QUEENSLAND decision-makers are burying their heads in the sand if they don’t think there’s lessons to be learned from the report tabled by John Messara into the future of the New Zealand racing industry.

Messara made 17 recommendations after being commissioned by Racing Minister Winston Peters to conduct a thorough review of the ailing NZ industry.

The first recommendation made was to change the governance structure, so that responsibility devolved to each of the individual codes — something that would ring home to Queensland participants.

Another recommendation was to sell almost half of the country’s thoroughbred tracks, freeing up money for infrastructure to modernise the remaining facilities.

As it is in New Zealand, this is a matter that would be hotly debated in Queensland.

Messara estimated adoption of all recommendations had the potential to almost double New Zealand’s existing prizemoney to more than $100 million.

“The decline of the New Zealand thoroughbred industry has occurred over a long period of time, steadily eroding the confidence of participants,” Messara said in a statement that many Queensland trainers would relate to.

“That confidence is at the tipping point, causing reduced commitment to investment in racing and breeding.’’

IMPORTS HARD TO PICK
HAVE a casual browse of the attached Melbourne Cup market. Recognise many names?

Of the top 16 in the market, only Kings Will Dream and Unforgotten are trained in Australia.

Of the 14 imports, Marmelo (sixth and ninth in the Caulfield-Melbourne Cups double last year) is the only one to have raced in Australia prior.

How many of the imports race in Australia before the Cup remains to be seen, but with Rekindling breaking the ‘‘hoodoo’’ of horses first up off the plane last year (the first to do it since Vintage Crop in 1993), it’s likely more will be keen to follow the trend.

It makes it an almost impossible task to line them up.

For a long time I regarded the Melbourne Cup to be the best betting race of the year. But with more than half the field being imports, and 10 or so of them having their first Australian start in the Cup, it’s become a minefield from an investment point of view.

Perhaps then it’s not a surprise that Ladbrokes is holding more pre-post money on The Everest than it is on Australia’s most famous race.