HRV Roadshows begin on March 16 - Don't give us the same old crap

[Messenger]

I have posted about these elsewhere but want to say that I believe HRV are ethically obliged to tell/show all the young participants that they are encouraging and promoting What Their Future Will Look Like

They have to be telling them more than 'how well the cuts are going'
Our participants have been so accepting of Administration Failure for decades
I think the latest acceptance would seem to be that Vics are now conditioned to $4k racing

I hope the Roadshow can convince me that they have some vision - that they have been going into work every day and thinking about "How are we going to get out of this shit?"

Huge ideas need to be thrown around. Considering the Thoroughbreds to be the Big Pond, in Vic we are no longer a puddle - we are a drop
Should we be a country Vic sport, country people seem to be more aware of our existence (as much as the gallops) - many of our participants live in country communities
How do we make our product more exciting?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is the chicken and the egg - there is no coverage because there is no interest / there is no interest because there is no coverage
We need to appeal to Europe again.
We need Duncan or Pat to breed a world champion so that the media will come crawling back

Don't get me wrong - I know how hard it is now that the whole world of sport is our competition
But DO NOT GIVE us another round of budgetary explanations

https://www.thetrots.com.au/news/art...wer-questions/

For those who can’t attend in person, the Melton roadshow on Monday, March 17, will be streamed live on www.trotsvision.com.au.

[Messenger]

When the Charlton Cup meeting on Sunday includes four $4k races - I think you can safely say that the industry has been successfully conditioned to accept $4k races

[trish]

When the Charlton Cup meeting on Sunday includes four $4k races - I think you can safely say that the industry has been successfully conditioned to accept $4k races

And that is not good if they have. We were racing for that years & years ago. They have to do something . How can people in the industry make a living?????? 2nd & 3rd jobs maybe.

[Messenger]

I hope I will not be the only one tuning into TrotsVision for the Roadshow at 7pm tonight - if Live Captions does not work, I may not be much of a scribe for everyone.

Did anyone attend the first Roadshow at Mildura yesterday?

[Yabbie]

Approx 70 attendees I was told this morning

[Messenger]

Approx 60 attendees there tonight - sadly you do not need one hand to count the under 50yo's
Then again young people would wonder why you would attend something you can watch on your phone - so I hope some of them were because it is THEIR future that we are discussing

It was mostly about Budgeting. I will write it all up tomorrow

There was definitely a vibe that we could leave Melton for MV (if we still get some equity from it from the gov)

[trish]

There was definitely a vibe that we could leave Melton for MV .

MV was great racing . Loved it there .

[Messenger]

What the hec, I will write it up now in point form

HRV revenue has been static for 10yrs !

Even after cuts and gov't help HRV will make a LOSS of $12m this year

Statutory Bodies like HRV have been told that they now have to live within their means (no more Gov subsidy)

We are lucky that the Joint Venture partners - Gallops and Doggies are letting us take $90m more than we are entitled to (over the next 9yrs)

Stated that rationalizing the racing calendar was the only lever they had to improve revenue (How about some ideas men!?)

My first snip of one of their overheads didn't copy well but stated some small savings and improvements such as staff costs now back to 2017 levels
This is the next one which is more interesting (before I continue)

[Messenger]

CEO Matthew Isaacs had done most of the speaking before Chairman Bernard Saundry took questions

He started by saying that the 26(?) clubs model is broken. We need to grow the number of people racing horses, we need to grow turnover, Participants need to support the sport on Social Media

The balance has to be found between supporting communities and improving turnover

He said there would be 52 less race meetings next year due to declining horse population and that at least 80% of meetings will be at the tracks that produce higher returns
(Later on it was revealed that Wednesday meetings would be disappearing in favour of Monday meetings)

Another Overhead

[Messenger]

Matthew and Bernard both answered questions plus another staff who addressed a couple of questions about Integrity

He said HRV had been disappointed about some VRT rulings on things such as stays but on the question of sporadic checks (raids) he said they now have a good system of knowing where to target these. He also stated that participants need to pass on their knowledge of wrongful goings on if we are serious about improving image.

