We have seen some great racing throughout the recent Vicbred Super Series and we roll straight into the TAB Breeders Crown series, with a huge Semi-Final night at Bendigo on Saturday night, August 18, and the Grand Finals at Tabcorp Park Melton on Saturday night, August 25.

 

The importance of Vicbred

The Empire Stallions and Aldebaran Park Vicbred Super Series is our premier age racing futurity series and celebrates local breeders, owners, trainers and, of course, locally bred horses. Over two big nights we saw 11 trotting races and 11 pacing races, including 12 Group 1 races and more than $1.46m in prizemoney won by some excited breeders, owners, trainers and drivers.

Looking at the broader Vicbred program, more than $3.7m in the popular Vicbred bonuses were paid out in the financial year just ended, which was an increase on the prior year.

And, as recently announced, with the support of the State Government, in 2018/19 HRV is waiving the foal registration cost for all Vicbred foals from a Victorian standing stallion and Vicbred mare, and discounting other foal registration costs.

Without doubt, it pays to be Vicbred!

An increase in stakemoney

Prizemoney for restricted races in Victoria will increase from $3500 to $4000 in the new racing season (commencing September 1), as will the number of $4000 R-class races programmed in Victoria next season, providing greater opportunities for horses without incurring a Country-front penalty.

Similar to the bonus in 2017, all Victorian $4000 R-class races and all Victorian $5000 C-class races in September and October will carry $500 bonuses for the race winner.

Racing Amendment (Integrity and Disciplinary Structures) Bill 2018

In June the Victorian State Government announced it had introduced into Parliament the Racing Amendment (Integrity and Disciplinary Structures) Bill 2018 to establish two new bodies – the Victorian Racing Integrity Board (VRIB) and the Victorian Racing Tribunal (VRT).

The VRIB will oversee the relationship between racing controlling bodies and their integrity staff to ensure independence from commercial considerations. The VRT will be headed by a current or former judicial officer to ensure that Victoria has the right disciplinary regime to enforce the rules of racing across the three codes with a strengthened regime of powers, including the power to compel someone to attend a hearing to give evidence and to take evidence under oath.

The changes will also establish new offences for failing to comply with a summons, knowingly providing false or misleading information, refusing to answer a question, or refusing to be sworn in when before the Victorian Racing Tribunal. Matters put to VCAT will be limited to only relate to consideration of penalty, and not merit (i.e. VCAT will not re-consider if the RADB made the right decision in terms of guilty/not-guilty). Points of Law will be considered by the Supreme Court, and not by VCAT.

Inter Dominion tickets on sale

Preparations continue for the 2018 Inter Dominion, with the website and tickets sales going live in June via ID18.com.au. The new site includes dining packages, raceday information, race history and programming, transport and accommodation. All raceday events offer a great variety of options with something for all tastes and budgets ranging from $10 General Admission tickets through to all-inclusive premium hospitality packages in a range of exclusive settings. I look forward to seeing you there!

Working with Clubs

Harness Racing Victoria (HRV) has been working with Trots Clubs Victoria (TCV) and all clubs to implement the new funding model and updated marketing funding based on some key performance indicators. Clubs have been busy completing funding submissions from the Raceday Attraction Program and Victorian Racing Infrastructure Fund. These funding sources are essential for the success of the country cup program and the updating of much needed club infrastructure. Thanks and well done to the HRV, TCV and club personnel who have worked so hard to meet compressed timelines for these submissions.

Trots Vision

It has been pleasing to see the initial success of Trots Vision (TV) and in particular to hear the stories and feel the excitement from our breeders, owners, trainers and drivers.  TV enables us to share the highs and lows of our sport and provides a platform for us to build upon.  Thanks to the dedicated team who brought this concept to life and to the race callers and on-track presenters now helping tell the industry stories.

Farewell to Lenny

With thanks to HRV and Tabcorp Park teams, a fitting tribute was provided to Lennytheshark to mark his retirement from racing. ‘Lenny’ has been a true champion of our sport and we are all fortunate to have seen him race.  I’m sure we all look forward to lots of little Lennys running around in the future.  A special thanks to the Riseley family and everyone else involved with Lennytheshark for once again sharing him with us on the night.

Rolling turnover trend

May 2018 showed approximately 5% growth of wagering turnover compared to the same month last year. As advised previously we programmed races to the end of June with the aim of reaching our targeted $40m in stakemoney and Vicbred bonuses, including $1k bonuses on all $5k races in May and June 2018.  Unfortunately, with nominations below expectations in May and June and some races not proceeding, it appears we will come in just short of that $40m target.

The good news is that up until the end of May we had run 4% more races resulting in a 9% increase in wagering turnover. The revenue from that has helped to offset the more than $2m decline in revenue from our Joint Venture with Tabcorp. The end result will be a small profit that will enable HRV to continue to do more to improve the livelihood of industry participants.


Kind regards,
David Martin