Harness Racing Board replaced in Victoria

Press, 31 May 1984, Page 22

Harness Racing Board replaced in Victoria

By

G. K. YULE

The appointment of an all-new eight-man Victorian Harness Racing Board could have a far-reaching effect on relations between trotting interests in New Zealand and Australia. The Victorian Minister for Sport and Recreation, Mr Neil Trezise, spent many weeks deciding the issue of a new board and finally announced that he had dismissed all current members, headed by Mr Graeme Cochran, replacing them by eight men headed by Mr Trevor Craddock, of Melbourne.

Mr Trezise took this drastic action as he felt there was no harmony between Mr Cochran and other members of the board. He considered that the petty factional fighting within the board was having an adverse effect on the industry.

Mr Cochran had been a member of the board for 27 years, the last 12 as chairman, during which time he had been largely responsible for the founding of the Aus-

tralian Trotting Council, and he had been a leading figure on the InterDominion Trotting Council and the World Trotting Council.

In addition, he had played an important part in maintaining a close liaison with all facets of trotting in New Zealand. As a result there has been a frequent interchange of horses with beneficial results for both sides of the Tasman.

There was a strong lobby of support for Mr Cochran, including that of the Victorian country clubs and New Zealand.

Dr Em Manea, of Perth, will be acting chairman of the Australian Trotting Council as a result of Mr Cochran’s removal from office, while the president of the New Zealand Trotting Conference, Mr Dewar Robertshaw, of Auckland, will be acting chairman of the Inter-Dominion Trotting Council.

Mr Cochran will not attend the meeting of the World Trotting Council in

Rome this month. The chief executive officer of the Trotting Conference, Mr John Rowley, will be the senior representative for New Zealand and Australia, assisted by Mr Bruce Skeggs, of Melbourne. Mr Craddock, aged 60, is the first chairman of the Hamess Racing Board appointed for his business acumen rather than a record of participation or administration in harness racing. He retired from the position of chief marketing manager for the State Bank of Victoria last year and has a strong background of public relations.

Mr Craddock admits he is not an avid harness racing fan, but usually attends meetings at Moonee Valley on four or five occasions each year.

He said that his role would be to market the sport, adding that he felt its image was in a reasonably healthy state at present. Mr Ray Quinn, the board’s chief executive, was due to retire at the end of

the month, but he has agreed to continue until after the Inter-Dominion Championship series next March.

The new board began sittings within a few days of its appointment, the main early items to be considered being the controversial issue of Friday or Saturday night racing at Moonee Valley and whether to continue the restricted handicap conditions to be applied to the 1985 Inter-Dominion Championship series. The change to Friday night meetings at Moonee Valley has resulted in declining attendances, but increased off-course betting. The old board was split over whether the InterDominion events should be run as free-for-alls or with restricted handicaps, the latter being decided on by a small majority. However, the decision has been strongly disputed, with growing support for a return to the free-for-all racing which applied when the series was last run at Moonee Valley in 1978.