I have chosen this provocative title in the hope of getting the attention of HRV
Melton is our premier/metro track
Friday night is our 2nd biggest night of the week
When you schedule ANY $4,500 races at Melton on a Friday night (even one or two) - it gives the impression that we are Broke or at the very least Really Struggling as a code. I don't care if it is not the main meeting for the weekend - it is our 2nd biggest at our No.1 track
Imagine if Flemington ran a race for the gallop's lowest of low country stake - it would be deemed Pathetic.
Pathetic is how we look!
https://www.harness.org.au/racing/fi...s/?mc=MX280723
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HRV cannot be broke - we have had 2 Sundays in a row without a meet
At first I thought that this is a good thing but on reflecting decided it is not up to HRV to enforce time off for participants - they don't have to attend every meet (and 99% of them don't)
HRV's main role is to organize meetings that make money for the industry
Maybe Sundays don't make money?
You would think that many hobbyists would prefer they scheduled Sundays
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In answer to the question - it would appear so.
https://www.thetrots.com.au/news/art...ey-reductions/
I would start by getting rid of the spin doctors who came up with "HRV announces cost saving measures" and put the Chairman, the Board and the CEO in front of industry stakeholders to explain why they keep their jobs while the poor suckers that put on the show take stakes cuts when costs are going through the roof.
Incompetent nongs. I questioned elsewhere how many years has the Victorian minimum stakes been stuck on $7,000. If HRV's PR twits were to answer it would be "great news, not for much longer", then wonder why you are unhappy about racing for $6,500.
Sheez, out today and missed that
In Matthew Isaacs We Trust - if he cannot turn it around in his tenure then we are Gawwwwn!
To accept these cuts, participants will have to be shown a plan that convinces them that these cuts can be short-term
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Putting the cleaners through HRV would be a good place to start.Originally Posted by Messenger
And getting an update on what surplus land it owns at Melton, it's current zoning status, HRV's plans for it and its current commercial valuation would give the industry some surety.
The following is a statement by the Presidents of the Victorian Harness Racing Club (VHRC), Trots Clubs Victoria (TCV), Victorian Harness Racing Trainers and Drivers Association (VHRTDA) and the Victorian Square Trotters Association (VSTA) following the recent announcement by Harness Racing Victoria (HRV) of cost saving initiatives including prizemoney reductions of $3.9M on 2 August 2023.
We have significant concerns as to the management, performance and oversight of our Harness Racing Industry in Victoria that has led to prizemoney cuts and required significant cost reductions as announced by HRV on 2 August.
Collectively the Presidents of the Kindred Bodies wrote to the Chairman and CEO of Harness Racing Victoria back on 9 June 2023 outlining concerns and requesting a meeting as a matter of priority to discuss such concerns and the plans that HRV has to address these issues.
We are extremely disappointed that despite follow up requests and the perilous financial position that HRV finds itself in that such a meeting has not been facilitated by HRV or taken place in the eight weeks since that request.
We reject the notion that HRV consulted extensively with our Kindred Bodies in relation to the restructuring of prizemoney leading up to the recent announcement. HRV may have sought out the opinions of individuals within the Industry however extensive consultation with the Kindred Bodies that we represent has not taken place.
The Kindred Bodies that we represent cannot understand how HRV have ended up in such a dire financial position despite receiving substantial financial support from the State Government in recent years. This position is not reached overnight and we question the financial oversight, accountability and lack of earlier intervention by those in charge of the sport that has led our Industry to be in such an ominous financial position.
We have major concerns that HRV has been seemingly overstaffed and unacceptably inefficient with excessive administration costs in comparison to other State Controlling Bodies in recent years. In the 2022 financial year, HRNSW had 45 full time employees and employments costs of $5.6M. In the same year, HRV had 100 full time employees and their employment costs (excluding Tabcorp Park, Melton) were $14.1M.
We question why HRV employment costs are 2.5 times higher (an extra $8.5M in employment costs) than that of HRNSW and why the number of full-time employees under HRV’s control is more than double that of HRNSW?
It’s obvious that a more efficient administration structure leads to more funds being available for prizemoney with HRNSW having minimum stake levels in the Country of $6,900 and
$9,600 compared to HRV’s $4,500 and $7,000 respectively.
We note that a number of Harness Racing States in Australia and also New Zealand have recently announced positive stake money increases and appear to be on the way up. So, we find it extremely disappointing that now in Victoria, cuts to prizemoney are required when the Controlling Body here has continued to grow its administration base in recent times with seemingly little concern as to the financial position of the industry or the stagnant returns to Industry stakeholders.
All of this paints a very bleak picture as to the management, performance and oversight of the Harness Racing Industry in Victoria in recent years. We note that the Government appointed Board of HRV have been in their roles for many years now.
In recent weeks, the Presidents of the Kindred Bodies have been seeking a meeting with the Racing Minister Anthony Carbines to discuss our concerns and the poor financial position that Harness Racing Victoria finds itself in. It is our view that Harness Racing Victoria requires new competent, capable and passionate people on the Board (appointed in consultation with the Industry) to work with new CEO Matt Isaacs to turn our Industry around and deliver better financial outcomes for our hard working Harness Racing participants and stakeholders.
Emmy Mazzetti - President Victorian Harness Racing Club
Paul Rowse - President Trots Clubs Victoria
Anthony Butt - President Victorian Harness Racing Trainers and Drivers Association
Anne-Maree Conroy - President Victorian Square Trotters Association
The above was copied from the AHRI facebook page
This makes the new CEO's statement look ridiculous and indicates an investigation is required in order to achieve a massive improvement from our administrators
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A suggestion:
The above 4 organizations need to schedule meetings with their members for September in anticipation of having something to report to their members after an August meeting with the CEO, Chairman & Minister.
If the meeting does not come up with a better deal or no meeting takes place, they can then take the following proposal to their membership:
"We owners, trainers, drivers and members propose to boycott all meetings to be held at Melton from October onwards until a satisfactory resolution is reached."
Unfortunately the biggest impact that this will have is on October's Derby and Oaks
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There is plenty of money in Melton - one resident won $50m in Powerball last night
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On TrotsVision, Rob Auber just had a 6 minute interview with CEO Matthew Isaacs
For an employee interviewing their employer Rob asked 3 pretty good questions
1. How did we get to this position?
2. How is it that other states who rely on the same funding streams are actually increasing prizemoney?
3. What is the latest on the Melton excess land which has always been mooted to be an asset for the industry?
The problem is that as well as the CEO expressed himself - I don't think I am any the wiser!
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I think the upcoming consultation about these cuts between the participant organizations and HRV are also a chance for the participants organizations to see that there is a rethink by the CEO and Board that ensures they are part of all future planning. This needs to be one of the aims of their upcoming meeting as I think the new CEO needs to realize that the token consultation that he supposedly undertook on these cuts is not acceptable.
The primary aim has to be zero cuts to prizemoney - it is HRV admins turn to bear the pain this time. Participants have had to wear $4,500 races and no increases in other stake levels for a long time now. If HRV don't find an alternative way to find savings and instead go ahead with these prizemoney cuts there will be a loss of owners as it is owners that are being asked to bear the full brunt of their cost cutting measures. Loss of owners/horses will guarantee further financial trouble in the future so cutting their own spending will only be delayed until the 'next time' they will be creating. In other words, IMO this is a poorly thought out solution.
There is no way HRV can deny that 'if they had to find the savings from costs other than prizemoney or cease to exist,' they would find a way in a week
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