The ongoing challenge of The Pattern

Cover image courtesy of Bronwen Healy

John Messara's recent ascent into the role of independent Chairman of Racing Australia (RA) was seen as a key momentum shifter for The Pattern, which has stagnated under the strain of interstate political differences in recent years.

The debate over whether the world's richest sprint race, The Everest, and in similar vein, the All-Star Mile and Golden Eagle, should be afforded a place within The Pattern has been driven largely by parochial interests.

New South Wales and Racing Victoria hold the power, or more specifically, the veto, when it comes to assessing races to be included in the Group and Listed Pattern by Racing Australia. Recently, progression in Pattern development, such as moving The Everest to Group 1 status, has been stalled.

That has brought the effectiveness of The Pattern under question, with Racing NSW CEO Peter V'landys recently suggesting 'Unfortunately there is no pattern'.

Messara's appointment was seen as a circuit-breaker to the interstate bickering. As the man who built and designed Racing Australia, the Arrowfield chairman is well-placed to assist RA in breaking the state-based deadlock and progress its agenda in the interest of racing.

However, the recent Racing NSW announcement of a new pop-up race for fillies and mares, the $2 million The Invitation on the same day as the G1 Cox Plate plus prizemoney boosts for a host of other spring races, indicated the 'war for spring' between the two major jurisdictions was far from over and Messara's task would not be straightforward.

What is The Pattern?

Writing in TDN AusNZ last year, Messara explained in detail the international genesis of The Pattern, its importance to the Australian and global thoroughbred industries as well as its importance to him personally.

He points to the dual purposes of The Pattern as a scheduling tool in order to facilitate a calendar of racing, and as a method of measuring the physical ability, soundness of racehorses and racing excellence.

Predicting the challenges he now faces as Racing Australia Chairman, Messara wrote that 'The Pattern is threatened in Australia and around the world by a mindset that undervalues the quest for racing excellence – for me, the ultimate Key Performance Indicator - in favour of prizemoney, wagering and entertainment KPIs.'

In summary, Messara elaborates on what he sees as the major challenges.

"I applaud advances in Australia which help to make horse racing more attractive and competitive in the 21st century marketplace, such as the introduction of The Championships and the establishment of The Everest," he wrote.

"However, it is important for the sport that these and other initiatives find a means of meshing with The Pattern rather than disrupting it; there is too much at stake for participants in doing otherwise. Respecting The Pattern is crucial to achieve international consistency and relevance.

"If changes are made based on an isolated interest without considering the long-term impact on the sport and breed, we risk damaging both our national and international racing product. This obviously demands collaboration between state, national and international racing administrators willing to work in the fertile space between innovation and tradition."

Driving the value

Vin Cox, currently the managing director of Australia's biggest racing and breeding operation, Godolphin, and a Board member at the Victoria Racing Club (VRC), has a long history working in the thoroughbred industry and assesses the value of The Pattern in commercial terms.

"The Pattern is ultimately what drives value into bloodstock, through the black-type system. What it was set up to do was create pathways through various gradings that ultimately create that elite 'Grand Final' element to racing," he said.

"What is derived from The Pattern and from those races is fundamentally what drives the bloodstock industry."

Cox has sat on Racing Australia's Pattern Committee and understands the inevitable politics that goes with the assessment and grading of races.

What he has also seen is the evolution of that political fight into a straight-out impasse between Racing Victoria and Racing New South Wales, which stripped the Committee of any power to implement change.

"I've been involved in the black-type committee for over 20 years and when I first started there were breeders represented, there were race club representatives and there were Principal Racing Authorities (PRAs) and agents as well," he said.

"Now the Committee has changed, where it is three representatives of Racing Australia plus an advisory group. The advisory group make recommendations and the Racing Australia committee had a right of veto and would go off and arbitrate accordingly. It really didn't go anywhere, because the two major states just vetoed each other."

Pattern remains essential

Tartan Fields proprietor Hamish Esplin is another firm believer in The Pattern as a crucial instrument for the broader thoroughbred industry. He feels that recent media commentary that it was no longer relevant was well wide of the mark.

"Having a conversation that black type is 'passe' or doesn't fit in the future is just ridiculous. Anyone who would make those comments has no understanding of not only the history of the sport but the current and future of the sport as well," he said.

"Inherently like any sport, there is always a grading system. If you don’t have that, then you don’t have any form of competition."

However, he does feel the way The Pattern is being managed through Racing Australia needs to be addressed.

