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Gallop South wins the battle in tough year for Clubs

Whilst the absence of income through gaming grants was predicted to bring catastrophe to the clubs of Otago and Southland and elsewhere around the country during the 2009/10 racing season, the situation has been far from grave. Indeed the 14 thoroughbred racing clubs under Gallop South have enjoyed yet another successful year where average on-course turnovers and horse participation have increased markedly on 2008/09. The anticipated and budgeted losses on club balance sheets hinted at as a certainty 12-months ago have been averted by better performing race days and sensitive management.

There is no question that not having access to income generated through gaming grants has put many racing clubs under financial pressure. Investment into infrastructure has been significantly less than in previous years and with so much deferred maintenance, ageing and dilapidated public buildings and horse training facilities, it is a far from ideal situation.

“The lack of gaming funds has really highlighted the industry’s dependency on them as an avenue for income. Profit generated out of racing’s traditional funding methods, that for the most part comes from off-course betting turnover, just does not equate to enough money to cover the cost of operation let alone facility development.” Andre Klein CEO of Gallop South explains. “Racing is very lucky to have gaming foundations and trusts that support it. Without their assistance, long term, racing in New Zealand would be starring down the barrel of an ugly gun”.

The fact that the 14 thoroughbred racing clubs south of the Waitaki river have bonded in a consortium has unquestionably helped their cause in difficult times.

“We have 40 race days between us and it’s a case of the good days help out the bad days. This creates a smoothing effect for those whose position would otherwise be disastrous. Despite re-jigging of the funding model it still remains true that “industry” days fail to make any money for clubs and furthermore offer little in the way of an inspiring form of entertainment to anyone other than those with a vested interest. We have a very high percentage of this category of day and get little reward for doing our bit for the greater good of the racing industry – as they exist in their current form as TV export material. The clubs staging these capital-eating fixtures are helped by the income we generate on our region’s feature licenses. As a group of clubs we therefore can progress together. The rest of country does not appear to have this brotherly attitude. Any club operating in isolation that is asked to stage a high percentage of industry race days is quite frankly doomed. ”

Gallop South still intends, as it always has, to focus on bringing massive improvements to the local industry. It has enjoyed six years of continual growth in all key performance areas.

“We are just going to focus on what we have control over. Life is too short to wonder constantly where the neighbours are going on holiday and how come I can’t afford it.  I am confident that we have got an outstanding board at Gallop South, the right mix of staff, energetic committees at club level and a fistful of race days that we can do great things with. I feel we have made outstanding progress over the last few years but we still have so many areas we can improve upon and it will not be easy to keep growing the events we have developed at the pace we have so far. But trust me…we won’t get accused of just sitting on our hands – we never stop thinking of “what to do” next and we all get enthused as a team when we have another idea that might work.”

And indeed there are a number of projects in the pipeline to keep his staff busy and the innovation wheel of “deep south” racing turning over the next 12 months.

“I wouldn’t know where to start – we are planning a new racing syndicate through Face book, a sister club relationship with Hyderabad Racing Club in India, the development of a new series of the regions “Heritage Races”, an on-line tipping contest during the winter, brand new merchandise ranges and a strong determined marketing push to see Wingatui in particular develop further as a training centre….to name a few. “

“We just want to do our best to keep our sport fresh, exciting and attractive to young, old and those in between. Racing is a great form of entertainment and we should spend more time as an industry looking at the good things instead of dwelling on the negatives. This is what Gallop South is all about – making racing enjoyable.”