‘Poor culture and toxic’: Female board members accuse Melbourne Racing Club of bullying

Two female members of the Melbourne Racing Club board have accused it of having a “longstanding poor culture and toxic atmosphere” as well as previous instances of bullying.

In a sensational backflip, committee members Alison Saville and Caitrin Kelly released a joint statement on Wednesday saying they were joining rebel committee member John Kanga’s Save Our MRC movement, just five days after signing an MRC statement criticising his actions.

Melbourne Racing Club committee members Alison Saville (left) and Caitrin Kelly.Credit: Eddie Jim, Simon Schluter

Kanga filed a motion last Thursday to spill the MRC board because of concerns about the club’s new mounting yard facility at Caulfield, plans to build a new grandstand and the sale of Sandown Racecourse.

Saville and Kelly said they felt pressured into signing an MRC committee joint statement at short notice last Friday and regretted the decision.

“We consider that there is a longstanding poor culture and toxic atmosphere within the MRC executive committee and there have been previous instances of bullying,” the pair said.

“We have resolved not to let this continue and to stand up against it.”

John Kanga (left) wants to overhaul the board of the Melbourne Racing Club.Credit: Getty Images

Saville and Kelly said they retracted their signatures and endorsements of the MRC committee joint statement, signed by nine board members, that was critical of Kanga’s motion for an SGM.

“We now reject the committee’s joint statement and support Mr Kanga’s [special general meeting] and his Save our MRC group,” they said.

“Nothing can be more democratic than the members voting on whether to remove executive committee members that are not considered to be listening to genuine member concerns that we are trying to resolve. Let the members vote at the SGM and decide.”

Saville and Kelly said they supported Kanga’s three essential changes, “which we believe are being opposed and impeded by the committee members sought to be removed by the SGM”.

An MRC executive committee spokesperson said the club was “deeply saddened by and reject the recent allegations concerning the culture of our committee”.

“These claims have understandably caused distress among fellow committee members and have unfairly tarnished our reputation,” the spokesperson said. “Our culture remains strong, inclusive and respectful, even amidst disagreements.”

Surprise attack

Melbourne Racing Club has become used to dealing with negative feedback from disgruntled members over its $160 million upgrades at Caulfield. But what it didn’t expect was to be ambushed by one of its own.

The MRC board was caught unaware when sitting committee member John Kanga hit them with demands for a special general meeting on Thursday afternoon.

The old mounting yard and the Rupert Clarke Grandstand are at the centre of a political fight at Caulfield Racecourse.Credit: Getty Images

It was a perfectly executed blindside.

Kanga, who wants to spill the board, had sat through hours of a committee meeting at Caulfield on Thursday barely uttering a word.

He watched in silence as new Racing Victoria CEO Aaron Morrison delivered a state-of-the-industry address to the MRC executive committee about a drop in wagering and a commitment to freeze prize money.

Neither of these things were at the top of Kanga’s agenda. He waited for all matters of business to be discussed and for the meeting to close. And then he pounced.

As the board meeting disbanded, Kanga approached outgoing CEO Josh Blanksby with a white envelope in his hand. It wasn’t a “thank you” card.

Two sources familiar with the moment, but not authorised to speak publicly, said they thought Kanga was going to wish Blanksby well.

After all, the CEO was finishing up in nine days’ time and was having a farewell dinner that night. Instead, Kanga handed him a list of signatures from more than 150 MRC members calling for the SGM. The trump card had been played.

“I wouldn’t call it a blindside,” Kanga said. “I have suggested a spill motion for three months to individual committee members and our executive team. If we don’t have structural change, the only option we would have is to have a spill, or an SGM.

“I communicate with all directors consistently, and I have asked them individually and as a group to please pivot, to please listen to our members, please listen to feedback. And it just hasn’t happened.”

Rebel with a cause

Kanga has a clear platform for change.

He wants to return the Caulfield mounting yard to its original position in front of the members’ area, he wants to stop a $250 million plan to replace the glass-fronted Rupert Clarke grandstand, and he wants to stop the sale of Sandown. He claims he is not doing it for the attention.

“It’s not about me,” Kanga says. “Nobody needs to know who Kanga is; it is about the issues.

An artist’s impression of how a new grandstand could work with the new mounting yard at Caulfield.

