The Sunday Afternoon “Finish On”

ANALYSIS of an annual report is hardly best seller material, yet in this reporting season, GRV's tome prompted comparison to other jurisdictions.

CLOSE analysis of an annual report is hardly best seller reading yet, in this reporting season, the Greyhound Racing Victoria's tome prompted comparison to other jurisdictions.

NSW and Victoria each report 635 litters for the financial year but that's where the similarity finishes.

Re-staffing – Victoria has 13 racetracks and there's little doubt the most competitive precinct (in terms of depth of racing) in the land yet it's hard to contemplate that 192 staff are required at GRV.

At times there are up to five stewards working at a metropolitan meeting yet, at The Meadows on Silver Chief heat night (December 26), the steward in charge had five (5) assistants!

Critics of the GWIC structure get hot under the collar when three stewards are assigned to a meeting.

The combination of staff at Greyhound Racing NSW and GWIC totals ‘around' 160, with the commercial and regulatory sectors overseeing 28 operational venues.

The GRV's annual report is vast yet the metrics around what they do, how money is spent and the cost of doing business beggars belief when compared to, even, NSW.

Some 30-odd years back, Queanbeyan, Appin, Albury, Wyong, Singleton, Newcastle, Penrith, Griffith, Albury, Moss Vale, Orange, Forbes and, for just a few meetings, Narrabri had activity. More recently Mudgee, Cowra and Armidale have merged with other venues or ceased racing.

The bare numbers are impossible to ignore. NSW has more than double the venues, 20 or-so per cent less staff yet returned a profit over the reporting period of just on $7m.

No doubt that healthy number was sharply assisted (during COVID-19 constraints) by returns from wagering increases and the fact that prizemoney decreased for a period when projections feared negative returns.

Adding to GRNSW's bottom line was GWIC taking a ‘hair cut' of $800,000 from the previous 12-month allocation.

GRV also lowered prizemoney (for feature races) but not to the broad measure which NSW participants endured. In fact, GRNSW's return to industry (via prizemoney) dipped to 38 percent (of income) whereas GRV handed out 43 per cent.

The new season will see the NSW numbers improve but more needs to be done.

Queensland has only six tracks yet greyhound racing in the Sunshine State represents 44 per cent of all racing.

For 2019/20, the average meeting prizemoney in Queensland was $31,940 – second to Victoria's $32,377 yet the income stream coming to GRV is in another league compared to Queensland.

The average prizemoney elsewhere was: WA $28,699, Tasmania $25,336, SA $19,804, NSW $18,964 while the meetings at Darwin average $12,765.

The NSW provincial meetings average $15,829 – the second lowest in the land, only SA's $15,008 props them up!

EXIT STRATEGY

With the NSW Government deciding greyhound racing at Wentworth Park will cease following the end of lease in 2027, the following excerpt from the GRNSW Annual Report makes for interesting reading.

"Included within financial assets is a receivable of $6,497,681 due from Wentworth Park Sporting Complex Land Manager (WPSCLM) (formerly Wentworth Park Trust).

"In assessing the accounting treatment of the receivable GRNSW has sought the assistance of its legal consultant to gather evidence to support its view that the loan is a debt instrument within the relevant laws and regulation that affect GRNSW and the WPSCLM.

"Based on the fact that the loan is recorded in various government documents, including the NSW Gazette No. 100 26 June 1998, as being a ‘repayable loan', the Board of Directors have exercised their judgement and determined for financial reporting purposes that the loan is contractual in nature, and it has been treated as a financial asset in accordance with AASB 9 at amortised cost.

"Whilst GRNSW has determined, at this stage, not to call on the loan until cessation of racing at Wentworth Park, it reserves its right to do so. GRNSW have also assessed the expected credit loss (ECL) of the receivable, and based on the credit worthiness of the counterparty they consider the ECL to be nil."

That's all-but $6.5m due to GRNSW from the Government come 2027 and represents a tidy profit on the $2m the GBOTA paid the National Coursing Association for racing dates a few years back.

Whether the GRNSW and the GBOTA negotiate an early departure from the inner city site remains to be seen yet it will be interesting to see what incentive the Berejiklian administration offers to leave early and accelerate the development of the Black Wattle Bay area.

Whatever lands on the table, it's got to include $6,497,681 from yesteryear.

SORE POINT

Such is the combative, frantic nature of greyhound racing, injuries are commonplace and many times, unavoidable.

Welfare is so very important to all participants yet injuries such torn pads and broken toes (shown graphically below) need to be investigated.

The torn pads pictured were from a recent race meeting in NSW but not sighted by the vet on race day. Just how many dogs return home for trainers to ‘pick up the pieces'?

The X-Ray of the toe fracture was following a solo trial. Was it not the advent of ‘sand' tracks which promoted less toe injuries than the traditional grass surfaces of a bygone era?

All too often trainers complain the preparation of tracks for trial sessions is not to the standard of a race meeting and it's something which must be addressed.

In recent weeks, the extra smart Mr. Hyperactive suffered a fracture in a solo trial. He'd won six of seven starts at Bulli for Jo-Ann Croser including a slick 22.34s over 400m.

At only 28 months of age, time is on the side of the white and brindle son of Fernando Bale yet non-race day injuries need to be reported so that welfare oversight is complete.

YEAR'S END

The close of 2020 cannot come fast enough for many. The challenges have been extreme (but not as stressful as 2016 for those in NSW) yet one constant has remained.

Fernando Bale's progeny, as of December 27, had won a remarkable $24,269,840 from 2217 starters which contested 39,618 races.

An impressive winning strike rate (19 per cent) was the highest of each of the top 10 sires as was the place component of 50 per cent.

His sons were dominant in the Group 1 Silver Chief heats at The Meadows on Monday night and, while his popularity at stud (a near 12 per cent of all stock), his strike rate is consistent and not (stud dogs) all can claim that.

 

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