Munz now wearing many hats in Victorian racing, but denies any conflicts

2 hours ago 3

Billionaire powerbroker Jonathan Munz has denied he has any conflicts of interest as he continues to broaden his influence in the Victorian racing industry.

Munz, who owns favourite Getta Good Feeling in Thursday’s VRC Oaks, joined the Melbourne Racing Club board as vice-chairman last Friday and is also the chairman of the Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners Association.

Owner Jonathan Munz, right, after Getta Good Feeling won the Wakeful Stakes. He is pictured with John Kanga and MRC CEO Tanya Fullarton, front left.

He has also been named on a five-man industry panel to interview potential candidates to fill two vacancies on the Racing Victoria board.

The panel will consist of Munz, Melbourne Racing Club chairman Cameron Fisher, RV chairman Tim Eddy, Country Racing Victoria chairman Chas Armytage and the minister’s representative Michael Mangos.

The presence of two Melbourne Racing Club representatives on the same panel has prompted questions about whether that club will have too much influence over the make-up of the RV board.

In the past, seats on the advisory panel have been rotated between the stakeholders of Racing Victoria to avoid any one club or group having too much control over who sits on the board that governs the sport.

The panel’s job will be to recommend names to Racing Minister Anthony Carbines, who will make the official appointment.

But the stakeholders can also overthrow the Racing Victoria board if they pass a two-thirds majority vote.

There are 35 industry votes in total – the three metropolitan clubs hold five each, Country Racing Victoria has 10 and another 10 votes split between the owners’ (three), breeders’ (two), jockeys’ (one) and trainers’ (two) associations, as well as bookmakers (one) and jumps racing (one).

Munz attempted to have five board members sacked at an emergency general meeting in February last year, but the motion was lost 15 votes to three, with 15 votes abstaining.

Jonathan Munz’s filly Getta Good Feeling will start favourite in the VRC Oaks.

Munz was first appointed to the five-man interview panel as a representative of TROA.

But the situation was clouded when he joined the MRC board last week – filling a casual vacancy left by the resignation of John Kanga – effectively making him a representative of both organisations.

But Munz said there was no issue with both he and Fisher being on the same interview panel.

Munz said he was a panel member representing TROA, the trainers’ association, breeders and the jockeys’ association, while Fisher was representing the three metropolitan racing clubs.

He said the MRC, Victorian Racing Club and Moonee Valley Racing Club rotated their seat on the panel every year. But he said the remaining stakeholders each elected their sole representative.

“It says in the constitution that the participants choose their representative,” he said. “The participants all wanted me to do it because I was the best person for the job.”

Munz said the current five-member advisory panel was made up of capable, like-minded people from the racing industry who were working sensibly and collaboratively to interview candidates to recommend to the minister.

“It does not really matter where they (the panel members) are from,” he said.

“There is nothing that Melbourne Racing Club gets out of it that is different from the VRC, MVRC, the trainers, the jockeys, country racing - we are all on the same page, we just want good directors for RVL and for the good of racing in general.

“We are all absolutely aligned. There is no special interest of the MRC.”

When this masthead asked Victorian racing minister Anthony Carbines if he had concerns about the make-up of the panel, a government spokesperson said: “It is up to the nominating bodies themselves to determine their representatives”.

“The composition of the advisory panel is set out in the Racing Victoria constitution – the minister does not select or appoint panel members as these positions are nominated by industry bodies in accordance with the constitution,” the government spokesperson said.

Munz, who made his fortune from the family’s worldwide plumbing supply business, denied there was a conflict of interest with him serving as MRC vice-chairman at the same time as being TROA chairman.

“There’s virtually zero direct interaction between TROA and the MRC,” Munz said.

“If anything was required by TROA from the MRC, then I would recuse myself. The chances of that are very low at the best of times.

“Then in terms of everything else in racing, the owners and race clubs are completely aligned on everything they want in the industry. They all work together, so there’s no issue with that.”

Many see Munz as the most influential person in Victorian Racing – this state’s answer to NSW supremo Peter V’Landys, who wields immense power as that state’s racing CEO and also chairs the NRL.

Munz said he would be at Flemington on Thursday to watch his three-year-old filly, the Danny O’Brien-trained filly Getta Good Feeling, start as a heavily supported favourite in the VRC Oaks.

“When you’ve got an odds-on favourite, you want it to run like an odds-on favourite,” he said.

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