Racing: Aussie to take charge of NZTR

An Australian who has spent the last year working in British racing is the new chief executive of New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR).

Paul Bittar takes over the position from Allan Fenwick who retires in November, NZTR said yesterday.

Bittar, 37, works in London for the British Horseracing Board (BHB) as project manager, responsible for business development, reform and major commercial projects.

Bittar grew up in New South Wales and in 2000 took up a commercial finance role with the New South Wales Thoroughbred Racing Board (now Racing NSW).

There, his focus was on delivery of major projects, new commercial opportunities and developing strategic partnerships, NZTR said.

In early 2004, he joined the BHB.

Bittar has a Bachelor of Business, qualifications in accountancy and a Master of Business Administration, which included research specific to on-line betting.

He joined Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers), with whom he spent a number of years before working in property and funds management.

NZTR chairman Guy Sargent said the appointment concluded a worldwide search.

"We are delighted that Paul has accepted this position," Sargent said.

"His racing knowledge and experience, together with his commercial background, make him the ideal person to take over this vital role."

Bittar said taxation was among the main issues he would address.

"For mine, the key issues are increasing returns to stakeholders, managing evolving wagering markets, necessary taxation reform and developing a more commercially focused culture right across the industry," he said.

"I'm very keen to ensure that the domestic New Zealand racing industry retains a presence in the increasingly international world of thoroughbred racing.

"I am particularly interested in the opportunities that exist in delivering improved services and lower costs through the cluster (grouping of clubs) structure, and driving decision-making on an industry-first basis, not from an individual club basis."

Bittar said driving up on-course attendance was another factor he would concentrate on.

"Many jurisdictions are seeing flourishing attendance at feature or key events," he said.

"In Britain the run of record attendances is attributed to the efforts of more commercially driven racecourses in attracting a new audience to the sport.

"The same can be applied in New Zealand if customer experience and service levels are of a high standard."