Turf war gets a little personal but Racing NSW boss Peter V’landys sees funny side of ongoing feud

Racing NSW supremo Peter V’landys has seen the lighter side of the ongoing prizemoney dispute between powerhouse states Victoria and NSW after the saga disintegrated into personal name-calling.

Racing’s war of words between NSW and Victoria took a nasty — and then comical — turn on Wednesday as the battle for prizemoney between the states intensified into personal name-calling.

Victoria Racing Club chair Amanda Elliott launched an on-air attack against Racing NSW CEO Peter V’landys, labelling him a “silly little man’’.

Elliott’s comments were in response to news last week that Racing NSW would be increasing its spring carnival prizemoney by $45 million, in an effort to keep star horses in Sydney rather than head to Melbourne for its traditional carnival.

“We actually do have a national responsibility to the sport of racing in Australia,” Ms Elliott said on radio.

“I think it’s just a silly little man making silly decisions.

“I mean, we all understand how important prizemoney is, don’t get me wrong.

“But at the end of the day, racing is about so much more than prizemoney.”

It is understood Mrs Elliott later called Mr V’landys to apologise for her comments.

“It’s a comment she’s made that she’s got to live with,’’ Mr V’landys told The Daily Telegraph.

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Racing NSW CEO Peter V'landys says Victoria should be glad his team are introducing more prizemoney to the sport.

“Someone’s appearance and self-esteem is out of bounds for me and I’m not going to criticise her because I’d be a hypocrite if I did.

“I never resort to personal abuse about someone’s appearance. I do my best to play the ball, not the player.’’

But seemingly unaffected by the outburst, Mr V’landys made light of the insult.

“Also I’m 5 ft 9.5 and 5ft 10 if I wear heels,’’ he said.

“I can’t help that I have short legs. There is not much you can do about your appearance. When I was young I used to hang my arms off the clothes line and hope I would get taller but it never worked.”

Racing Victoria announced on Wednesday that the Melbourne Cup would now be worth $8 million, an increase of $700,000.

VRC chairman Amanda Elliott.

Racing NSW chief executive Peter V'landys.

Mr V’landys said those involved in Victoria’s racing industry should be glad his team at Racing NSW are introducing more prizemoney to the sport in their state.

“The Victorian participants should be thanking NSW because without us all the millions of dollars in prizemoney increases in Victoria wouldn’t have happened,” he said.

“The Melbourne Cup and Cox Plate hadn’t moved up in prizemoney for years and all of a sudden they’ve realised they’ve got to return money to their participants.

“Out of every negative there’s a positive and the positive is that the participants in Victoria are now getting proper returns.”

Meanwhile, Mr V’landys said Racing NSW was still on the lookout for more than 400 hectares of land to build a world-class training facility, similar to Miho in Japan.

The organisation has already purchased about 120 hectares to set up a smaller version of the facility at Scone and have also bought Cessnock racecourse from the Newcastle Jockey Club and are also turning that into a training centre.

Mr V’landys said: “We’ve got to plan 20 years ahead.’’

Originally published as Turf war gets a little personal but Racing NSW boss Peter V’landys sees funny side of ongoing feud