{"id":487806,"date":"2025-10-10T07:58:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T07:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/487806\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T07:58:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T07:58:14","slug":"finances-operations-not-in-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/487806\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Finances, operations not in question’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Australian Turf Club says it has $22 million in cash reserves, is solvent and rejects many of the assertions made by Racing NSW ahead of a show-cause hearing later this month that could put the organisation into administration.<\/p>\n

\"ATC\"Chair Tim Hale has outlined a case to members as to why the Australian Turf Club should not be placed into administration. (Photo by Jeremy Ng\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Tim Hale, the ATC\u2019s chair since July, moved late on Friday to address many of the concerns outlined by Racing NSW chair Saranne Cooke in an \u201cindustry bulletin\u201d which claimed Sydney\u2019s only thoroughbred racing club did not have enough capital to meet its future obligations.<\/p>\n

Cooke harboured \u201csignificant doubts about its ability to survive\u201d, suggesting that the ATC had been bailed out many times over the past decade and that there had been \u201cmuch misinformation relating to the ATC\u201d.<\/p>\n

In an email to members, Hale refuted questions about the ATC\u2019s financial position, indicating that it was the directors\u2019 responsibility to \u201csafeguard Sydney\u2019s racing legacy for future generations through sound governance, transparency and strong financial management\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said many of the issues raised by Dr Cooke go back 15 years and do not involve current ATC directors Hale, Caroline Searcy, David McGrath and Annette English.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur most recent audited accounts show millions of dollars in net assets, supported by substantial property holdings, potentially worth billions, which continue to appreciate,\u201d Hale wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur cash reserves at the end of FY25 stand at $22 million, up from $12 million last year. This position has further improved in recent weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThose improvements reflect careful management and stronger commercial performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Racing NSW granted a three-week extension to the show-cause hearing, scheduled for October 24.<\/p>\n

The Racing NSW bulletin, issued on September 22 with Dr Cooke named as its author, said the ATC had received $164.7 million in funding from the regulator last financial year, on top of $38 million annually to contribute to club operations at Randwick, Rosehill, Canterbury and Warwick Farm.<\/p>\n

Hale argued that Racing NSW was the statutory administrator and distributor of industry revenues collected under law, including race fields fees, wagering taxes, and other shared income streams.<\/p>\n

Most of that \u201cfunding\u201d is earmarked for prize money and bonuses paid directly to the owners and is not operational income for the club, he wrote.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2018Significant doubts about its ability to survive\u2019 – Cooke turns blowtorch on ATC\u2019s financial future<\/p>\n

Racing NSW chair Dr Saranne Cooke has laid bare what she claims is a bleak financial outlook for the Australian Turf Club in justifying why the regulator issued a show cause notice as to why the ATC shouldn\u2019t be placed into the hands of an administrator.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen those pass-through amounts are excluded, the ATC generates a substantial proportion of its own operating revenue through events, hospitality and commercial partnerships,\u201d Hale said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis balanced model supports both stability and independence.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Friday\u2019s member update, Hale also played down concerns over a $30 million debt to the Commonwealth Bank, which matures in late 2026, and pointed out that the ATC covers an $8 million annual shortfall in funding to cover the cost of maintaining Sydney\u2019s racing infrastructure, including training.<\/p>\n

Hale warned that if the club was placed under the control of an administrator, that it could lose its independence and no longer be a member-owned and governed club.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf an administrator was appointed it would remove members\u2019 representation and place decisions about the club\u2019s future outside members\u2019 hands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs things stand, race meetings, prize money, and the Everest carnival will proceed as planned. The club\u2019s financial stability and operational capability are not in question.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hale promised more correspondence to members before the show-cause hearing.<\/p>\n

Hale was appointed chair of the ATC in July after Peter McGauran resigned, less than two months after members voted down a proposal to sell Rosehill racecourse to the state government for $5 billion.<\/p>\n

McGuaran was a staunch supporter of the unsolicited proposal to sell the western Sydney track, which had been earmarked for a housing development by the Minns Labor government.<\/p>\n

Rosehill will host racing on Saturday before Randwick takes centre stage for The Everest on October 18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Australian Turf Club says it has $22 million in cash reserves, is solvent and rejects many of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-487806","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115348813675773858","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}