“The members are not voting for a celebrity. I am not a celebrity. It’s all about the issues. The members have not been listened to for 10 years.”

With the MRC executive and board backpedalling late last week, Kanga went on the offensive. By 7pm on Thursday, a press release outlining his takeover bid had lobbed in the email inboxes of several members of the racing media in Melbourne.

For three weeks, he had been gathering signatures and pulling together a replacement executive team, without any word of his challenge leaking out.

In terms of stealth, he is a group 1 performer.

Kanga says he needed to act. He says the MRC board has been divisive and divided for too long. He says the only way to set things right is to vote out six board members and vote in his handpicked replacements.

He remained busy at the weekend. He pressed the flesh with racing people at Moonee Valley on Saturday, and gathered statements of support from powerful owners, well-known trainers and jockeys, such as his client Blake Shinn, to back his Save our MRC movement.

In doing so, the likes of Rupert Legh, Colin McKenna, J.D. Hayes, Danny O’Brien and Sam Freedman said the new Caulfield mounting yard was soulless, poorly positioned, poorly designed and disconnected trainers from their owners. They said it was a problem that needed to be fixed.

McKenna went a step further to say “the people responsible need to be sacked”.

Timing is everything

There was a strategic edge to the timing of Kanga’s strike – with the club’s annual general meeting only a month away, the MRC will soon find itself with a leadership void.

Chair Matt Cain is stepping down and CEO Blanksby has resigned. The two men have been the public face of Caulfield’s $160 million renovations.

By acting now, Kanga can circumvent the AGM. Instead of waiting for committee member Mark Pratt to seek re-election and for Cain to be replaced, he can wipe out six in one go at an SGM.

Instead of risking the status quo – the MRC continuing to be governed by a board in “disarray” – he can control the numbers to bring about change.

Rupert Legh with the 2016 Victorian Racehorse of the Year Award, awarded to Chautauqua.Credit: Getty Images

“We had an opportunity to move the mounting yard back a few weeks ago and a couple of committee members decided to switch [their vote]. So we had no choice,” he says of the move to spill six members of the board.

The committee members he wants to oust are Cain, Pratt, Nick Hassett, Brooke Dawson and Scott Davidson. His Save our MRC movement has also asked for a representative of the Mornington advisory group to replace Jill Monk on the 10-person MRC board.

Even though Hassett and Monk were originally elected on a Save Sandown ticket, Kanga claims the Save Sandown faction has splintered.

He says the only three committee members he wants to retain are those who voted to move the mounting yard – Saville (Save Sandown), Kelly (Save Sandown) and Tim Guille (Mornington advisory group).

MRC hits back

The MRC executive committee released a statement to members on Wednesday saying it strongly opposed Kanga’s tactics because they were designed to override the club’s election process and cause confusion and instability.

It said it would continue to run legal checks over Kanga’s motion, including his request to reduce the eligibility criteria to join the committee from three years to six months to suit his ticket.

The board also responded to the three issues at the heart of the rebel push for change.

It said the committee would review the mounting yard at the end of the spring carnival because it was not “operationally feasible” to do so beforehand, construction of a new grandstand was on hold and “has been for some time”, and the rezoning of Sandown was a separate process to any decision to sell or cease racing at Sandown.

“Any decision to stop racing would require a member vote and would be up to the members to decide,” the statement said.

The MRC said that while serving on the committee Kanga has “supported the rezoning process and has opposed a partial redevelopment of the racecourse”.

Interestingly, while Kanga is saying it is time to give the members a voice, he was never voted onto the MRC board himself. He was appointed to the executive committee in July last year by the MRC to replace Shanyn Puddy in a casual vacancy.

“The committee selected me for work that I have done, for my skill sets,” he said.

“I believe there were 20 applicants at the time, and I was asked to apply because four years ago, I did a thorough review of the MRC gaming venues, and provided strategic advice to the board. That’s when I first became known to the board.”

Kanga’s five nominees to join him on the MRC committee are Lofts Quarries founder Paul Lofitis, communications executive Belinda Meyers, town planner and construction manager Robyn Gray, transport executive David Gambell and 5Ways Foodservice director Frank Pollio.

So, if the MRC is heading for an SGM, does Kanga think he can win?

“I wouldn’t have started if I wasn’t,” he said. “If the numbers that have texted me and emailed, and social media numbers are anything to go by, I am surprised that the club is surprised.”

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