NEW NSWROA DIRECTOR

New South Wales Racehorse Owners Association (NSWROA) President, Mr Ray McDowell, has great pleasure in announcing that Ms Narelle Anderson has joined the NSWROA Committee.

Ms Anderson is the founder and Managing Director of Envirobank Recycling Pty Limited. Envirobank has the distribution rights for Envipco Reverse vending technology in Australia and New Zealand. The business provides innovative public place recycling solutions using retail incentives to reward consumers for recycling.

Ms Anderson has been a racing fan for as long as she can remember and currently has shares in ten horses with her partner. She is a regular race attendee and is passionate about the industry.

Mr McDowell stated “NSWROA is most excited to welcome Narelle Anderson as its first female Committee Member. Her enthusiasm for the industry is quite contagious and I have no doubt she will be a valuable addition to the Committee”.

Ms Anderson said “I am honoured to join the Committee of the NSW Racehorse Owners Association and look forward to working with the Committee on delivering greater owner benefits and protecting owner’s rights in NSW”.

The Association would also like to take this opportunity to thank former Secretary and Committee Member Mr Michael Yates who resigned recently, for his hard work during his tenure with NSWROA and wish him all the very best for the future.

GET THE BEST OF THE BEST AT LUXBET.COM

The Spring Carnival may have come to a close but the door hasn’t shut on punters enjoying a feast of top-value odds from Luxbet. LUXDIV* is a new bet type from Luxbet which replaces Best Tote. With LUXDIV you receive the best price of Best Tote or the official on-course Starting Price (SP), whichever pays more! LUXDIV is available on all metro meetings (excluding Perth) right up until jump.

And don’t forget that you can pocket 12% MORE on your winning bets by joining Luxbet’s CLUBXTRA. ClubXtra is exclusive to owners and trainers and rewards you with an EXTRA 12% win payout on top of Luxbet’s premium odds when you bet on a horse you own or train. To take advantage of the ClubXtra 12% bonus, you need to be a Luxbet.com account holder. Visit Luxbet.com for details on how to open an account and register your horses with ClubXtra. Conditions apply, see Luxbet.com for details.

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*Conditions apply. See luxbet.com for details.

NSWROA COCKTAIL FUNCTION – CANTERBURY RACECOURSE – 3 DECEMBER 2009

Members are reminded that the Association is holding a cocktail function to celebrate the opening of the night racing season in Sydney on Thursday, 3 December 2009 at Canterbury Park Racecourse.

The function will take place in the Directors Room, which is situated right in front of the Winning Post, and has its own private lift entry and private tote facilities.

The cost of the function is $50.00 per person which includes free admission to the track, a race book and a cocktail menu with mouth watering treats.

If you are interested in attending, please complete the attached booking form and return to the NSWROA office by Friday 20 November 2009 by:

Email: nswroa1@ozemail.com.au;
Facsimile: 9229 3212 or
Post: GPO Box 1506 Sydney NSW 2001.

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

With the 2009 NSWROA membership year almost at a close, I thought it was timely to update members regarding the 2010 membership year.

I am pleased to advise that membership fees for 2010, inclusive of GST, will remain at the same rate as last year.

A new initiative of the Association in 2010 is the introduction of a Country Membership Rate.

We are hopeful that this will assist our country friends to continue to participate in membership and will also encourage new country patronage of the Association.

The “Early Bird” Membership Renewal Competition will return again in 2010 with three great prizes on offer. Entry to the competition is automatic if you renew your membership by Friday 5 February 2010.

Renewal documentation will be sent to members by either email or postal service by mid December.

I advise that some of the exciting events on our social program for 2010 are the Golden Slipper Hats & High Tea, the very popular Sydney Cup Day Luncheon and of course our flagship event, the Racing’s Night of Champions.

The Association appreciates our members’ previous support and welcomes the renewal of your membership.

BENCHMARK HANDBOOK

I advise that Racing NSW have produced a Benchmark Handbook to assist people in their understanding of the new Benchmark system.

The handbook is a ready reckoner which includes some commonly asked Questions (and Answers) that have arisen since the launch of the system on 1st October 2009.

To view the Handbook click on the following link:-
http://www.nswroa.com.au/pdf/RNSWBenchmarkHandbook.pdf

For those members who do not have access to the internet, the Association has been supplied with copies of the publication for distribution to members. If you would like a copy of the printed publication, please contact the office and a copy will be sent to you.

WINNERS ARE GRINNERS

A WINNER – there are no better words for an owner to hear!

