The new chairman of Racing Victoria, Tim Eddy, picked a bad time of year to go fishing.
They might be biting in Western Australia, but not as savagely as Racing Victoria shareholders were snapping in anger in the Manikato Room of Racing Victoria’s Epsom Road headquarters on Monday afternoon.
Tim Eddy is the new chairman of Racing Victoria.Credit: Eamon Gallagher
Chief among their concerns, according to four industry sources who spoke to this masthead on the condition of anonymity to speak freely, was that Eddy had agreed to a number of Racing Australia deals that stakeholders claim have sold Racing Victoria short.
He had sat in the Racing Australia boardroom, alongside representatives from every state, to hand group 1 status to pop-up races the Everest and the All-Star Mile. A process that is still under a cloud.
The RA board also voted in controversial “black type guidelines” that would allow any race in the country to be elevated to group or listed level if it attracted high-rating horses and achieved a high race rating. Racing Victoria has veto powers on Racing Australia changes.
The announcement sent shockwaves through the industry, an adverse reaction eerily similar to the unrest that bubbled over in Victoria on the eve of last year’s spring carnival.
This year it was Eddy, not former RV chief executive Andrew Jones, who was in the firing line.
The sources said Racing Victoria shareholders were angry they had not been consulted over changes they claimed made “Australia look ridiculous” and handed a NSW a considerable advantage.
Such was the alarm, they demanded a meeting, and an explanation. They filed into Racing Victoria headquarters on Monday afternoon for a briefing with Racing Victoria chief executive Aaron Morrison.
The briefing did not go well. One insider at the meeting said Morrison was stunned by the negative response.
“At the meeting of RV members at RVL last Monday, all the racing industry members expressed........