Racing must stand on its own four legs

The report on the racing industry commissioned by its minister, Winston Peters, and released last Friday, is one New Zealanders have read many times before. Peters’ industry reviewer, an Australian racing administrator and breeder, John Messara, acknowledges that he is proposing the same solution recommended as long ago as 1965 by the Reid Committee and endorsed in 1970 by the McCarthy royal commission on racing. Namely, that New Zealand has too many racetracks.

The theory is that with fewer tracks there would be more cash in the industry to improve prize money, providing better returns for owners, breeders and trainers, and giving New Zealand a stronger bloodstock industry. Yet more than 50 years after this theory was advanced, there are still nearly 50 thoroughbred racecourses, many of them in small towns and holding just one or two meetings a year. And they are no more willing to close now than they were 50 years ago.

Messara notes that racing clubs are not the owners of the land they use and suggests these assets should be vested in racing’s regulator for the benefit of the thoroughbred industry. About 20 tracks could be sold, he suggests, generating sufficient capital to renovate the remaining venues, few of which were up to the standard he believed race-goers and punters expected.

Maybe so, but it seems a draconian solution to impose on small clubs. They might not be the legal owners of the land but their local community see it as their course, which is how so many have survived. They may hold only one or two meetings but race days are usually big events on the town calendar, attracting visitors from near and far.

Across all New Zealand courses, the average is 6.7 meetings a year, which is only one fewer than the average for Australian courses. Messara prefers a comparison with Ireland, with a similar population to New Zealand, which has half the number of courses, an average of 13.7 meetings a year on each track and a thriving thoroughbred industry.

The reason New Zealand’s industry is in decline, producing fewer foals each year, probably lies deeper than the number of tracks. As Messara observes, racing is increasingly becoming an offcourse betting and entertainment attraction. His most controversial suggestion is likely to be outsourcing the TAB to an international betting operator to add to its products, upgrade its technology, improve customer services and offer punters “a compelling global product”.

An industry financed by gambling will struggle to find favour with the present Government and a foreign takeover of the TAB might not appeal to Peters, but those are not reasons to resort to public funding and additional tax breaks.

Industries need to find strength within themselves for sustained success. Our breeders and trainers have a good reputation in a global industry, they should look overseas for more of the returns they need. That would wake up local clubs and the TAB. Racing should not be relying on a politician for direction. It must stand on its own four legs.