By Danny Russell
But the chairman of Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners Association was satisfied that three board positions would soon need to be filled – a vacancy left by chairman Brian Kruger last June, the position being vacated by acting chairman Mike Hirst by the end of May and the expiring term of board member Greg Nichols.
Racing Victoria membership groups, which include Melbourne’s three major metropolitan clubs, voted on five separate resolutions on Wednesday calling for the removal of acting chairman Hirst and directors Kate Joel, Paul Guerra, Tim Eddy and Ross Lanyon.
Hirst has already announced he is stepping down from the board by the end of May. He is the new chairman of AMP Ltd.
The 35 votes cast on Wednesday were made up of Melbourne’s three metropolitan racing clubs (Victoria Racing Club, Melbourne Racing Club and the Moonee Valley Racing Club) who have five votes each, Country Racing Victoria has 10 votes and another 10 votes are split between the owners’, breeders’, jockeys’ and trainers’ associations, as well as bookmakers and jumps racing.
It was not yet known how the votes were cast.
The outcome of Wednesday’s meeting now clears the path for Racing Minister Anthony Carbines to appoint a board member to replace former chairman Kruger, who resigned in June last year. Carbines has been presented with a shortlist of candidates by a special interview panel.
The search will also begin for a suitable candidate to replace Hirst.
Eddy, a long-time racehorse owner, was a former managing partner of Ernst and Young’s Oceania operations; Guerra, another racehorse owner, is the chief executive of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Joel is a management and organisational change expert who served as chair of Racing Victoria’s integrity council; and Mildura-based Lanyon is a former chair of Country Racing Victoria and is managing director of the Elliott Newspaper group which owns the Sunraysia Daily.
