Paint Me Red has top jockey Lisa Allpress on board. Photo / Nicky Gray
Paint Me Red has top jockey Lisa Allpress on board. Photo / Nicky Gray
The racing industry caught its collective breath yesterday after a funding Armageddon didn't eventuate.
That will give owners, trainers and everybody else involved in the struggling sport confidence they can race for similar stake levels next season.
Considering the TAB had no domestic racing or sport to bet on fortwo months during the Covid-19 lockdown and the general economic chaos worldwide, the funding levels being sustained is the greatest long-shot winner racing has backed.
The Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA), which is effectively the TAB, has announced it will return $139.6 million in funding to the three racing codes, the number it had budgeted for before lockdown.
That is an enormous improvement on the number many were expecting and means while the racing calendar will change dramatically next season, most stake levels will be sustained.
Racing stakes going down not only effect owners' pockets but trainers, jockeys and drivers, while it also deters horse ownership because the sums don't add up. When that economy shrinks, the entire future of New Zealand racing is threatened.
So while everybody in the industry knows stake levels need to increase in the future, not going backwards is positive news.
"We are delighted we could deliver funding at the budgeted level after what the industry and the whole world has been through," said RITA executive chair Dean McKenzie.
"We realise that wasn't achieved by RITA, but the whole industry, with some tough decisions being made.
"But we have achieved this goal, to not go backwards, and now with the Racing Bill set to become the Racing Act, we have a platform to build on."
Although McKenzie would not be drawn on how much of the recent $72.5 million Government grant was used to top up the funding, he says it "was not a large number" and further uses of the Government money will start to be made public soon.
"Racing and a lot of people involved in it did this together and they are going to need to make more difficult choices together in the next few years.
"But with the Racing Bill passed and things like the betting levy repeal reaching their full levels in another year, we can have confidence the returns to the industry will continue to grow, as we all know they have to."
● The future of South Island racing could be on display at Riccarton today.
The first thoroughbred meeting in the South Island since lockdown has drawn huge fields and although ex-northern gallopers racing in the south is nothing new, the numbers today are something else.
Of the more than 200 acceptors, 82 are former North Island-trained gallopers, 22 making their southern debuts. Many horses who struggle to win in the north head south, but with the stake levels exactly the same across the country, $15,000 at Riccarton appeals more because the races are easier.
One of the best bets among the newcomers should be Paint Me Red (No1) in race three.
Placed in all three starts in the north, he has joined top Riccarton strike rate trainer Terri Rae, has leading jockey Lisa Allpress on board and bolted away with his trial just four days ago.
