Racing Victoria shelve innovations, unsurprisingly
So, Racing Victoria has shelved its “Drive To Survive” mics-on-jockeys and trainer teams idea for at least 12 months, after a board meeting earlier this week.
Not surprising, particularly after RV chief executive Andrew Jones’ series of car crash interviews last week on racing media – Racing.com, SENTrack and RSN – where in particular he had participants up in arms after his flat declaration that he did not care what owners, trainers and jockeys think.
I dare say it’s not what he meant, he was being ultra defensive after a wave of heated and deserved criticism of RV’s “innovation” plans, something this column has highlighted previously.
Rosemont Stud’s Anthony Mithen was diplomatic about Jones’ plans and demeanour. Others, let’s say, weren’t quite so forgiving and certainly even more scathing when speaking off the record.
“You can’t knock anyone for having a go. I’d be fairly hypocritical if I was starting to criticise people for thinking outside the square. I’d like to think of myself as being that style of business operator,” Mithen told us.
“The consultative process was maybe a little questionable and I’d like to think Andrew’s comments about not really caring about the industry participants were misconstrued.
“That’s not the Andrew Jones I know and the conversations I’ve had with him he’s been very interested in Rosemont’s opinions, my opinions and others within the industry, so I think hats off for looking under all the rocks and having a looking, but let’s not forget about the hardcore members of the industry that are not in that demographic that they’re chasing [18- to 35-year-olds] that have had a really strong commitment and made businesses like ours within it.
“They can’t be forgotten in all of this. It’s good to go after that market, but let’s not leave behind those really digging in and holding the fort at the moment.”
What seemed to stand out about Jones amid the live interviews from journalists, particularly on radio, was seemingly his lack of preparation for the questions that were obviously going to come his way.
Media advisers and communications experts – and RV has a few based at head office on Epsom Road – earn their keep by ensuring something isn’t said, as much as by ensuring what is said, and their value often isn’t known until it’s too late.
The messaging around RV’s proposed innovations, even if the premise is flawed, could have removed much of the angst felt by participants if the CEO had a “barrier trial” or two before heading to the respective TV and radio studios to ensure his answers were clear, concise and not inflammatory.
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Trainer Annabel Neasham said on radio earlier this week, when asked about the level of enquiry from owners wanting to invest in new horses now that the economy has hit a downturn, that she was finding it easier to sell shares in tried horses than in yearlings.
Her experience echoes that of OTI Racing’s Terry Henderson, a businessman whose clientele generally has a higher-than-average net worth. His business has also been built largely on buying tried horses from Europe and New Zealand.
Even so, Henderson said this year had proven “tougher” than the heights of 2021 and 2022.
“The bottom market and the lower-middle market is very, very soft for the reasons that we all know,” Henderson said.
“There is still good money in the industry… and it is still a bloody healthy industry compared to some other places. The big trend I think is that a lot more of our trainers are looking at buying going horses.
“We’ll probably do about 40 going horses this year with trainers, be they New Zealand traillers or European horses that are in that 150,000-to-300,000 euro bracket.
“They find it easier to sell them than the yearlings that people have got to wait so long for. If that’s the case, you would have to think we’re going to be in for a fairly tough yearling market next year. Notwithstanding that, there are people out there buying these horses.
“But maybe the mums and dads who made the investment in Covid times are simply not there.”
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The huge increase in WorkCover premiums for horse trainers, particularly in Victoria and Queensland, has had a big impact on stables’ bottom lines, but by how much?
Melbourne trainer Danny O’Brien said his WorkCover premium would be $600,000 this season, up $200,000, while Simon Zahra’s had gone up by $60,000. In Queensland, Eagle Farm-based Kelly Schweida said his premium was $130,000.
The raw amounts are significant, but OTI Racing’s Terry Henderson, whose syndication business has horses with numerous trainers across the eastern seaboard, isn’t as alarmist as some others about the rising WorkCover premiums.
“One thing we should say is, how much does this really add to the total cost of training a horse? No one’s coming out and saying that,” Henderson asked
“They’re coming out and saying I have to spend an extra $6,000 and the big stables are spending an extra $100,000, in terms of their total costs.
“The increase in WorkCover that is being applied is somewhere between 2.5 to three per cent of the total cost of training a horse.
“So far, we haven’t seen any trainer come forward with a levy. We’ve seen four trainers come forward with increased rates from July 1, one of them as high as 12 per cent.
“I think people will understand that these costs have got to be passed on, but don’t come to us with a five per cent when the actual cost is only three. If they come to the industry with a levy of three per cent, I think most reasonable owners will buy that.”
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It’s the Winx Stakes at Randwick this weekend, the Group 1 race named in the champion mare’s honour, and the 12-year-old mare herself is nearing another visit to the serving barn.
Empty last year after missing, Winx has a Pierro (Lonhro) yearling filly, her first live foal, and part-owner Debbie Kepitis was keeping mum on the four-time Cox Plate winner’s next mating.
“We haven’t got to a firm decision yet. The ownership group is meeting in the next couple of weeks, just before the season starts,” Kepitis said.
“With a mare like Winx, you can leave your decision late–ish. I am sure in the next two weeks there will be an announcement to what we have decided on.”
Without any inside knowledge whatsoever – fellow part-owner Peter Tighe said earlier this year it would be a proven stallion – if I could have a bet or throw a stallion in the ring for Winx in 2023, I’d say Dundeel.
As for Winx’s yearling, Kepitis said: “She looks gorgeous, she’s grown really well. She may well need a little bit of time, being by Pierro, but she’s pleasing everyone at the moment and Winx herself, she’s beautiful.
“I saw her a few weeks ago and she just looks a picture. She is still her normal self. Sometimes she wants to say hello, other times she doesn’t, so you take what you get.”
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Monitoring the four online thoroughbred auctions operating in Australasia – Magic Millions, Inglis Digital, Bloodstockauction and New Zealand Bloodstock’s Gavelhouse – can be like watching paint dry until the countdown clock reaches the 20-minute mark.
For the observers of the growing segment of the industry, one feature of the Gavelhouse portal that at least creates some interest for observers is that it has a bid history for buyers using pseudonyms.
For instance, “Twinsdad” and “Danehill1986” have been used whereas other aliases are more obvious, perhaps using their bloodstock business name.
Anyway, yesterday, I was clicking through the Gavelhouse auction, which ends on Monday evening (7pm NZ time), and the opening bid on last season’s Welcome Stakes (Listed, 1000m) winner Sky On Fire (Exceed And Excel) caught my eye.
The NZ$20,000 bid, well under what she’ll sell for, was placed by none other than “NickDaicos35”.
Either Nick Daicos, a superstar of the AFL and Collingwood, has plenty of time on his hands during his injury layoff or a mad Magpies fan is keen on Te Akau’s three-year-old filly.