Ginger Gleeson asked about the touted training facility for Melton but was told that Melton was now too valuable for such a facility

Another attendee who identified himself as a participant from only the last couple of years suggested that staying in Melton based on it being a growth corridor was not necessarily true. He asked how the gallops gets over 5,000 young people at MV, I may have misheard this as sometimes 2 mikes in operation for questions produced poor audio, but I definitely didn't mishear his relevant point that everybody not in this room (that is the young!) does everything on their phone.

Another overhead

[Yabbie]

That ‘other staff’ was Rhys Harrison, general manager of integrity who has been in the position for 2ish years.

[Messenger]

Replying to a question it was suggested by Matthew that cancelled meetings like Terang and Swan Hill had to do with how far trainers were prepared to travel for $4k races
He said Swan Hill was a good track but suggested that not many horses are stabled within 50k of the track (Hmm 50k is just a trip to the corner shop for Harness people)

Standing starts were raised by a couple of attendees but it would seem to me that they are pretty set on the fact that they produce reduced turnover. Matthew in mentioning about other alternatives, referred to the benefit seen by LTF drawing the 2nd line in the Hunter Cup, seemed to be suggesting IMO that there may be a role for PBD's over RBD's

They reiterated that the Board has not made a decision on our Melton asset in terms of Moonee Valley
but I was not the only one watching that got that vibe.
I also think that it rings true as we would be somewhat a minor partner in MV and that is all the equity that the government are likely to give us in regard to our Melton stake - remember 2019 legislation made it that the government can keep ALL the sale of the asset and they have just been kind to us during covid in letting us draw down on any pretend equity we have in Melton (not that any/many knew this until Matthew Isaacs spilled the beans after his appointment as CEO)

The industry participants needs to consider the MV option carefully as opposed to maybe a 'track only' Melton or even no metro base etc etc etc as this will be the last roll of the dice

[Messenger]

That ‘other staff’ was Rhys Harrison, general manager of integrity who has been in the position for 2ish years.

Thanks Carol, you guys know heaps more than I do - I am just a retiree who lives in Halls Gap who has been prepared to keep this forum available for fans (by available, I just mean as sole moderator)

[Messenger]

You can watch the Melton Roadshow presentation here

https://www.thetrots.com.au/news/articles/watch-hrv-roadshows-tour-stops-in-at-melton-entertainment-park/

[Messenger]

The last Roadshow is at Shep on Thursday
There is a rumour going around that the Shep club is in a heap of trouble - it could be an interesting meeting

[Messenger]

I wonder whether HRV are truly aware of what communities are interested in harness racing
Here is a snip from the Wimmera/Mallee's Weekly Advertiser
Have a look at how much coverage harness gets

[Messenger]

We had 7 Nutrien Classic heats for 2yo's and 3yo's at Melton today

The Stewart stable won all of them - in fact they quinellaed most of them

Can HRV see a problem here? A hint could be that not one of the races managed an 8 horse field

https://www.harness.org.au/racing/fields/race-fields/?mc=MX040425

[trish]

Gosh , that is remarkable.

[Messenger]

Following the roadshows, Harness Racing Victoria will:


Introduce national ratings’ concessions for two and three-year-olds from July 1
Re-purpose prizemoney allocations to avoid all-$4000 meetings from July 1
Finalise the calendar to run 390 race meetings in FY26, with $35 million in participant returns
Continue to consult with industry about opportunities to return to Moonee Valley
Co-host national rating forums this winter to help shape changes from January 1
Return the Mildura Pacing Cup to a Saturday night in 2026


https://www.thetrots.com.au/news/articles/hrv-roadshows-inspire-impetus-for-change-and-renewal/

[Mark Croatto]

The first point is not a way forward. All you need do is look at Wagga where 3yo's win something in the order of 70 to 80% of the races they can compete in against older horses.

In my view, that is a terrible objective

[Messenger]

Yes Mark, I would have thought there is a greater need for age races like 5yo+ or even 7yo+ to keep utilizing all the horse population

[Mark Croatto]

Absolutely Kevin. The concession for 3yo's at the end of the season is particularly stupid; they're virtually all 4yo by then!