![TAB CEO Gillon McLachlan, VRC Kylie Rogers and MRC Chairman John Kanga [Racing Photos]](https://betsy.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Besty-Generic-Thumbnail-Template-778-x-510-px-4.png)
They say racing committee rooms are where relationships are made, deals are done and old men make the most of the free booze before they meet their maker.
One of those old types decided to blow-up their own club on Thursday – complaining straight to the VRC chairman Neil Wilson about the son of CEO Kylie Rogers.
I’m loathed to write about the family of administrators or those in the public eye.
The Herald Sun reported today Roger’s 17-year-old son was caught drinking in the committee room on Makybe Diva Stakes Day.
This we will say – of all the acts in racing committee rooms across Australia that have taken place that would fall foul of public standards, liquor licences and whatever else – this wouldn’t rate a mention.
Rogers spoke last year about the grief of losing her husband to cancer. The same 17-year-old teen who lost his father.
But this member saw past this and from the comforts of the committee room was outraged enough to write to Wilson, and you’d assume the Herald Sun too, who carry no blame for running the story.
The member [aptly nicknamed Karen this morning] apparently told the Herald Sun they were ”sick of the diminishing standard” at the Club.
“As a long term VRC member I am appalled that the underage son of your CEO was a guest of the club on Makybe Diva Stakes Day and was openly seen drinking alcohol in the committee room and across the racecourse with his underage guests,” the member wrote.
“All were significantly intoxicated.”
Spare me.
The teen was not intoxicated, Betsy is told. And his mates weren’t underage nor poorly behaved.
And even if the kid had made a choice to sneak a quick pint [we’ll let others debate how bad the transgression actually was], to go nuclear says more about those making a complaint. It’s petty stuff when racing is preparing for its biggest time of the year.
As one administrator outside the VRC said this morning, there’s a few inside racing’s biggest club who don’t like the changes being made to modernise, change tact and drive different revenue streams. They even questioned whether some accept the club having a female CEO.
The club self-reported to the liquor licensing authorities, as they had to. The teen had his membership suspended.
While the breach may not pass the liquor licensing test, such a hatchet job in my humble opinion, fails the pub test.
