Owner News & TROA Media Releases

Black Caviar was not honoured at this year’s Victorian owners and breeders’ awards night, but the superstar mare’s record-breaking 2011-12 season was instrumental in determining the winners of the headline awards. The Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners’ Association awards were:

The team behind champion mare Black Caviar are again celebrating after dominating tonight’s 2012 Victorian Thoroughbred Racing Awards presented by Tabcorp and Racing Victoria (RV) at Melbourne’s Crown Palladium.

Racing Victoria (RV) has today announced the five finalists for the 2012 Staging Connections Victorian Racehorse of the Year Award. The award, which is voted on by members of the media, takes into account performances on Victorian tracks only during the 2011-12 season which commenced on 1 August. The winner will be announced at the Victorian Thoroughbred Racing Awards presented by Tabcorp at Crown’s Palladium on Sunday night, 12 August.

Michael Manley From: Herald Sun July 07, 2012 NOT surprisingly Nigel Blackiston believes Menados, being by legendary sire of stayers Zabeel, will be at his best in the future when he is tried as a stayer. For the moment though Blackiston is trying to temper Menados' staying potential as he runs over 1600m in the $150,000 TROA/Luxbet Winter Championship Final at Flemington today. "I've kept him fresh and happy since his last run knowing that his next run will be over a mile," he said.

In response to VRC CEO Dale Monteith’s recent media release and comments on proposed VRC prizemoney decreases, Victorian Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners' Association (TROA) Chairman Jonathan Munz responded as follows: “Dale Monteith has tried to deflect the simple truth which is that the VRC has advised Racing Victoria that it wishes to reduce prizemoney in 30 Group and Listed Races by around $1 Million next season.”

Australian Trainers Association (ATA) Chief Executive John Alducci has called on the VRC to withdraw proposed cuts to prize money for 30 Group and Listed races next season. “The proposed cuts totalling over $1 million will have a significant impact on the income and revenue streams of Trainers and we join racehorse owners in strongly opposing these reductions in prize money”.

The Chairman of the Victorian Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners Association (TROA), Jonathan Munz, today slammed the proposed reductions of in excess of $1 Million by the Victoria Racing Club (VRC) to prizemoney for 30 Flemington Group and listed races next season. Mr Munz was highly critical of the VRC’s move which was initiated without consulting owners, trainers and jockeys and without any publicity:

The Australian Racing Board is pleased to announce that it has increased the maximum number of individual owners allowed per horse from 10 to 20. The change came at the request of the national body representing owners, ATROC. From talking to its members ATROC believe that increasing the cap from 10 to 20 will enhance interest in horse racing ownership. The Australian Racing Board is keen to do everything possible to increase participation in race horse ownership. The rule amendment will come into effect from the commencment of the new racing season on 1st August 2012.

Betfair and Sportsbet Appeals Dismissed Shortly after 10am on Friday morning the sword of Damocles that had been hovering over racing and breeding in New South Wales was effectively removed with the High Court decision to dismiss the appeals of Sportsbet and Betfair against Racing NSW's right to charge a turnover based fee on race fields, writes Darryl Sherer.

$18.7 million prize money increase unveiled for 2012-13 with 63% allocated to the country Racing Victoria (RV) has today announced that it will maintain its position as a national leader by delivering record prize money to its participants in the 2012-13 racing season. Victorian prize money will rise to $160 million next season with an $18.7 million funding injection coming on top of the recent introduction of the lucrative VOBIS Gold scheme.

Dear TROA Member, The Inglis Premier Yearling Sale starts n Melbourne from Monday the 27th to Wednesday the 29th, and Luxbet is going to be there! As a TROA member, we wanted to send you a special invite to drop by the Luxbet marquee for a free cold one and meet our VIP managers, Keith and Steve. While you're there, check out Luxbet's ClubXtra – the exclusive club that rewards horse owners and trainers with a massive 12% bonus on your winnings when you place a win bet with Luxbet on a horse you own or train.

Over the coming weeks the 2012 Victorian Owners' Gold Card will be mailed to anyone that has raced a horse in Victoria since 1st January 2010 or registered ownership in a horse since 1st January 2011. Your Owners' Gold Card, with supporting identification, will be required to:

Black Caviar’s trailblazing deeds have had a profound impact on the 2010-11 Stable Financial Victorian Owners and Breeders Awards which were presented at the MCG this evening. The Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners Association (TROA), Thoroughbred Breeders Victoria (TBV) and Super VOBIS joined forces to acknowledge the industry’s outstanding achievements throughout the past 12 months and the unbeaten mare featured prominently.

The recent Kitchwin Hills Stud newsletter had an interesting interview with leading trainer, Peter Moody, who is an excellent advocate for the Industry and understands the need for increased prizemoney. The first question in the interview addressed the issue. This week leading Victorian trainer Peter Moody was asked a series of questions, and we noted the first Q&A. Q1 - Being a horse trainer seems without doubt the world's best job. However, if you could change one thing in racing, what would it be? Anything that could increase return to owners.

Dr Nipandtuck, who went into the TROA/Luxbet Winter Championship Final as equal points leader on 18 points with Tough Future won a fantastic prize courtesy of TROA and the Victoria Racing Club as a result of a tie breaker. Connections of the leading points scorer, who earnrf the most points in the series, won a catered corporate suite for 24 people, on Girls’ Day Out at Flemington on 3 September 2011. Dr Nipandtuck finished 9th in the final, Tough Future finished 13th in the final therefore the prize went to Dr Nipandtuck's connections.

Victorian Wagering Review Final Report The final report of the Victorian Wagering Review conducted by leading international consulting firm, PwC and chaired by highly respected business advisor and former Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL) Chief Executive, Peter Yates was presented to the Board of Racing Victoria Limited on Thursday 12 May, 2011 and is now available for public release. The highly detailed report reaffirmed the methodology of charging based on a percentage of gross revenue rather than turnover and recommended an increase to the current product fee.

Horse owners are being warned to prepare for the deadly Hendra virus season. The bat-borne virus has killed four of the seven humans who have been infected and caused the deaths more than 40 horses since it was discovered in 1994. Humans contract the disease from horses. There has been no human-to-human transmission of the disease nor direct transmission from bats to humans. Advertisement: Story continues below The majority of outbreaks have occurred during June and October, however last year a horse in Tewantin contracted the virus in May.

Matt Stewart story in the Herald Sun tells of the fairytale of a group of friends, who go back as far as Kindergarten who agreed to buy a racehorse, who is now the fastest horse in the world. OF all the houseboats, on all the rivers this is the one you should have been on. This group of friends should have been yours, this horse they own -- the fastest on earth -- should have been yours, too. If only?

Mark Harding reports in the Weekly Review on the success of Brad Spicer who syndicated Starspangledbanner who became a huge success for the 33 people lucky enough to secure a share in the handsome Choisir colt.

The Melbourne Racing Club will launch a new horse ownership initiative, exclusively for MRC Members, on Saturday at Caulfield. The initiative has been developed to offer Melbourne Racing Club Members the opportunity to experience the thrill of horse ownership including race day owners’ privileges while also providing the opportunity to socialise with fellow Members. Under the banner of the ‘MRC Members’ Horse Club’, all MRC Members automatically become ‘owners’ of two horses leased from Swettenham Stud.