Rosehill survives the vote, but will McGauran survive as ATC chairman?
Some have put their names to the campaign, others have operated via the dark arts of behind-the-scenes backstabbing and whispering, wanting others to do the knifing.
That anti-V'landys block was vehemently opposed to the sale of Rosehill from the day it was first clumsily mooted by NSW Premier Chris Minns in late 2023.
When others with huge influence in the industry joined the no campaign, it was all over.
One of them was Chris Waller, the champion trainer of Winx, whose powerful stable is based at Rosehill and is backed by the nation's top owners.
Once Waller and Gai were against it, it was dead as a dodo.
The writing was truly on the wall when the final vote was delayed three times at the insistence of Racing NSW.
Behind the scenes, officials scrambled to put a coherent plan together and came up with a doozy as they started throwing inducements like confetti at members.
As of April 30 this year, all financial members were to be given free memberships for five years (usually costing $500) plus a $1000 food-and-beverage voucher each year.
But even giving each member what basically amounted to a bribe of $7500 in contra was still not enough.
Now that the sale won't go ahead, the ATC, and racing in general, are in a precarious situation.
The huge price to be paid by the state government, which would then on-sell the land to developers, is predicated on an immediate sale because tunnelling for the 24 kilometre underground Metro line from Parramatta to the CBD is under way, and near Rosehill.
If a Metro station is to be built at Rosehill, a decision is needed now, and it will only be built if 25,000 units and townhouses are on the site of the racetrack.
So, if Rosehill is to be sold for housing in the future with no Metro station, estimates put the value of the land at about a fifth of today's price, or $1 billion.
Members also ignored the fact the ATC has been living beyond its means.
The club posted a $2.4 million operating loss in the 2023-24 financial year and a loss of $9.9 million the year before. It also owes Racing NSW about $50 million.
That's despite the fact the club owns Rosehill, Warwick Farm and Canterbury freeholds, and leases Randwick from the state government for the peppercorn rent of only $1 a year and has a contract until the year 2107.
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Wagering revenue is under extreme pressure in racing as it faces threats from other sports. Gambling on rugby league and NBA basketball, for instance, has boomed and shows no sign of slowing down.
A sale would have guaranteed racing's future for generations, with facilities modernised and prizemoney retained at the current record levels.
In 2016, the year before V'landys created The Everest, which has reinvigorated racing, total prizemoney across all races in NSW stood at $196 million. In 2024, it was $410 million.
There has been incredible growth, but it will fall into a deep hole – and fast – as racing will have to go it alone.
After this, no state government for a generation will help the club fix run-down facilities at Rosehill, Warwick Farm or Canterbury.
And members who voted no must start attending racing at Rosehill again.
The racing public simply doesn't turn up, despite the number of races Winx won there or the number of Slipper winners TJ Smith trained there back in the day.
Ironically, attendance has been hurt by the government's closure of Rosehill train station.
Only 12,111 people attended the Golden Slipper meeting this year, despite enormous promotion from the ATC and Racing NSW.
The governing bodies also heavily back the $10 million Golden Eagle each spring, throwing everything at it, only for Rosehill to resemble a wasteland on the day, with a few thousand attending last year.
In the 2023-24 racing season, fewer than 100,000 attended the 25 meetings, a figure down more than 90,000 from a decade ago.
