Champion’s owner has shot at BRC

PETER Tighe, owner of Australia’s best racehorse Winx, has taken aim at the board of the Brisbane Racing Club after it took the unusual step to suspend new memberships.

Tighe paid memberships for himself and seven members of his family this month but asked for a refund last week after learning new memberships had been suspended, despite earlier assurances they had been successful .

BRC chairman Neville Bell said the move was designed to help existing members because they were “only getting half the meetings they should.”

In an email to the club, Tighe described the explanation as “a lame excuse”.

“It seems pretty obvious to me the decision to suspend new membership applications has nothing to do with the racing program but is more an attempt to avoid the potential for concerned people (such as me) to seek to challenge the BRC board’s decision,” Tighe said.

“At a time when racing at the Brisbane Racing Club is at the lowest level possible, through poor management decisions and an out-of-touch board, one would have imagined this club would be looking to sign up as many new members as possible during this period of declining membership numbers.”

Tighe is an ex-board member of the BRC and fell out with Bell in the wake of an unsuccessful campaign to overthrow a board member in 2014.