NZB Kiwi delay could cost local industry close to $100k after it was not shown on Australia’s Sky Racing

Well Written just held out Belle Cheval in the NZB Kiwi at Ellerslie on Saturday. Photo / Kenton Wright

The NZB Kiwi may have been the race of the season in New Zealand but it turns out most Australian racing fans did not get to see it.

And that has left some racing administrators suggesting a review process to prevent a repeat of an incident that may cost New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing as much as $100,000.

The start of the NZB Kiwi at Ellerslie on Saturday was delayed 10 minutes because of the two separate inquiries into the previous race, the Group 1 HKJC World Pool NZ Derby.

Because of that delay, the NZB Kiwi was not shown on Sky Racing, by the far the biggest racing platform in Australia, because of that channel’s domestic racing obligations.

Entain had worked hard to get the Champions Day meeting’s feature races from Ellerslie on Sky 1, the most popular of their racing channels and the one that drives the most casual punter turnover in Australia.

Their insiders there say the race not being shown on either Sky 1 or 2 will cost the New Zealand industry enormously in the fees that would have been paid by Australian-based bookmakers.

The New Zealand TAB coverage on Trackside and Sky Television here was not affected by the delay.

Auckland Racing Club officials checked with their on-course TAB representative and say the new starting time was signed off on but they are obviously also disappointed to see New Zealand’s richest ever race not shown on the main Australian racing channel.

Those spoken to by the Herald are suggesting a review of the process to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

While the choice to show or not show the NZB Kiwi ultimately sits with Sky Australia, their first obligation is always going to be to their local content, albeit a $4 million race with the Kiwi’s interest is a pretty big race to skip.

But you wouldn’t want to be the director in a Sky control room answering the phone call that would inevitably have come if they had bumped a local race to their lesser-watched Sky 2 for a New Zealand race.

Australian thoroughbred officials wouldn’t have taken too kindly to that.

HIGH PRAISE FOR KIWI DAY

The lost NZB Kiwi turnover was just about the only cloud on a remarkable day for the industry, with one of the most-travelled and respected owners in world racing paying it a huge compliment.

“That was a really brilliant day,” said OTI racing founder Terry Henderson, who tasted Auckland Cup success later with Paradise Storm.

“When Legarto hit the lead in the Bonecrusher Stakes, that is as loud a noise as I have heard on a racetrack just about anywhere in the world.”

Henderson completed a remarkable personal achievement with the Auckland Cup win as he, predominantly with his syndication company OTI, has now owned the winner of every major 3200m cup in Australasia.

That includes the Holy Grail of racing the Melbourne Cup, the Sydney Cup, Brisbane Cup and Adelaide Cup.

Henderson and OTI have also syndicated the winners of all the major derbies in Australia, as well as the New Zealand Derby with Vin De Dance in 2018.

OTI recently set up a New Zealand arm to their business and intend to race more horses here.

AUTUMN TO CHASE AUSSIE GLORY

Derby runner-up Autumn Glory is off to Australia to join the Mick Price and Michael Kent junior stable.

The filly has had a mammoth past month, winning the Waikato Guineas and finishing second to stablemate Road To Paris in the Derby and to Ohope Wins in the New Zealand Oaks.

Being owned by Yulong, she was always likely to head to Australia to chase a Group 1 there and has three Oaks options there in Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane.

With her ownershipmate Ohope Wins being aimed at the ATC Oaks in Sydney, it wouldn’t surprise to see Autumn Glory end up in the A$1 million ($1.19m) Australasian Oaks at Morphettville on April 25.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.