Former ATC director Julia Ritchie outlines ‘agreement’ with Anthony Cummings

A former racing executive who has been vocal about the Rosehill Racecourse sell-off was reprimanded during her time as a director for failing to declare financial dealings with embattled trainer Anthony Cummings.

Peter Jenkins

2 min read

February 28, 2025 - 5:00AM

A former racing executive who is accusing the Australian Turf Club board of lacking transparency over the proposed Rosehill Racecourse sale was reprimanded during her time as a director for failing to declare financial dealings with embattled trainer Anthony Cummings.

Julia Ritchie, a longstanding owner in the racing industry who has been a vocal spokeswoman for the “Save Rosehill” campaign opposing the track’s sell-off for new homes, served on the ATC board from 2014 to 2022, including a period as vice-chair.

Ms Ritchie has confirmed to The Daily Telegraph that during her stint on the board she had an agreement with Cummings where training fees she owed him were not always paid directly, but diverted instead to pay down his rent debts at Randwick.

Ms Ritchie said the practice was “well known” by past directors but she failed to inform incoming ATC board members following a partial changing of the guard in 2022.

It triggered the issue to be raised as a potential conflict of interest prior to her departure from the ATC after serving the maximum eight-year term as a director.

Julia Ritchie (l to r) jockey Hugh Bowman and Anthony Cummings at the races. Picture: Mark Evans

“We’d been doing it for such a long time … and everyone was fully aware of it,” Ms Ritchie told The Telegraph. “It’s not that I had done it on the sly.

“But then we had a new board and, I suppose, because it had been going on you didn’t think to say to the three new chums in the room ‘oh, by the way, this is going on’.

“Instead, it was brought to their attention … I believe by the finance department … without me bringing it to their attention and that was the issue really. That I should have declared it.

“I was spoken to about it and I found it a little bit confronting.

“It was addressed with me and we moved on, end of story.”

There was no disciplinary action taken by the ATC but Ms Ritchie said “I think they did” ask her to stop the practice of redirecting money she owed Cummings to pay his rent debts.

Ms Ritchie said other service providers including veterinarians had also been paid via her training fees on occasion.

Asked why she diverted funds rather than paying Cummings directly, Ms Ritchie said: “My attitude was because he was overdue (on a payment), just make it as fast as possible. You lose three days in the banking system.

“Nothing we did was wrong.”

Racing industry sources estimate the payments may have topped $500,000 in value.

Ms Ritchie was unable to quantify the total figure involved over “a couple of years”, but said she limited her rent payments on Cummings’ behalf to the exact dollars she owed in training fees.

Cummings had his training licence revoked by Racing NSW last month after his business, Rosscarbery Holdings, went into liquidation with reported debts of about $2m. He has appealed the decision.

Ms Ritchie said: “He’s one of my best friends and I’ve known him for more than 40 years …