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Live Reuters video showed Los Angeles Police Department officers lined up on Friday evening on a downtown street wielding batons and what appeared to be tear gas rifles, facing off with demonstrators after authorities had ordered crowds of protesters to disperse around nightfall. Early in the standoff, some protesters hurled chunks of broken concrete toward officers, and police responded by firing volleys of tear gas and pepper spray. Police also fired "flash-bang" concussion rounds. It was not clear whether there were any immediate arrests. LAPD spokesman Drake Madison told Reuters that police on the scene had declared an unlawful assembly, meaning that those who failed to leave the area were subject to arrest. Television news footage earlier in the day showed caravans of unmarked military-style vehicles and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streaming through Los Angeles streets as part of the immigration enforcement operation. 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Impromptu demonstrations had also erupted at some of the raid locations earlier in the day. ICE did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for information about its enforcement actions or Huerta's detention. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement condemning the immigration raids, saying, "these tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city". Helmeted police in riot gear have turned out in a tense confrontation with protesters in downtown Los Angeles, after a day of federal immigration raids in which dozens of people across the city were taken into custody. Live Reuters video showed Los Angeles Police Department officers lined up on Friday evening on a downtown street wielding batons and what appeared to be tear gas rifles, facing off with demonstrators after authorities had ordered crowds of protesters to disperse around nightfall. Early in the standoff, some protesters hurled chunks of broken concrete toward officers, and police responded by firing volleys of tear gas and pepper spray. Police also fired "flash-bang" concussion rounds. It was not clear whether there were any immediate arrests. LAPD spokesman Drake Madison told Reuters that police on the scene had declared an unlawful assembly, meaning that those who failed to leave the area were subject to arrest. Television news footage earlier in the day showed caravans of unmarked military-style vehicles and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streaming through Los Angeles streets as part of the immigration enforcement operation. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents targeted several locations, including a Home Depot in the city's Wetlake District, an apparel store in the Fashion District and a clothing warehouse in South Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles City News Service (CNS). 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The Republican president has vowed to arrest and deport undocumented migrants in record numbers. The LAPD did not take part in the immigration enforcement action. It was deployed to quell civil unrest after crowds protesting the deportation raids spray-painted anti-ICE slogans on the walls of a federal court building and massed outside a nearby jail where some of the detainees were believed to be held. Impromptu demonstrations had also erupted at some of the raid locations earlier in the day. ICE did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for information about its enforcement actions or Huerta's detention. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement condemning the immigration raids, saying, "these tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city".
News.com.au
44 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Shore teen awarded $275k over long jump injury
EXCLUSIVE A 17-year-old Shore student has successfully sued his primary school for more than $275,000 after injuring himself while competing in the long jump at his Year 6 athletics carnival. In 2019, the teenager participated in the long jump trial competition at Neutral Bay Public School and fell onto his back on his fifth or sixth attempt at age 11. He told the court he experienced 'immediate back pain' and has suffered from back problems ever since. The student took the case to the NSW District Court, claiming the school – and, in turn, the state of NSW – was 'vicariously liable in negligence' for failing to ensure there was adequate sand in the landing area and that it was properly raked. In October 2024, a judge ruled in favour of the state of NSW. However, the teenager successfully appealed the decision, with a fresh judgment handed down on Friday. The appeals panel ruled that the student be awarded $276,500 in damages plus interest. In the original judgment, District Court Judge Robert Newlinds SC ruled that while the student had 'suffered ongoing back pain', the teenager had successfully gone on to excel in the school's rowing team, athletics, basketball and soccer. He was also 'not satisfied' that the school failed to take adequate precautions against the risk of harm, as they were checking and raking the sand level 'every two or three jumps'. However, the panel ruled the school should have checked and raked the sand level after each student's turn. The panel also ruled that while the student had gone on to enjoy athletics, he would continue to have lifelong pain, which could affect his future income. 'In his oral evidence below, [the student] was asked what jobs he had in mind after he left school. He said that he had a few ideas, including possibly going into finance or an IT job like his mother,' the panel decision said. 'He then added that he appreciated that those jobs would involve a lot of sitting and not moving and that if he was to work in finance and was sitting down for most of the day, he would 'have a lot of pain and it's going to make the job quite hard.' The court also heard that teen had worked as a basketball referee in the amount of $16 a game prior to the incident, which he was now unable to do. 'There are undoubted risks in school sports, but they form part of the curriculum in many primary schools and the community rightly recognises that such activities are beneficial for young children when properly supervised,' the panel decision stated. 'I am comfortably satisfied that there was a breach of duty on the part of the School in failing to take reasonable precautions to minimise the risk of injury from long jumping.'
