3 months ago
19
The co-owner of an Australian racing website says she is “sick to my stomach” about what she claims are false allegations made against her by Racing NSW chief Peter V’landys.
V’landys has threatened legal action against Vicky Leonard, managing director of The Thoroughbred Report, over an article that questioned his leadership of the sport.
Racing NSW chief Peter V’landys and Vicky Leonard, managing director of The Thoroughbred Report.Credit: Monique Westermann
V’landys, who has led Racing NSW for 21 years, accused the site of suggesting that his long tenure had become a handicap for racing, and that he had taken his eye off the ball now that he was also Australian Rugby League Commission chairman.
Lawyers for the sports administrator issued a concerns notice, a mandatory precursor to defamation proceedings, alleging the story contained misinformation and harmed V’landys’ reputation.
The letter also says Leonard had profited from a new industry initiative called National Thoroughbred Week in which trainers such as Gai Waterhouse and Chris Waller opened up their stables to the public last month.
Leonard launched the concept this year, registering a not-for-profit company and attracting sponsors and partners including global racing giant Godolphin, John Messara’s Arrowfield Stud and nearly every state racing body.
Gai Waterhouse was among those to give access to their stables in National Thoroughbred Week.Credit: Kate Geraghty
But Racing NSW did not back it, and Racing Australia, on whose board V’landys sits, pulled its support because it said funds raised were going to Leonard’s racing marketing business Kick Collective.
Invoices seen by this masthead show Kick Collective billed National Thoroughbred Week $55,558 in August for services such as creating a website and doing advertising, social media and other event management.
Leonard, who also runs racing advocacy operation Kick Up, which promotes the sport in the face of campaigns such as “Nup to the Cup”, vehemently denied that money had been diverted for her personal gain. She said she was devastated by what she called “shockingly damaging” allegations.
She said she had put in more than 300 hours of her own work without charge, and that her marketing agency had provided services at a heavily discounted rate because there had been insufficient funding in the project’s first year to engage external companies.
“I have put countless hours into National Thoroughbred Week and Kick Up because I believe the social licence for horse racing is under threat and I don’t believe the regulator has done anything about it. So I stepped in off my own bat to fill that gap,” she said.
As well as running racing, Peter V’landys has been chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission since 2019.Credit: Getty
Leonard’s was one of three racing news sites to receive legal letters over coverage of Racing NSW, whose powers are the subject of an independent review of legislation being conducted by former NSW health minister Brad Hazzard.
She took to social media saying “it makes me sick to my stomach that I have to defend our work”. She describes V’landys’ defamation threat as “legal intimidation”.
“For me personally, the legal letters to The Thoroughbred Report serve to stop us from doing what we are supposed to do, which is report responsibly on industry issues, even if that means we are critical of leadership sometimes,” she said.
“To have that right challenged is deeply concerning for the governance of horse racing.”
In a statement, V’landys said: “It is profoundly ironic that they promote the language of transparency while operating a structure that appears deliberately engineered to divert revenue into commercial entities they either own or control — and to do so without any meaningful disclosure to the very sponsors who fund these activities.
“Funds raised under the banner of not-for-profit, purpose-specific initiatives — including sponsorships for National Thoroughbred Week — are being redirected into related commercial entities. Once transferred, these funds can then be used to underwrite the general expenses of their wider business operations. It is a system from which they clearly and materially profit.”
V’landys also said there were credible reports that refusing to be a sponsor of The Thoroughbred Report could result in “targeted pressure or adverse coverage”, suggesting the publication had been “weaponised as a tool of coercion”.
Loading
“More alarming is that they’re trying to portray that they are the victim when in fact contrary is the case,” he said.
Racing NSW has previously stated it leads the world in horse welfare, setting aside 1.5 per cent of prize money for a welfare fund. It is the first state racing body to ban racehorses from being sent to knackeries.
Leonard “unequivocally” denied that The Thoroughbred Report directed coverage against non-sponsors, saying commercial operations were independent of editorial decisions.
“Being constructively critical of leadership is not weaponising,” she said.
She said the person in charge of sponsorship and partnerships for National Thoroughbred Week was a Racing Australia employee. She said the organisation was kept informed.
According to corporate records, Leonard has a 25 per cent stake in The Thoroughbred Report, which mostly covers news about the bloodstock sector. The rest is held jointly by Sydney accountants Anthony Tighe and Mitchel Hetherington.
More than 5000 people attended events at stables, stud farms and after-care facilities for retired racehorses in Australia and New Zealand during the inaugural National Thoroughbred Week, which was designed to raise awareness about horse welfare and give rare behind-the-scenes access to those outside the industry.
England’s National Racehorse Week, which was first held in 2021, was used as the blueprint.
Most Viewed in Sport
Loading
