today than John Messara after completing his impartial and comprehensive Report.
The most important aspect of his four-month-long investigation into New Zealand racing is Messara’s neutrality – something no previous report can claim. Not only neutral but doing the review for no monetary gain while paying his own expenses – New Zealand racing is very much indebted to the man for all his efforts.
It’s now common knowledge following Rodney Schick’s question from the floor that Messara would accept an ongoing role if asked, but Minister Peters wasn’t available for comment this week despite a series of requests. So, racing remains in limbo to a degree while we wait for the formation of RITA (Racing Industry Transition Authority).
RITA will comprise of whom and when will it be announced. Its role will presumably be to transition the process of the old regime into the new which looks to be a very challenging task on the face of it.
So why is the Minister so slow to make his move after Messara had said, following the release of his review, that two of the things that should happen is the urgency of acting upon it and 100 percent adoption? Messara is also adamant that success is reliant upon the personnel employed to carry on and promote the completion of the review – an important message when you consider past failures.
Mixed messages came from Peters in his speech to launch the Messara report. He said: “Mr. Messara has today offered a blueprint, especially on racecourse consolidation, and it’s going to focus the attention of many of you, and the government will take a look at it. We accept the need to make a real effort to restore the industry – we accept this industry is capable of doing twice what it’s doing now in terms of GDP.
“What we cannot tell you today, is how much of the Messara Report will become a reality. That’s not because we shy away from the challenge, it’s because we want to test and consult on these proposals with all of you. And you all have to decide, will it be parochialism and poverty or change which gives racing a real chance to thrive.”
The test and consult part of that statement by Peters at the launch was the most disappointing aspect of all because no government department is capable of testing and consulting on the thoroughbred industry either with or without the thoroughbred industry – that’s just a fact of life. It’s never happened before with any degree of success.
Government departments are just incapable – much in the same way the NZRB is incapable of running racing sustainably. They are no more than squares trying to fit into a round hole.
The administration of racing has come up with, for its own devices over the past 20 years, what can only be described as a ‘fail. ‘ Messara has said his report needs 100 percent adoption to make it work so cherry-picking it, is far from a recommended option.
Again the racing Minister in his speech said, “The next step for us is to all fully digest this report. Many of the recommendations have serious merit, but they require careful consideration rather than carte-blanche approval rather than the industry’s consent. This is because of several technical considerations requiring further advice. But all of that is capable of being managed.”
The bottom line is that government departments have never had a clue about our industry. NZRB effectively evolved into a government department, and as non-racing administrators, they have proven to be disastrous in everyone’s eyes but their own.
Also, the FOB platform is being built at an outrageous cost ($40 million plus) which could have been curtailed 10 months ago. They didn’t start on it until December, and in reading the Messara report it appears to already be redundant with the plan to outsource the TAB – it may be scrapped just like the Typhoon System; mothballed and written-off.
Although Peters early in his speech referred to the suggested closures of venues several times, the real financial thrust of the Messara Report is not in the closures but in first of the three parts – the structure, finance and legislation which is what will mainly drive the goal to double stakes. That part so far has been least debated or even raised in the 12 or 13 days since its release.
During that time, having canvassed industry participants as to who has read the Report from cover to cover, only three could be found by this writer. One of three people is Te Akau Racing boss David Ellis.
“The industry has gone crazy talking about track venues that have to close down. It’s going to be 18 months to two years before we get these all-weather tracks up and running. We can’t even agree to where they are going to be at present,” said Ellis
“And we need every grass track until these all-weather tracks are proven and we are happy with them. We are going septic as an industry on something that is two years away. Everybody’s effort is being consumed on that very subject.
“You can’t expect someone who lives in Australia to get every course closure correct. The thrust of what he’s saying is that we need to close 20-odd racecourses. Well, even a blind man knows that we have got to do that.
“But whether it’s Reefton, Greymouth or Kumara, by way of an example, it’s irrelevant. Why would people expect to take their horses five or more hours to the West Coast when there’s no local participation whatsoever.
“There are way bigger issues that need to be actioned urgently than the venue revenue which all the clubs are going to have an opportunity to put in a submission. We need all the grass tracks in the interim to keep racing going and then once the all-weather tracks are in and we can have racing on them through June, July and August and September and have all the trials on them – then the 20 tracks will be surplus to what we need.
“To hear these Presidents of the clubs go on the way they are going on about their own little patch, and not take into account the overall good of the industry, when there’s no local participation in terms of ownership and training, etc., is not going to help the industry progress to where we need to save it.
“Looking at it from Winston’s party viewpoint, he needs to get this up and running in the next six months so that every racing person can say that this NZ First Party has delivered on its promises; has actioned it and we will vote for them at the coming election.”
