A Racing Australia director who quit the sport’s peak governing body a fortnight ago has blasted Racing NSW for a “toxicity” that she says has frustrated national attempts at improving equine welfare and preserving the industry’s social licence.
The decision by Racing Australia’s Tasmania representative, Robyn Whishaw, to make public her reasons for quitting the board lays bare the sport’s crisis of national leadership.
Provocative: Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys has hauled the other state racing authorties to court.Credit:Kate Geraghty
Whishaw’s criticism follows a provocative step by Racing NSW to haul the other states to court last week for failing to produce documents relating to what it described as a conspiracy to exclude NSW from a breakaway national organisation.
In her resignation letter, obtained by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, Whishaw laments what she describes as Racing Australia’s failure to adequately respond to an ABC 7.30 investigation exposing the mass slaughter of retired racehorses, an acute staff shortage facing the industry and a pressing need to re-organise the racing calendar to better promote the industry.
She said while Racing Australia’s “dysfunction” was a consequence of the organisation’s constitution – which provides both NSW and Victoria a veto over decisions – one state in particular had inflamed tensions around the board table by issuing legal threats on multiple occasions to the other state racing authorities.
“In my view, the aim of such threats is to try to keep the other states ‘in line’,” Whishaw wrote to her fellow directors. “The toxicity at meetings has meant we have not had a chairman in almost a year.
The racing at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day last year.Credit:Racing Photos
“I have decided to make the reasons for my resignation public for one simple but important reason. All those involved in the thoroughbred industry deserve better, much better.”
This is a thinly veiled reference to the conduct of Racing NSW and its chief executive, Peter V’Landys, who has summonsed the other states to appear before the NSW Supreme Court. The court date coincides with a major international racing conference – the Asian Racing Conference – that was launched on Tuesday night in Melbourne by Racing Victoria.
V’Landys was dismissive of Whishaw’s criticisms and referred to an alleged anti-NSW plot published in The Daily Telegraph.
“It is ironic that the letter from Robyn Whishaw is in accordance with the script that was obtained by The Daily Telegraph, that was the outcome of clandestine meetings by the other states to damage myself and NSW, in order to lessen competition. In fact, it near enough mirrors the hymn sheet,” he said.
V’Landys told The Age and the Herald late last year that Racing NSW had requested documents from other state authorities to determine whether they had engaged in anticompetitive behaviour, breach of fiduciary duty and unconscionable conduct.
On Monday, Racing Victoria chair Brian Kruger described the legal action as frustrating and annoying.
“I think this action is a really bad look for Australian racing, and it is a waste of industry money,” he told Radio RSN.
V’landys during a trip to Royal Ascot last year.Credit:Getty
“People will accuse us of being jealous or anticompetitive or whatever. Our goal, all along, with everything we have been trying to do, has been to get a well-functioning RA for the benefit of every racing jurisdiction and all participants in this country.”
The basis of V’Landys’ grievance against Racing Victoria was made clear this week when The Daily Telegraph published excerpts of what it claimed was a secret dossier revealing a plot by interstate racing authorities to exclude NSW from the industry.
The Age and the Herald have confirmed that the so-called dossier was a 1½ page “considerations document” drawn up last year by a strategic communications consultancy to advise Racing Victoria on how best to resolve its ongoing stoush with V’Landys and Racing NSW.
Racing Victoria had proposed publishing an open letter against V’Landys. The consultancy suggested forming a breakaway national body as a “shock and awe” alternative.
The crisis in Racing Australia emerged in March 2022 when John Messara stepped down as chair after he was unable to reconcile differences within the organisation. In the year since, neither Racing Victoria nor any of the other state bodies have moved to form another national governing body.
Kruger said on Monday that his aim was to make Racing Australia workable, not to exclude Racing NSW from the table.
The crowd at Royal Randwick for the running of last year’s Everest, the brainchild of V’Landys.Credit:Flavio Brancaleone
Whishaw’s public intervention follows 18 months on the Racing Australia board, six years as a Tasracing director and nearly 60 years in the thoroughbred industry, and broadens the dispute beyond racing’s two biggest states.
“Put bluntly, there are only so many times you can bang your head against a brick wall before you choose to stop,” she wrote in her resignation letter.
“RA is supposed to be a national body working for the whole of the Australian Racing Industry, but to me it appears to be failing in that objective.
“Those who are involved in the racing industry recognise the many challenges we face. It is to my deep disappointment and frustration that RA appears to have made little or no progress on any of these issues since my time on the board. Perhaps the clearest example of this failure was the response to allegations of mistreatment of retired racehorses aired by the ABC’s 7.30 program back in October 2019.”
The Age and the Herald reported in December that internecine warfare within Racing Australia had blocked meaningful reform to prevent the cruel treatment and slaughter of racehorses. This includes two recommendations of an industry-commissioned welfare study to establish a national welfare body for thoroughbreds and a national database to track horses after their racing careers.
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