A respected Victorian businessman and racing player writes:


The
Kennett Government appeared to do the right thing a few years ago by
removing control of racing from the VRC and their bosom buddies at the
other two city clubs, and appointing Racing Victoria Ltd, a supposedly
broad-minded, democratic (well sort of), body of racing folk to make
the decisions on behalf of all stakeholders in the game.

A
stakeholder was even defined as the hundreds of battling trainers
trying to eke out a living for themselves, staff, and a host of other
interests that rely on the caper. Trainers don’t want much after all,
just a good training surface that is safe for the horses and track
riders, and to get their horses fit enough to be competitive to
hopefully produce prizemoney for the poor mug owners who are the ones
paying for the game.

The poor cousins
who train horses on country tracks often dream of the hand-clipped turf of
Flemington just before taking their charges and livelihood out onto a
badly constructed, poorly maintained, water logged, training surface
that sadly cannot be improved today because Racing Victoria Ltd says the money has run out due to falling pokie revenue.

It’s fair
enough that these things happen from time to time, so industry players just
grin and bear it, hoping for a sunny day in the future. After all
trainers have to be optimists to be in the game in the first place, and
are used to being subjected to hardships from so many quarters.

But then, should
they be blamed for their perplexity at the $400,000 which
Racing Victoria Ltd suddenly discovered, and used to put in a brand new
woodfibre training track at Sandown for three visiting Japanese-owned and
trained horses for their exclusive use over a few weeks during the
Spring carnival?

Is this a monumental bunk-up or what? A
foreign visitor will add nothing to the good of the local racing
economy, as any prizemoney earned will surely be deposited in an Osaka
bank faster than you can say “we wuz robbed.”

But in the meantime, cognac
and cigars will be laid out on the RVL board table by Minister
Pandazopoulos, as sated egos begin mutual back slapping, all in
the name of improving foreign goodwill. Or was it because the last time
the Japanese made us a flying visit we weren’t so hospitable?

CRIKEY: The Tabcorp privatisation deal created a deluge of cash
for Victoria’s racing industry but it seems even $200 million-plus a
year isn’t enough to stop the squabbling.