"Unfortunately, leadership on this point has been completely wanting. It's been wanting because of the PRAs who have set out on this course," he said.

He believes the pop-up races, such as The Everest, which he says have added so much to the thoroughbred landscape in recent times, must be included into The Pattern.

The pop-up phenomenon

Bloodstock agent Suman Hedge works with many different stakeholders in the thoroughbred industry, including owners, trainers and breeders. He personally thinks the disruption of excessive pop-up races is not to the benefit of racing as a whole.

"It's frustrating when you see the states fighting with each other and having these pop-up races. As an owner, of course you love racing for big prizemoney but really, it is all so misguided. I don’t feel it makes any difference to the quality of these races," he said.

"What it does is create clashes between the states and that thins out the talent. Instead of having a focus where you might have box office events, which you are trying to promote for the industry, you have a dilution of the product. I think it's really ignorant.

"It’s great for the bureaucrats in Sydney and Melbourne, they pat themselves on the back every time they do one of those things. But what are they actually achieving? I think it's disruptive and it's not helpful."

Both Hedge and Cox are firm believers in a national approach to The Pattern, which ensures that the elite-level racing is geographically spread.

"It is important for South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia to have Group 1 races. You can't say that because they are smaller states that they are just not worthy of that, because so many of our most talented individuals have come from those states," Hedge said.

"I feel that you have to look at ways of promoting racing in those areas and the best way of doing that is to make them 'box office'."

Cox also sees the national approach to The Pattern as crucial to its ongoing relevance.

"Does The Pattern need to be the highest rating races? I don’t necessarily agree with that, otherwise it can become too prescriptive and there has to be some subjective application of Group and Listed races, to cater regionally," he said.

"Otherwise you end up with a proliferation of the top-rated races in New South Wales and Victoria. The other states need an opportunity to create elite racing and aspirational racing in their jurisdictions."

The global view

Through his role with Godolphin, Cox is also well-placed to assess how Australian racing and the Australian Racing Pattern is seen globally.

"There is a lot of history and context that has gone into developing that system, which not all that long ago was the most applauded pattern and grading system in the world," he said.

"The key thing is that at the moment, Australia is running without the governance from an international perspective that could threaten our existence in the international pattern. That could potentially jeopardise our black type in sales catalogues around the world, which would by extension, threaten international participation and investment in Australia.

"Thoroughbreds are an international commodity, as much as gold is, as much as oil is, as much as iron ore is, and the standard of which its judged is The Pattern and black type."

Cox also says while decisions about The Pattern may suit the specific commercial interests of the two major states, that doesn't necessarily flow onto the greater good of the Australian industry.

"The states have a very narrow view on what is good for the wider industry. The PRAs tend to be very fixated on betting turnover and that's what they are charged to do, to create revenue for their jurisdiction, however, not everyone in the industry is a punter," he said.

"There are huge investments in the industry that are made on the back of The Pattern. Prizemoney is a driver of a large part of the market, but it’s not the entire market."

The breeders' voice

Cox would like to see a greater spread of people involved in the decision-making on The Pattern within the Racing Australia system.

"I think it's wrong that the breeders don't have a voice on any of this. They aren't represented and it needs to be looked at," he said.

As a breeder, that's a point that Hamish Esplin agrees with, but he doesn't hold out hope of getting a seat at the table at Racing Australia any time soon.

"Can you have a sensible conversation about what is in the best interests of racing through Racing Australia? I'm highly doubtful, I don't think that model works," he said.

The state-by-state divide is also unproductive, according to Esplin, who said the thoroughbred industry needs to learn from what has happened elsewhere if they are going to make true progress.

"Look at the history of the major sports in this country, they have all gone away from the state model. AFL were successful doing that, Cricket got away from it because it didn't work, the NRL got rid of it many years ago by creating an independent commission," he said.

Hedge also believes that broader consultation from the PRAs and Racing Australia is crucial to resolving the issues surrounding The Pattern as well as other major industry challenges, such as staffing and equine welfare.

"They need to get a group of the smartest people together and have a think tank and address these issues but until racing is a unified sport. That's my utopian dream. We are always going to have these segmented and fragmented parts working against one another. It’s detrimental to all of us," Hedge said.

"We have got some really intelligent people in this industry and have such experience. It would be great if we could utilise that."

Racing Australia commissioned a Working Party to examine the overall structure and current relevance of the Australian Pattern and Pattern Guidelines in May this year, with a report due to the Board at the end of July.

The outcomes of that Working Party's review will be keenly anticipated.