By Peter Ryan
A war of words has erupted between key racing figures after Racing Victoria’s departing acting chairman and director Mike Hirst responded to prominent racehorse owner Jonathan Munz’s criticism of the decision to appoint businessman Tim Eddy as RV’s new chair.
In a personal statement, Hirst questioned the industry support Munz – the Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners Association (TROA) chairman – has for his view that urgent action is needed on a range of issues relating to the administration of Victorian racing.
He said while there would always be disagreement in racing, the industry suffered “a black eye” if the loudest voices were allowed to dominate discussion.
Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners Association chair Jonathan Munz.Credit: Martin King, Sportpix
Hirst was bemused that Munz couldn’t find anything constructive to say about Racing Victoria’s board and said he should attempt to join the board if he wants real change, rather than criticising directors. He did not hold back as he prepares to vacate his position officially on June 30.
“His latest target is Tim Eddy, the newly elected chair whose appointment has been welcomed by every club and stakeholder group except TROA,” Hirst said.
He accused Munz of “ongoing public, personal and vitriolic attacks on the racing minister, and RV board and executives” and said that as “the outgoing chair I hope the industry will put aside personal agendas and self-interest and work together to grow the pie for all participants”.
Hirst’s comments were dismissed by Munz as lacking credibility. On Sunday, Munz had slammed the decision to appoint Eddy as the new chairman of RV.
“I don’t want to waste much time responding to the comments of Mike Hirst, who has no credibility among serious racing people ... Thankfully, he is now gone, and we can hopefully get some better performance from RVL in his absence,” Munz said.
In Sunday’s explosive statement, he declared that if Racing Victoria’s performance does not improve quickly, “the industry will take action to force further changes. Hopefully, there is no need.”
Tim Eddy is the new chairman of Racing Victoria.Credit: Eamon Gallagher
Munz had been clear in the lead-up to Friday’s announcement of Eddy as chairman that he did not agree with such a move as he continues his battle to force change on Racing Victoria, which he claims has lost the support of industry participants.
He attempted to oust sitting directors, including Eddy, in a special general meeting in February but failed with key voting blocs choosing to side with the incumbent board members. In the end the result was 17-5 in favour of the incumbents, with 15 votes abstained.
However, Munz is continuing his push with another special general meeting possible if TROA does not see improvements in the way racing is administered.
In his statement, Munz listed the areas he considered needed “urgent fixing” that includes “reversing incorrect race programming, eradicating the failed tenth metro race, cutting bloated RVL overheads, ending misallocations of prizemoney for foolish pop-up races like the All-Star Mile, reforming poor regulatory vet performance and getting rid of non-performing staff. Even more importantly, it also means consulting with, and working constructively with, race clubs and industry participants, who they have arrogantly disregarded.”
He said he had nothing personal against Eddy but considered his appointment a mistake and a failure to deliver on a promised refresh of Racing Victoria’s board.
The board has made two new appointments with the addition of Tim Rourke and Mark Player but racing minister Anthony Carbines, who is responsible for signing off on the appointments, failed to land former AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan as the new chair. McLachlan was unable to take the position once he decided to become the new CEO of the ASX-listed Tabcorp, due to the obvious conflict of interest.
Racing Victoria is on the hunt for a new CEO after Andrew Jones resigned from the job in April, having attracted plenty of criticism for the way he ran the state racing authority as he attempted to introduce controversial changes without widespread participant support.
Their directors positions are dependent on the votes of the Melbourne’s three metropolitan racing clubs (Victoria Racing Club, Melbourne Racing Club and the Moonee Valley Racing Club), which have five votes each; Country Racing Victoria (10 votes); and another 10 votes, which are split between the owners’, breeders’, jockeys’ and trainers’ associations, as well as bookmakers and jumps racing.
Friday’s announcement from Racing Victoria that Eddy had been appointed chair and Sharon McCrohan deputy chair included statements from Robbie Griffiths, the head of the Australian Trainers’ Association, jockey representative Matthew Hyland, MRC chair Matt Cain, and Country Racing Victoria CEO Scott Whiteman in saying they looked forward to working with Eddy.
Munz said urgent action was required after Eddy replaced acting chairman Mike Hirst. Hirst had been in the role since Brian Kruger finished up as chairman on June 30 last year.
“I really hope that they do a better job, but the reality is that if RVL’s performance does not improve quickly and previous poor policies and decisions are not reversed, the industry will take action to remove further directors ... Ideally, they immediately pivot and get it right, but time is ticking,” Munz said in his statement.
Hirst said Racing Victoria had steered the industry through the challenges COVID presented, as well as negotiating a funding agreement with the state government.
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