Racing Australia Annual Report 2020

6 | RACING AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2020 I am pleased to report that the strength and ingenuity of Australian racing came to the fore during the 2019/2020 racing season. The most vivid example being thoroughbred racing’s response to the serious challenge posed by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We can all be proud of the collective effort in maintaining a continuity of racing, other than the disruption to Tasmanian racing. Australian racing is one of the few global racing jurisdictions that continued to race throughout the pandemic. Undoubtedly, the implementation and oversight of stringent public health protocols by the Principal Racing Authorities (PRAs) was the foundation of our success over the past six months. Racing Australia (RA) set itself three simple, yet substantive objectives and we can be extremely satisfied that the PRAs and our workforce cohort delivered on all three. • To keep racing going, • To maintain employment within our sport for the majority of our 74,000 plus full-time participants, and • To ensure that equine welfare retains its prominence. As alluded to earlier, the major disappointment was the unilateral decision by the Tasmanian Government to suspend racing. The singular focus of the Tasmanian racing industry was pivotal in bringing about the resumption of racing in Tasmania. I am pleased to add that RA played a formative role, working in collaboration with Tasracing, in persuading government to reinstate racing. The economic impact upon Tasmanian racing, while difficult to quantify, is undeniably expansive. From an overall financial perspective, Australian Racing adopted a conservative and responsible approach to managing the financial hierarchy of the sport. The uncertainty of the size of impact upon wagering revenue was soon dispelled and consequently encouraged the PRAs to adopt a more positive commercial agenda. The one glaring downside is the impact to race club finances with a “no crowds” public order contributing to significant financial stress to most Australian race clubs. The scale of future investment in ownership of racing and breeding stock is an unknown factor that will shape our sport in the next two to five years. A decline in the latter may lead to a material hit to field sizes and a consequential decline in revenue derived from wagering. The consequences will not be uniform across Australia. We recognise the possibility of this threat and we have engaged external expert advisors to calculate the potential dimension of any decline and we will continue to monitor the situation. Thoroughbred racing’s continuing prosperity is an accomplishment that is a testament to the commitment of all who participate in our wonderful sport. The PRAs and race clubs distributed in excess of $720 million in prizemoney during the 2019/2020 season. We all regard prizemoney as a critical barometer to the health of thoroughbred racing in Australia, as is the industry’s investment in infrastructure, welfare initiatives and customer engagement. A consequence of racing’s financial success is that it allows RA to allocate capital resource to enhancing our technology platform. Our ongoing investment in the Single National System (SNS) , a one stop shop for the racing and breeding industry, is critical to RA achieving its strategic ambitions in delivering a more efficient and proactive level of regulation and governance. In a landmark deal, New CHAIRMAN’S REPORT “Racing Australia played a pivotal role in encouraging the Federal Government to introduce a national traceability register, an innovation which is likely to be rolled out in 2021.” Greg Nichols Chairman