FROM THE SHERIFF'S DESK: PRIZE MONEY LEVELS TELL THE STORY ABOUT THE HEALTH OF THE INDUSTRY

By John Schreck | Wednesday, August 24, 2016

John Schreck, a former Chief Steward in both Sydney and Hong Kong, has seen both the colourful and the dark sides of racing. His wealth of experience and his deep knowledge of racing matters across the board is unquestioned and the reputation he built as a racing ‘lawman’ remains firmly entrenched in racing’s history. Shreck’s personal blog, ‘From the Sheriff’s Desk', appears exclusively on HRO.

If prize-money levels are considered a barometer of the well-being of racing in individual precincts, the discrepancy between the prize money on offer at Narromine and the Sunshine Coast on August 14, made uneasy reading for those based in Queensland.

This discrepancy was brought to my attention and it does seem to have disturbing overtones.

Narromine is a small town located some thirty minutes west of Dubbo. Its turf club holds only five meetings a year ... yet on Narromine Cup day on August 14, the total prize money paid out was $255 000 (being seven races at $30 000 each with the Cup coming in at $45 000) while, some one thousand kilometres to the north, the Sunshine Coast meeting on the same day came in with a prize money figure of just $112 000 (being eight races at a $14 000 base each) ... forty-three percent of the Narromine total.

That is a frightening statistic for those plying their trade north of the New South Wales border.

To be fair, that Narromine meeting was part of a Racing NSW ‘showcase meetings’ initiative where designated meetings at Narromine, Taree, Ballina, Dubbo, Port Macquarie and Gundagai were allocated a minimum $30 000 a race prize money, but digging deeper on that subject only creates a bigger hole for Queensland.

Apart from the ‘showcase meetings’ initiative, Racing NSW has also implemented a Highway Handicap series by adding an additional race on every Saturday metropolitan meeting restricted to bona fide country trained horses.

When the Highway Handicap strategy was initiated on December 1, 2015, they raced for $40 000 a race. Only eight months later that prize money has been increased to $60 000 per race ... a significant boost to a successful concept.

That is just touching on provincial and country racing.

There are several other examples of the positive growth of the Racing NSW brand but the above should suffice to underline NSW’s significant forward momentum at this time which stands a credit to its management.

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The contrast compared to Queensland where prize money has been cut is of great concern.

While racing in different states are impacted either positively or negatively by particular circumstances, ordering a prize money cut has got to be the very last resort for any racing authority and, as such, when it happens, it posts a smoke signal of how much that racing authority is in distress.

It is very important in any business to arrest the decline. You can’t always grow but it is important not to decline ... and certainly not to go into free fall.

Make no mistake, it’s going to become increasing difficult for the industry in Queensland if the gap between states continues to widen. In that context, far reaching decisions have to be made with extra care.

For example, at the moment Queensland is not even holding its own with other states yet somehow they have seen fit to bring into being a new integrity commission and I venture to suggest that we’ll find that the integrity budget will be blown out of the water when all of the integrity related expenses are revealed at the end of the year.

My understanding is that integrity division has been established along the lines of a public service type of set-up with all kinds of regulations and entitlements, which, in general, has never applied to racing people.

Horseracing is a seven day business and people who work in it go into it accepting it is a seven day business. Usually, over the years, people have worked in horseracing because they get a lot of enjoyment out of doing so and they have a commitment to the sport.

I think if you change that model, even with one division of racing management, you are putting something at risk.

As I have said many times, racing is a unique business.

It will always present challenges ... more so to some than others ... as Queensland has found to its cost!

I don’t know what they are going to do in Queensland to get away from the ‘poor cousin’ situation but, whatever the case, it is clear that Queensland has got to pull its finger out.

I say this with no disrespect, but rather out of genuine concern.

I have always been a big fan of races like the Stradbroke and the Doomben 10 000 and what those races have done for the sport in Australia.

The bottom line is that, like everybody in the game I want racing to be strong throughout the country and I want Queensland to fulfil the role it deserves in the industry.