It has been a long and drawn out process obtaining the licence. It was nearly available when Winston Peters was minister of racing. It is a step in the right direction but hopefully clubs won't rest on their laurels and think that this is going to be their saviour because it won't be. While this will certainly help there needs to be a more vigorous approach by all clubs and kindred bodies to become more business-like and use all avenues available to them to generate income and raise their stakes.
It is my thinking that if we can navgate through the next 3 seasons then we will be well on the way to getting stakes that are worthy of our product.