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Australian Turf Club chairman Tim Hale argues the member-owned organisation is financially secure.Credit: Steven Siewert<\/p>\n
Two club directors quit, with one going public with claims of dysfunction on the board, leaving only four remaining \u2013 Hale, media personality Caroline Searcy, technology executive and horse owner David McGrath, and Annette English, a commercial lawyer with close ties to the breeding industry.<\/p>\n
Three of them were opposed to the controversial proposed $5 billion sale of Rosehill for housing, which triggered a parliamentary inquiry last year before ultimately being defeated by members in May.<\/a><\/p>\n The Racing NSW intervention has brought the sport\u2019s complex, much-debated flow of hundreds of millions of dollars a year in wagering revenue into back into focus. Most of it lands in the coffers of Racing NSW, which straddles the roles of both regulator and commercial juggernaut, distributing money onwards but also accumulating a war chest that includes $150 million in property.<\/p>\n V\u2019landys told last year\u2019s Rosehill inquiry an extra $3 billion had been injected into the industry thanks to Racing NSW\u2019s 2012 High Court win that made the bookies pay up and as a result of its negotiations with the state government on betting-related taxes.<\/p>\n Last year\u2019s Everest day was attended by a record crowd of 49,117.Credit: Getty<\/p>\n \u201cThis is all new money. Racing NSW\u2019s initiatives have made the money and now some want the keys to the castle,\u201d he said in a written presentation to inquiry committee members.<\/p>\n Hale says these are \u201cindustry funds\u201d and much of what is channelled to the club from Racing NSW is earmarked for prizemoney and bonuses paid directly to owners rather than for the club\u2019s operating costs.<\/p>\n V\u2019landys told this masthead the club\u2019s costs had soared and it was not generating enough of its own revenue. \u201cWhatever way you look at it, we\u2019re giving them a lot more money than we\u2019ve ever given them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n With the blowtorch on ATC\u2019s governance, including unspecified alleged code of conduct breaches by directors, eyebrows have also been raised about how Racing NSW has conducted itself.<\/p>\n Just this week, the NSW parliament\u2019s privileges committee delivered it a slapdown for its behaviour during the Rosehill inquiry<\/a>, while this masthead earlier this year reported how Cooke transferred a block of land near Bathurst racecourse to Racing NSW for $1<\/a> after buying it in her own name. It also emerged at the inquiry that Racing NSW did not have a human resources department, but a \u201cHR function\u201d carried out by general managers.<\/p>\n Cooke said at the time there was nothing inappropriate about the land deal, on which stamp duty was paid by Racing NSW.<\/p>\n V\u2019landys maintained the organisation was just defending itself with letters sent to the Rosehill inquiry that included allegations of impropriety against former staff it believed were behind confidential evidence about Racing NSW.<\/p>\n Mark Latham, a perennial thorn in V\u2019landys\u2019 side, has been Racing NSW\u2019s loudest detractor but in the strangest of twists has become an ally of sorts in the ATC affair \u2013 if only of the enemy-of-your-enemy-is-your-friend kind.<\/p>\n![\"Last](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/47f5ce8cf53ccc555565560167f1a79f70da9e65.jpeg\")
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