By Chris Barrett
A Supreme Court judge has delivered a victory to the board of the Australian Turf Club in the first round of its battle with Racing NSW, suspending the regulator’s appointment of an administrator.
The directors of the race club are fighting the intervention by the Peter V’landys-led industry regulator, and rushed to court to seek an injunction after Racing NSW this week announced it was removing the board over financial and governance concerns.
Racing NSW chairwoman Saranne Cooke, chief executive Peter V’landys and ATC chairman Tim Hale.Credit: AFR
They came out on top on Friday when Justice Francois Kunc ruled that they should remain in charge until a final hearing takes place in February.
The judge dismissed concerns raised by Racing NSW that the ATC was at risk of becoming insolvent in the next two months.
He also rejected a bid by Racing NSW to make the four remaining directors of the race club personally liable for damages and turned down a request by the regulator for administrator Morgan Kelly to be allowed access to the club’s books and records.
The ATC board will now remain in charge until the dispute is settled in a trial early next year. The board will be permitted to recruit additional directors during that period following three resignations since July.
“The board of the Australian Turf Club welcomes today’s decision and will now continue to work diligently and collaboratively with all stakeholders to continue normal racing and club operations,” ATC chairman Tim Hale said.
V’landys said Racing NSW respected the judge’s decision “to keep the status quo for the moment”.
“It is important to note however that this decision is only for convenience and in no way has it determined the case which will now be heard on 18 February 2026,” V’landys said.
“We are confident in our position, and we will continue to act in the best interests of the 50,000 participants to ensure their incomes are maximised.”
The judge’s decision came as the NSW government confirmed the appointments of Labor veteran David Tierney and two-time Olympian Jane Flemming to the Racing NSW board for four years.
Jane Flemming is president of Australian Athletics.Credit: Joe Armao
Tierney, a former chief of staff to late party powerbroker Graham Richardson, and Flemming, who is president of Australian Athletics, replace ex-Venues NSW chairman Tony Shepherd and corporate advisor Garry Charny, whose terms ended this week.
The seven directors of Racing NSW are paid $75,000 a year.
Tierney, who was also chief of staff to former Labor opposition leader Luke Foley and organised the appointments of senior staff after the party’s 2023 state election victory, was made a board member of Venues NSW by the Minns government in January 2024. Venues NSW directors receive $40,000 a year.
The selection panel for the new Racing NSW positions included another member of the Venues NSW board – senior public servant Melanie Hawyes – but Racing Minister David Harris has said “all potential or perceived conflicts of interests were managed appropriately”.
The ATC board had on Thursday claimed Racing NSW has lost its way as an industry regulator as the warring parties went head-to-head in court.
The directors argued that Racing NSW had acted beyond its authority in moving to unseat them.
“This is a regulator that has lost its way,” said Scott Robertson, SC, appearing for the ATC board.
“This regulator has taken it upon itself to effectively act as a supervisor for the decisions of my client,” Robertson told the court, saying the dispute seemed to have at least started as a disagreement over the proposed $5 billion sale of Rosehill Gardens racecourse.
The ATC board was split over selling the track, which is owned by the club, with former chairman Peter McGauran having been the most prominent advocate for the plan and Hale and others on the ATC board resisting it.
The ATC owns Rosehill Gardens racecourse and two other Sydney tracks.Credit: Getty Images
McGauran stepped down in July, two months after the sale was voted down by club members, and was followed out the door by the resignations of two other directors in September days after the sacking of ATC CEO Matt Galanos.
Racing NSW said it intervened due to serious financial and governance concerns and a breakdown in trust with the leaders of the race club and an erosion in confidence in them to perform their duties.
It opposed the ATC board’s request to suspend the instalment of an administrator.
Racing NSW’s counsel, Oliver Jones, SC, told the court it was concerned about the ATC meeting its financial obligations during that period and it was “having to prop up the club with tens of millions of dollars of funds”.
“Racing NSW is the most exposed financially to the affairs of the ATC,” Jones said. “Our concern is that this club, under its board directors, has allowed itself to get into a position where it cannot maintain solvency unless large amounts of money are guaranteed by Racing NSW.”
Of particular issue according to the V’landys-led organisation was a $30 million loan the club has with the Commonwealth Bank, which is due in late 2026 and for which Racing NSW is the guarantor.
Jones told the court Racing NSW had a broad suite of powers under the NSW Thoroughbred Racing Act including the authority to appoint an administrator to a race club.
The ATC directors have maintained the club is solvent, with $22 million in the bank and $350 million in property assets, according to its 2024-25 annual report.
The club is a company limited by guarantee under corporation law and Robertson said Racing NSW had “proceeded under a misapprehension of the scope of its powers”.
“This is a regulator with regulatory functions, not commercial functions,” he said.
He told the court the funding received from Racing NSW was “money earned from my client’s racecourses”.
“It’s not right to say this money is purely voluntary or a matter of largesse from the regulator,” he said.
He rejected as “scurrilous” any suggestion the ATC would conduct a “firesale” of its assets in the weeks before the matter returns to court next year.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
