Page 1047 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 17 March 2010
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both and social and financial reasons, the financial reasons have gradually dissipated as the gap between NSW country and Canberra prize money has narrowed.
Currently in a normal race first prize money in Canberra is $8,450. In NSW country races, it is $6,300. However, three years ago, BOBS bonuses were introduced for NSW racing at all levels. These are bonuses to the winner of NSW-based 2yo and 3yo horses that were bred in NSW. This applies to the majority of horses we race in Canberra and NSW because horses that are eligible for bonus schemes in other states are usually sent to those states to race to maximise their earning potential.
In NSW country the bonus is $5,500 to the winner. Consequently now, if we have a BOBS-eligible horse (which is the majority) that has the potential to win, its earning power in Queanbeyan and Goulburn, etc, is $11,300 compared to $8,450 in Canberra (as Canberra is not part of the BOBS bonus scheme, being a principal race club in its own right and independent from NSW racing).
The net result of that is that we are making very definite choices to race horses away from Canberra if there is a race option for these horses as their earning power for a win is the equivalent of one month’s training costs.
While these horses can still be trained in Canberra, the appeal of having horses trained there is that they are actually going to race there, so that appeal will gradually diminish and there will be no actual cause to have them trained in Canberra other than for reasons of personal relationships with the local folk if they are not going to race there.
As I consider that we are representative of racehorse owners in Australia because we have city- and country-trained horses and provide a good barometer for commonsense racing management practices, if others are doing the same as what we are Canberra race fields will naturally decline over time. As was discussed last night NSW racing is building up a ‘war chest’ of funds as a direct result of the levy on corporate bookmakers. If NSW wins the court case there will be a massive amount of funds that will be released to the industry that will significantly boost prize money. That will certainly include country prize money and then the gap between Canberra and NSW country racing will increase even further with the result that even more owners will start thinking the way that we are with the result that they will race their horses in NSW rather than in Canberra simply because their earning power is significantly greater. In the end the horses that can’t win in NSW are the ones that are left behind to race in Canberra, and that will continue the downward spiral simply because there will be less horses and poorer quality horses and that, in turn, affects the betting appeal of these races.
If the turnover in Canberra racing decreases the income to the industry will decrease, so it will become a self-generating downward spiral.
If that happens Canberra racing may as well close down and the track be retained as a training centre.
I hope that—
the gentleman who spoke—
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