MEDIA RELEASE : 13 February 2006

PROPOSED REDIRECTION OF OWNERS’ PRIZE MONEY ENTITLEMENTS

Monday, February 13, 2006: NSWROA Secretary, Rob Albon, today confirmed the Association’s opposition to the proposed diversion by Racing NSW of a proportion of owners’ prize money entitlements to trainers. He said that, in the Association’s view, it is bad business practice to penalize good owners, to overcome the alleged misdeeds of a minority who may be late in paying their accounts.

He said that the solution lies in the adoption of more professional and efficient business practices by trainers, rather than the temporary diversion of money from owners, which will only paper over any cracks in trainers’ accounting systems.

“If there is a problem”, he said, “this is not the answer; it leaves the fundamental difficulty unresolved, to become more of a problem in the future”.

He also questioned if Racing NSW has the power to become involved in prize money distribution. “The race clubs stage the races and determine the level of prize money on offer; an owner decides whether or not to enter a horse in a race. The relationship is one between the owner and the race club”, he said

“Racing NSW distributes prize money through the stakes payments system, but our advice is that it does this as an agent for the race clubs, not as a principal able to dictate the terms of distribution.”

The NSWROA does not see any basis for race horse trainers being treated any differently to any other business activity, with access to the usual means to recover unpaid accounts.

Contact: Rob Albon
Tel: 0404 881 857

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