From the CEO's Desk - Harness Racing Victoria

The conditions for the Great Southern Star in March 2016 have been tweaked slightly.
 
While retaining the heats and final on the same night, the changes are designed to enhance the format by putting more speed into the heats and increase wagering over the heats and final.
 
Under the new format the winners of the $50,000 heats will automatically reach the final.  The remainder of the field will be made up of the fastest qualifiers from the heats.  This should encourage all drivers to put some speed into the race.
 
Once the final field is known for the $300,000 Final, the barrier draw will now be random rather than an opportunity draw.
 
In 2015 Great Southern Star night generated $3.3m in total wagering turnover which was 27% up on the 2014 figure of $2.6m.  While the 2015 number is well above the metropolitan average of $2.7m, it has a way to go to catch the highest turnover event, Hunter Cup night, which grossed $5.5m in February 2015.

The HRV Board will finalise the draft 2020 Strategic Plan by the end of June.
 
It is intended that a discussion paper will then be presented to the industry via consultation groups and forums during the month of July for feedback, before being issued in final prior to the commencement of the new racing season.
 
The timing of the consultation sessions will be promoted on the website and social media.

HRV is following the thoroughbred media rights debate in the media with interest.
 
An entity incorporating the three codes of racing (known as VicRacing) is in a joint venture partnership with Tabcorp in the wagering business.  In the current year HRV will receive close to $50m in revenue from the joint venture.  That represents over 80% of our total wagering revenue.
 
Therefore any detrimental impact on the joint venture arrangements resulting from the thoroughbred negotiation is a potential concern to us.
 
For the industry’s information, HRV has an exclusive arrangement with Sky Racing which guarantees coverage of Victorian harness racing until 2022.

We will shortly be making a very exciting formal announcement regarding HRV’s structured horse rehoming and retraining program.
 
The program will be jointly funded by HRV and grants from the Andrews Government as part of the VRIF program. 
 
Many industry participants care for their horses well after retirement and there are also a number of organisations which rehome and retrain retired horses.  These will all be co-ordinated under professionally managed program arrangements.
 
More detail will follow with the formal release of the program.

Congratulations go to youngsters Jason Lee and Chris Shinn who both drove their first Victorian Group 1 winners in May.
 
Jason drove Jilliby Jitterbug to victory in the $322,000 APG fillies final and Chris steered Steam Washed home in the $100,000 Queen of the Pacific.

Both trotting and Vicbred continue to flourish in Victoria.  Here are a couple of statistical comparisons from five years ago (in brackets):

• Trotters now make up 20% of all starters (17%)
• So far in the 2014/15 season 79 Vicbred first win bonuses have been paid to 4yo trotters (37)

This season the average earning for a trotter is $8,100 compared to pacers $6,550.

The APTS is only in its infancy however already it is having a marked impact.
 
A graduate from the inaugural sale, 3yo filly Endsino (Angus Hall – Jauriol) has now won $85,000, including wins in the Empire Stallions Vicbred as a 2yo and last Saturday night’s Group 2 Holmfield for 3yo trotters.
 
Endsino was purchased from the APTS for $25,000.

Wagering statistics for all wagering operators have now been compiled for May.  The top five meetings for the month were the five metropolitan meetings at Melton, with the highest turnover being on May 15 ($3.2m).
 
The highest country meeting for wagering turnover was at Shepparton on Friday May 1 ($2.1m), followed by Ballarat on Friday May 22 ($1.97m).
 
The highest turnover race for the month was race 1 at Melton on May 2 ($490,000), which goes to show there is little relationship between stakes and turnover.  That race was a C2 – C3 final worth $8,500 (won by Tallulah Bay) on a night when the APG $322,000 Final attracted $320,000 in turnover.
 
Sunday evening and Mondays contributed seven out of the bottom 10 race meetings for turnover.
 
Average turnover for the 313 mobile races in Victoria was $190,000 per race compared to $155,000 per race for the 32 stand start races.

We have completed 11 months of the financial year so we are able to predict our year end numbers with some certainty.
 
HRV remains on track for a full year profit in excess of $3m (well in excess of initial budget of $1m).
 
Wagering revenue continues to exceed budget and will finish at approximately $62m – up from $57m last year.
 
Stakes for the year are likely to increase from $36.3m last year to $38.6m this year.
As previously revealed, debt levels will reduce to $25m from $32m at the start of the year.

• World record holder Kerryn Manning is only eight wins away from driving 3,500 winners
• Greg Sugars is 34 wins away from 2,000
• Nathan Jack (1,467) is approaching 1,500 wins.