NZRB announces massive stake money injection to all industries

NZRB
The NZRB has announced a significant stakes money injection which will positively affect all three racing codes

THE New Zealand Racing Board (NZRB) finally has positive news for the industry after announcing a funding commitment of $24 million over three codes for the next two years.

The NZRB has come under heavy scrutiny over the last two years due to its lack of funding and hiring of overpaid employees, but the news comes at a vital time for New Zealand racing, which was struggling to keep up in the prizemoney ranks.

NZRB Chair Glenda Hughes believes the cash injection was much needed, but makes note that every other area of the industry is continuing to progress.

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“The Board is confident that the key strategic initiatives NZRB is progressing – the fixed odds betting platform, customer and channel improvements, racefields legislation and the optimise the calendar programme – will deliver a significant lift in annualised net profit per year to racing once fully implemented,” Hughes said.

“However, we recognise that more urgent financial assistance is needed by the industry, which is why we are committing to deliver some of this future increase early, ahead of full implementation.”

The $24 million will be used to increase stakes across the three racing codes with NZRB CEO John Allen stating that $6.5 million per year will go to the thoroughbred industry and believes the funding will provide a much needed pick-me-up within the industry.

“This will see distributions to the industry increased to a minimum of $148.2 million in 2017-18 and 2018-19 from the current baseline, in anticipation of the future financial benefits of NZRB’s key strategic work currently underway,” Allen said.

“This reflects recent steps taken by all three racing codes to lift stakes – there is clear alignment across the industry on where we need to be focused and we are working closely with the codes to provide greater support to the entire racing industry.

“This additional funding will enable all industry participants to have greater confidence in the successful future of our industry.”

Our take

We’re hoping the stakes money doesn’t get pumped into New Zealand’s major races. That’s a strategy that has been tried before and failed.

It’s a common thought within racing boards that increasing stakes will attract the major international runners, but The Championships is a clear example that this isn’t the case.

The $6.5 million per year that the thoroughbred industry will receive needs to fund the low-level races which are the bread and butter of New Zealand racing. Trainers are sick of running their horses for $6000 at a midweek meeting. Compare that to the $64,500 being offered in Sydney for the same level meeting – the NZRB still has some work to do to lift the bottom line.

The NZRB shouldn’t be running a lotto-style industry. The funding should make an impact on all levels of the industry, which should in course see the New Zealand racing scene thrive.

It’s not only the thoroughbred sector getting excited, but the harness community is thrilled with the news and they took to Twitter to express their excitement when industry professional Michael Guerin broke the news on The Box Seat.

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