Racing: Heavyweight board ushers in new era

John Stace. Photo / Supplied

John Stace has the most novel reason of the six new directors to want to be part of the independent board set up to govern New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing.

He says he loves resurrecting things from ground level.

He was deputy chairman of Lloyds of London when it was about to fall over to catastrophic consequences.

"Being involved in the Lloyds recovery is something I wouldn't have missed for the world," said the now Hawkes Bay domiciled financial executive.

"I like being involved in industries with enormous potential that are going through hard times. That's where I see the racing industry right now."

A new era of administration in thoroughbred racing begins with this board.

After two years of changing the process, NZ Thoroughbred Racing on Thursday announced its six independent directors. They are:

* Con Anastasiou, from Wellington, a lawyer specialising in corporate law, commercial law, intellectual property law and resource management law. He is the chairman of Airways Corporation of New Zealand and the former chairman of the Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences.

* Matthew Goodson, from Auckland, an equities portfolio manager at BT Asset Management. He has 18 years of investment experience in New Zealand and New York at firms such as First NZ Capital and Goldman Sachs JBWere. He is a director of Goodson & Perron Bloodstock, an operation involved in breeding and racing.

* Greg McCarthy, from Cambridge, a director of Sutton McCarthy, a consultancy that provides strategic, financial and treasury advice to corporate and other clients. A chartered accountant, McCarthy is a director of Click Clack and Rangatira Forests.

* Dean McKenzie, from Christchurch, has been CEO of Jade Stadium, Racing Wellington and was Special Projects Manger to the Racing Industry Board. Currently he is a director of sports management firm World in Motion.

* John Stace, from Hawkes Bay, built a career in the financial services sector in London. He founded Stace Barr which in the 1990s was one of Lloyd's of London's largest capital providers.

* Joe Walls, from Auckland, has been selling bloodstock for more than 40 years. He is chairman of NZ Bloodstock and has held that role since 2006. He has been chair and CEO of NZ Thoroughbred Marketing and before that was a director of Wrightson Bloodstock for 14 years.

Previously the board of NZTR was made up of sector representatives.

Peter Francis, chairman of the Members Council, said: "Over 60 candidates applied for the position of director which shows the level of interest in being part of the change in the way thoroughbred racing is governed.

"The quality of the shortlisted candidates was outstanding. It is very exciting to see the calibre of people who were keen to be part of a new direction. Each new director has a genuine interest in thoroughbred racing and all the directors have raced or still do race horses."

At the NZTR AGM on December 15, racing clubs agreed to support the process of the selection of a new independent board to run NZTR. A Members' Council was set up and charged with responsibility for all aspects of the appointment of six independent directors.

That council comprised Victoria Carter, Danny Moss, David Smith, Wayne Guppy, Bruce Perry, John Wheeler, Murray Acklin, Bill Cotton, John Wood, Peter Francis, David Haworth and Neil Oldfield.

Straight talker has raft of strategies

Greg PurcellThe only thing that's certain is that the current status quo is not the way to go. New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing chief executive Greg Purcell has impressed a lot of people in his travelling road show talks this week.

The Australian's ability to produce a paper of incredible depth on exactly where the New Zealand racing industry sits in the 15 weeks he's had his feet under the desk is remarkable.

And now the hard work begins as the straight-talker plies his brand new board of directors.

Purcell has firm ideas about where he believes New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing and the NZ Racing Board should look.

Instilling confidence is one of them.

At the same time he was producing his 25-page industry paper, he travelled the country extensively - he was at Riverton races on Monday in advance of presenting the paper to a meeting at Te Rapa on Tuesday morning and at Ellerslie that afternoon.

"I've found an overwhelming lack of confidence," he says in his matter-of-fact style.

"There was also a high degree of wanting to participate among people who are looking for a reason to do so."

Clearly giving them that reason sits high on the agenda.

Purcell's paper reeks of perceived possible strategies.

"[New Zealand racing] has previously been very bad at developing strategic planning. That will be changing.

"The only thing that's certain is that the current status quo is not the way to go."

He strongly believes in identifying, say, 15 strategic racecourses throughout New Zealand and pouring whatever resources into them necessary to attract racing and participation at an optimum level.

"We can't afford to do that with all 51 racetracks we have.

"I'm not all about closing down racecourses - there's no dollars in that.

"In fact, I am a huge fan of once-a-year racing and my experience has been that done properly they perform very well. But that type of club has to be funded through sponsorship and local community support.

"Everyone has to find their own level."

The Racing Act's controversial Section 16 means that currently thoroughbred racing receives 55 per cent of industry funding despite providing 71 per cent of the three codes' combined economic activity.

That's an area where Purcell will have input.

He has written a structure of stakemoney which he believes will optimise interest and participation:

* Derby, 1 @ $750,000

* Group one, 6 @ $250,000

* Group one, 15 @ $200,000

* Group two, 22 @ $100,000

* Group three, 33 @ $75,000

* Listed, 68 @ $50,000.

* Premier days, 9 races @ $30,000

* Feature days, 2 races @ $25,000 and 6 races @ $15,000

* Industry days, 1 race @ $12,000 and 7 races @ $8000.