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The Age
24-06-2025
- Business
- The Age
VRC honchos off and racing – but not for Flemington
CBD's spies wandered into the VRC committee room on Saturday to find it suspiciously empty. We were told all committee members – bar vice chairman Michael Ramsden – had flown to the racing mecca of Royal Ascot for its big carnival. While the VRC stumped up for flights for chairman Neil Wilson and chief executive Kylie Rogers, who were 'invited by Royal Ascot and attended on official duties', an insider told CBD that the other directors had paid their own way. The VRC and Royal Ascot have reciprocal membership rights. The case can be made for promoting Melbourne Cup Week among the English racing elite and even luring some of their top-quality horses Down Under for the coming spring, but there is also a question of optics for an organisation with $70 million in debt and four years of losses. The club, which doesn't expect to return to profit until next year, spent $130 million on a new stand at Flemington before COVID and then shed 90 per cent of its revenue during the pandemic. (The stand looks like a cruise ship, for what it's worth). Glamorous international trips aside, board members will have to refine their drinking tastes. Penfolds has ended its four-year partnership with the racing club and Grange is off the menu. The VRC has signed De Bortoli Wines in its place. The Victoria Racing Club board was in good company at Royal Ascot 2025. It was opened by King Charles and Queen Camilla and was also graced by Gillon McLachlan, the king of Melbourne while leading the AFL, and now head of gambling business Tabcorp. The AFL's executive manager for government and stakeholder relations, Jude Donnelly, was also there for the first day of one of the world's most prestigious racing carnivals. Wearing a top hat, McLachlan told UK media that Royal Ascot was the pinnacle. 'There's a lot of Australians in town. I seem to have met hundreds of them,' he said. While on McLachlan, the former AFL top dog has lost his top billing. He was relegated to the graveyard 4pm shift at the recent Macquarie Australia conference, leaving him to compete for attention with .
7NEWS
04-06-2025
- Business
- 7NEWS
Stallion announcement signals the end for ‘once-in-a-lifetime' champion Pride Of Jenni
Australia's reigning Horse of the Year and the country's leading stallion will meet later this year with Pride Of Jenni confirmed for a meeting with I Am Invincible. Yarraman Park Stud, in conjunction with Pride Of Jenni's owner Tony Ottobre, announced on Tuesday night that the three-time Group 1-winning daughter of Pride Of Dubai had been booked into the star resident of its Hunter Valley farm. 'I Am Invincible, what he's been able to do is incredible,' Ottobre said. 'I'm in awe of what he's been able to produce so I think we'll get a good one out of Pride Of Jenni.' The announcement effectively signals the end of Pride Of Jenni's career, which took in 39 starts for 10 wins and 12 minor placings. The seven-year-old's most recent appearance came in the Group 1 Doomben Cup on May 24, when she finished 10th of 12 in the race won by Antino. She announced herself a star during Melbourne Cup Week in 2023, when she won the Empire Rose Stakes and Champions Mile in the space of eight days, and returned in the second half of the season to win the $4 million All-Star Mile and Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Ottobre said like during her racing career, when Sammy Waters was the loyal companion of the Ciaron Maher-trained mare, Pride Of Jenni would have a designated carer as a broodmare. 'A horse like this only comes once in a lifetime, and she'll have her own carer throughout her entire life now,' he said. 'So, wherever she goes, there will be a carer going with her. We're bringing in Caroline Kirwin from Ireland. 'Prior to that, we had Samantha Waters at the Ciaron Maher stables. Wherever Pride Of Jenni went, Sam was there all the time, and she never left her side at the stables. 'Now I've specially employed Caroline Kirwin from Ireland, who will be arriving soon to go through the breeding journey with Pride Of Jenni — wherever Pride Of Jenni goes, she's going.' Pride Of Jenni is one of the highest-profile bookings for I Am Invincible, who is in contention for a fourth straight win in the Australian Champion Stallion award. The son of Invincible Spirit will stand at a fee of $220,000, including GST, for the 2025 breeding season.
