Racing Victoria boss Aaron Morrison has made a plea for more constructive engagement between Racing Australia and industry stakeholders in striving for a solution to the "unholy impasse" over the country's black-type crisis.
Morrison's call comes as Racing Australia is understood to be preparing for a board meeting Sept. 2 where discussion is expected over a potential new system of designating black-type races, with Australia having not had a functioning pattern committee for seven years, and with the Asian Racing Federation understood to be losing patience with the absence of such a body.
Many stakeholders, particularly breeders, have called for the reinstitution of a traditional black-type committee, such as existed in Australia for some 50 years until the current breakdown, under which the country has had no black-type races downgraded for some 13 years.
That stalemate has coincided with a downturn in relations between NSW and Victoria, the two states whose power of veto at Racing Australia is seen by many as the root cause of a lack of effectiveness within Australian racing's supposed peak body.
Racing Australia last October put forward a new system of determining gradings it called the Australian Black Type Guidelines based on assessing races by their ratings alone, without the discretionary powers of a traditional black-type committee. This followed its receipt of legal advice, put forward by NSW, that the operations of such a committee could run foul of Australian anti-competition laws.
But after those guidelines failed to gain the backing of the wider Australian industry, or the endorsement of the ARF's all important Asian Pattern Committee, Racing Australia has gone back to the drawing board. In recent weeks, representatives of the national body—including its delegate to the APC Rob Rorrison—have been briefing industry stakeholders, including breeders, on a proposed new system.
But with that plan still based on using ratings alone, ANZ News understands the Principal Racing Authorities of Victoria and Queensland flagged their stern opposition, meaning it stood no chance of being approved by the Racing Australia board.
Racing Australia, which has been reluctant to comment publicly on the matter, is believed to have revised its plans, possibly weighing the potential for a new black-type system involving an advisory committee which would use discretion alongside ratings to determine upgrades and downgrades. Such a body would likely factor in races' historical and cultural importance, helping, for example, ensure smaller states retain their share of black-type events.
More is likely to be known on this development when the Racing Australia board meets Tuesday.
As the complex imbroglio has rumbled on, various prominent figures, such as Thoroughbred Breeders NSW president Hamish Esplin, have criticized Racing Australia for its perceived lack of engagement with industry stakeholders while formulating a direction on the issue.
In his first comments to ANZ News on the issue Tuesday, Morrison, who became Racing Victoria CEO in May last year, also appealed for greater communication and cooperation in hope Australia could reach a solution to what he accepts is a highly complicated issue.
"It's an unholy impasse, this whole thing," Morrison told ANZ News. "It's a complex situation, but the only way through it is to get the industry at the table with Racing Australia to nut it out.
"The industry feedback has been clear; the only way through this is to have genuine, meaningful engagement with the industry, and that's something that we've been pushing for. That would involve breeders, bloodstock agents, clubs—it's a broad spectrum."
Morrison said as the issue had evolved, Racing Victoria had actively engaged with all Victorian stakeholders—including breeders, race clubs, bloodstock agents, and the state's owners association—as well as national bodies such as AusHorse and Thoroughbred Breeders Australia. Such talks had a two-way effect, with Racing Victoria explaining the rationale for Racing Australia's push for changes, while also seeking stakeholder views on what those changes might mean for the integrity of the black type pattern, the value of Australian bloodstock, and for how racing in this country is perceived elsewhere.
ANZ understands Australia's situation has the potential to present different challenges to certain other jurisdictions, given the country's state system and its potential anti-competition issues, as touched on in Racing Victoria's Australian Black Type Guidelines.
"Stakeholders need to understand, and Racing Australia needs to explain clearly, some of the perceived challenges," Morrison said. "The only way that'll happen is if the industry gets to have a proper dialog with Racing Australia. What's needed is engagement and dialog—an opportunity to understand the perspectives of each other party, and an opportunity to potentially work on solutions to some of our challenges—together."
A clock is ticking on Australia's black-type scenario for the new season, in terms of APC approvals. With that body having a deadline of Saturday for countries under its authority to submit races for upgrades and downgrades ahead of its annual meeting Sept. 11, it appears likely there'll again be no such movement in Australia's black-type pattern.
This looks certain to mean the 17 races NSW announced as upgraded last season—including two supposed group 2 races—will be run again under those designations, which were rejected by the APC. The 17 were initially among a vast number of races—believed to be around 100—across the country which had been earmarked for upgrades under a proposed ratings-only system.
The upgrades had been set to have been announced simultaneously late last year, but when NSW went it alone early, with their new statuses denoted on Racing Victoria databanks, in view of the backlash that created all other states hit pause on their upgrades.
