Morrison calls to end the “unholy impasse” over the country’s black type crisis
Racing Victoria (RV) boss Aaron Morrison has made a plea for more constructive engagement between Racing Australia (RA) and industry stakeholders in striving for a solution to the “unholy impasse” over the country’s black type crisis.
Morrison’s call comes as RA is understood to be preparing for a board meeting on Tuesday where discussion is expected over a potential new system of designating black type races, with Australia having not had a functioning pattern committee for seven years, and with the Asian Racing Federation (ARF) understood to be losing patience with the absence of such a body.
Many stakeholders, particularly breeders, have called for the reinstitution of a traditional black type committee, such as existed in Australia for some 50 years until the current breakdown, under which the country has had no black type races downgraded for some 13 years.
That stalemate has coincided with a downturn in relations between NSW and Victoria, the two states whose power of veto at RA is seen by many as the root cause of a lack of effectiveness within Australian racing’s supposed peak body.
RA last October put forward a new system of determining gradings it called the Australian Black Type Guidelines based on assessing races by their ratings alone, without the discretionary powers of a traditional black type committee.
This followed its receipt of legal advice, put forward by NSW, that the operations of such a committee could run foul of Australian anti-competition laws.
But after those guidelines failed to gain the backing of the wider Australian industry, or the endorsement of the ARF’s all important Asian Pattern Committee (APC), RA has gone back to the drawing board.
In recent weeks, representatives of the national body – including its delegate to the APC Rob Rorrison – have been briefing industry stakeholders, including breeders, on a proposed new system.
But with that plan still based on using ratings alone, ANZ News understands the Principal Racing Authorities (PRAs) of Victoria and Queensland flagged their stern opposition, meaning it stood no chance of being approved by the RA board.
RA, which has been reluctant to comment publicly on the matter, is believed to have revised its plans, possibly weighing the potential for a new black type system involving an advisory committee which would use discretion alongside ratings to determine upgrades and downgrades.
Such a body would likely factor in races’ historical and cultural importance, helping, for example, ensure smaller states retained their share of black type events.
More is likely to be known on this development when the RA board meets on Tuesday.
As the complex imbroglio has rumbled on, various prominent figures, such as Thoroughbred Breeders NSW president Hamish Esplin, have criticised RA for their perceived lack of engagement and dialogue with industry stakeholders while formulating a direction on the issue.
In his first comments to ANZ News on the issue on Tuesday, Morrison, who became RV CEO in May last year, also appealed for greater dialogue and cooperation in hope Australia could reach a solution to what he accepts is a highly complicated issue.
“It’s an unholy impasse, this whole thing,” Morrison told ANZ News. “It’s a complex situation, but the only way through it is to get the industry at the table with Racing Australia to nut it out.
“The industry feedback has been clear; the only way through this is to have genuine, meaningful engagement with the industry, and that’s something that we’ve been pushing for.
“That would involve breeders, bloodstock agents, clubs – it’s a broad spectrum.”
Morrison said as the issue had evolved, RV had actively engaged with all Victorian stakeholders – including breeders, race clubs, bloodstock agents and the state’s owners association – as well as national bodies such as AusHorse and Thoroughbred Breeders Australia.
Such dialogue had had a two-way effect, with RV explaining the rationale for RA’s push for changes, while also seeking stakeholder views on what those changes might mean for the integrity of the black type pattern, the value of Australian bloodstock, and for how racing in this country is perceived elsewhere.
ANZ understands Australia’s situation has the potential to present different challenges to certain other jurisdictions, given the country’s state system and its potential anti-competition issues, as touched on in RA’s Australian Black Type Guidelines.
“Stakeholders need to understand, and Racing Australia needs to explain clearly, some of the perceived challenges,” Morrison said.
“The only way that’ll happen is if the industry gets to have a proper dialogue with Racing Australia.
“What’s needed is engagement and dialogue – an opportunity to understand the perspectives of each other party, and an opportunity to potentially work on solutions to some of our challenges – together.”
A clock is ticking on Australia’s black type scenario for the new season, in terms of APC approvals.
With that body having a deadline of this Saturday for countries under its authority to submit races for upgrades and downgrades ahead of its annual meeting on September 11, it appears likely there’ll once again be no such movement in Australia’s black type pattern.
This looks certain to mean the 17 races NSW announced as upgraded last season – including two supposed Group 2s – will be run again under those designations, which were rejected by the APC.
The 17 were initially among a vast number of races – believed to be around 100 – across the country which had been earmarked for upgrades under a proposed ratings-only system.
The upgrades had been set to have been announced simultaneously late last year, but when NSW went it alone early, with their new statuses denoted on RA databanks, in view of the backlash that created all other states hit pause on their upgrades.
NSW’s rogue 17, headed by Randwick’s The Invitation (1400m) and Newcastle’s The Hunter (1300m), were run last season. Owners, breeders, trainers and jockeys of placegetters remain in the dark as to whether their horses truly earned black type or not.
But with no approval from the APC, the upgrades have not been recognised by the International Cataloguing Standards publication “The Blue Book”. Therefore, they have not been recognised by Arion – the southern hemisphere’s largest supplier of pedigree information – and are thus not reflected in any sales catalogues.
Depending on progress at Tuesday’s RA board meeting, it could possibly be presumed – in the absence of public comment from the national body – that RA would like to submit its plans for a new black type system to the APC for approval at its September 11 meeting.
Still, many in the breeding and racing industry remain committed to a return to the type of traditional black type pattern committee that ran smoothly across the country for half a century without a mention of anti-competition laws.
One breeding industry source said prize-money-rich NSW’s clamour for ratings-only upgrades was ill considered, motivated by a desire for more Group 1s, which could then qualify for world tote pool betting, driving up funding but paying little respect to the time-honoured black type pattern system.
“It’s a case of – slap enough money on it and they will come. Once they come, the ratings go up. Once the ratings go up, you get Group 1 status. Once you get Group 1 you can get into the world pool and get incremental income. Once you get incremental income, you can throw more money at a few races,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“This leads to a small number of massive prizemoney races, but the income should be more evenly distributed.
“What’s happening in the meantime is, 90 per cent of people are starving out there, because the median earnings per horse in NSW is about $7,000 per annum, and costs are about $60,000 per annum.
“There’s only ten per cent of horses in NSW that are breaking even every year.
“It’s unsustainable. You might break the opposition in Victoria and other places, but it’s unsustainable for your owners, and for your breeders, who after all own about 60 per cent of the horses in training.”
While Racing NSW delivered an 11 per cent increase in prize-money statewide in 2023-24, its distribution was too heavily skewed towards high money races, the breeding industry source said.
“I believe it’s unsustainable throwing the big money at the big races,” he said. “It does get those races’ ratings up, but the distribution being made is so narrow that it’s starving a huge part of the industry, vis-a-vis the inflated costs that now exist.
“You still need to win three races in the bush to break even in a year. It’s hard enough to win one.”