The negotiations for a National Tote have stalled after the codes in NSW seek assurances from the TAB about protection for their product.
There was a meeting between the three codes and TAB that was called off last week after Racing NSW flagged one of their main concerns, the migration of NSW punters if commissions were paid by other states.
The TAB has made it clear it’s targeting a July start-up for a National tote, which will run with Victoria as the home pool because of existing technology.
The TAB have already secured agreements around the country with the exception of NSW.
Whether the National Tote could happen without NSW remains unclear.
The codes are relatively united in a protection of their TAB distribution, one of their major sources of revenue, and raised other concerns.
Racing NSW remain the lead on negotiations, but it is understood the dogs and trots also have their own sticking points.
Meyer’s death hitting home hard
Racing NSW General Manager of Participant Welfare, Phillip O’Brien has called the death of trainer Stephen Meyer as “the toughest incident” he has dealt with in almost 20 years in the industry.
The 71-year-old Tamworth trainer Meyer died after being kicked in the stabling at Scone on Friday and Racing NSW has been offering counselling to participants since.
“There were so many people in the area when it happened and he was so well liked and well-known that it has hit everyone very hard,” O’Brien said.
“We have been working with the trainers’ association, jockeys’ association as well as individuals with how to cope what has happened. It has been tough.”
“Particularly in Scone and Tamworth it has hit people hard. We have the racing Chaplain, Colin Watts up in Tamworth this week.”
“The Scone did a wonderful job across the weekend after what happened on Friday.”
“We had a Racing Mates function planned for Tamworth and we are looking to bring that forward, just to get people together.”
“It’s great how the industry supports itself in times like this, but anyone who needs help should get in contact with Racing NSW.”
Pike surprised by WA Hall Of Fame honour
Willie Pike is the face of Perth racing for most punters but was surprised by his induction into the Western Australian Racing Hall Of Fame on Saturday.
Pike has bailed out many a bad day in the last in Perth and has more than 3000 winners in a career centred in the West.
The voice of WA racing, Darren McCauley, executed the surprise perfectly when he told Pike of his induction in the jockeys’ room on Saturday.
He joins a class which includes Black Heart Bart, owner-breeder Robert Holmes à Court and trainer Paddy Ward.
“I’m a little bit taken aback, to be honest,” Pike said. “It’s an incredible honour to be mentioned alongside so many great names in WA racing history. I’ll be very proud to be part of it.”
Otherwise it was usual business for Pike on Saturday, he went out and won the feature, the Belmont Sprint on Western Empire, part of winning treble.
Holmes à Court was a successful breeder with his greatest success the Melbourne Cup win of Black Knight.
Ward helped establish the West Australian racing industry, while Black Heart Bart had six Group 1 victories on both sides of the country.
Doomben 10,000 ballot discretion should have been used
Rothfire gave the Doomben 10,000 the fairytale story on Saturday, but Racing Queensland dropped the ball leading into the Group 1 by simply not applying the rules they had to ensure three-year-olds gained runs.
In the end, Beadman and Napoleonic, which ran third, gained starts, despite being emergencies, but they should not have been in that position.
There has been a lot of discussion about the ratings system, which is undoubtedly flawed, but in this case Racing Queensland handicapper Nathan Bourke had the discretion in the ballot rules, to lift the ratings of Beadman and Napoleonic.
As the race was weight-for-age, perhaps just give three-year-olds a three-point bonus or 1-1/2 allowance in ballot, which is how far they are away from the older horses under the weight scale.
The ability of emerging horses to get into big races has become more of a problem because those with higher ratings are not dropped quickly for poor performance.
Chayan’s sister’s Moe win completes good week for the family
There wasn’t as much fanfare about Semelle Rouge winning at Moe last Tuesday as her sister Chayan selling for $5.6 million at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale five days earlier.
The Mick Price and Michael Kent junior-trained filly will hopefully keep going through the grades and add to the page of the family.
Price hopes she can do a bit more during the winter and eventually get a city win.
“She’s not worth that much more after that win than before it but it was good to see,” Price said.
“She is a delicate filly, but the breed improves as they get older and maybe she could sneak some black type in time.”