As members are aware, as part of our membership renewal process, NSWROA requested members to forward the names of their racehorses in order for us to acknowledge their racing triumphs in our publications.

By popular demand, this feature has been “upgraded” for the 2009/2010 racing season. Accordingly, hereunder are the lucky NSWROA members who had winners in October 2009:

BOBS & BOBS EXTRA UPDATE

I’ve received a few inquiries recently from owners wondering why they receive 80% of a BOBS bonus and not the full 100%, so I thought it was timely to spell out the deductions.

The stallion nominator receives 12.5%, so that can range from $156.25 at a Country Non-TAB or Picnic meeting, up to $2500 in the case of a Saturday metropolitan win. The trainer receives 5% (ranging from $62.50 to $1000), and the NSW Jockeys’ Association collects the remaining 2.5%, that money to be used in an approved manner such as for insurance or welfare.

When BOBS Extra kicks in from 1 August next year the bonus payments will be the same as for BOBS in terms of value and percentages, with one exception. Stallion nominators will not receive anything from BOBS Extra – that 12.5% will be retained by Racing NSW for administrative purposes.

If you plan to buy at the yearling sales you should remember too that there are variations between the NSW BOBS scheme and its interstate counterparts, and I’m aware that some buyers at Magic Millions in particular have found this confusing. In NSW the owner nominates the horse for BOBS and BOBS Extra between 1 May and 1 September – after the major sales. So yearlings in the ring in January will be “BOBS Eligible” but will NOT have had the nomination fee paid.

In the first three months of the 2009-10 season 188 BOBS bonuses have been won – 75 in October alone – worth $1,287,500. That figure is 34% higher than at the same time last year.

Increasingly owners are opting to take advantage of our unique Double-Up opportunity, preferring to take twice the cash value in the form of a voucher which can be used to purchase another BOBS eligible yearling or a share in a BOBS nominated syndicated horse. During October there were 9 horses that won two BOBS bonuses, and if those owners want to, they can accumulate Double-Up vouchers to make ownership even more affordable.

For further information please contact:
John Gatfield,
BOBS Executive Officer,
Racing NSW,
(02) 9551-7574,
jgatfield@racingnsw.com.au

RISK REDUCTION FOR OWNERS/BREEDERS

Our good friends and corporate partner Gow Gates Insurance Brokers, have kindly prepared, via Kingsley Edwards, B.Agr.Ec (Syd.), Dip.Fin.Serv. (Ins. Broking), ANZIIF (Snr. Assoc.), C.I.P., the following:

One of the greatest thrills in racing is owning a winner and victory is even sweeter if the owner is also the breeder of the winner.

Stallions, broodmares and foals are subject to the same mortality risks as other thoroughbreds, such as illness and injury, etc, however each have specific breeding-related risks which can be managed through the use of insurance policies as follows:

• Shares held in stallions can be insured against death, but also against becoming incapable of serving mares through physical injury or illness and permanent infertility. Owners of stallion shares can insure against loss of income on a per season basis as a result of temporary injury or infertility as well.
• Broodmares are at risk of complications of pregnancy and delivering foals which can be protected through mortality insurance.
• Foals are a higher risk of infection and disease, especially in the first 30 days of life, and mortality insurance can be used as protection against this risk.

The exclusive insurance package available from NSWROA corporate partner, Gow-Gates Insurance Brokers, offers NSWROA members who are owner/breeders the opportunity to reduce these risks. As well as significantly reduced premiums, further advantages available to NSWROA members are the following additional coverage benefits: the death of a horse which becomes ill or injured within the period of insurance for up to 12 months after the policy expires; and surgery conducted by a qualified veterinarian under local or general anaesthetic (both subject to the policy terms and conditions).

Another feature of this special offer is the delivery of professional and personalised service for which Gow-Gates has earned a highly respected reputation over the last 40 years.

Access to the exclusive insurance package by owner/breeders is not only an effective tool for risk reduction, however it also a further benefit of membership of the NSWROA.

For more information about the NSWROA insurance package, please contact Kingsley Edwards, Thoroughbred Insurance Manager, on (02) 8267 9940 or by email kedwards@gowgates.com.au.

Gow-Gates Insurance Brokers (Australasia) Pty Ltd, A.B.N 29 069 562 787, AFSL 245433.

Disclaimer: The information in the above article is intended as a guide only and should not be relied upon without the consulting the “Lloyd’s Equine Policy LE (Australia) LMA3069” wording with relevant endorsements and seeking independent professional advice.