Byline: JOHN MARTIN The inside track on racing
THE WAR of words between two racingindustry heavyweights is raging at what would be seen to be a particularly pertinent time. Patrick Kennedy, chief executive with bookmaker Paddy Power, and Christy Grassick, general manager at Coolmore Stud, have been slugging it out in the trade publications. The issue is whether Paddy Power and others on the bookmaking side are paying a sufficiently high tariff to those who are providing the animals which are the raw material of racing.
As with the best debates, there is considermanning able merit in the arguments of both men. Basically, Grassick and others believe that the State owes racing for the job that it does in promoting a sport at which this country has excelled internationally.
The idea is that the State should levy the bookmakers to a more significant extent and pass the tax on to the racing industry. Ballydoyle, the racing wing of Coolmore Stud, played its part last week when the Aidan O'Brien-trained Fame And Glory lived up to his name in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot.
The message is simple and seemingly logical: the racing fraternity in Ireland brings horses like Fame And Glory to the racecourse and thus generates income for all the various bookmakers. Their reasoning reckons that they should be rewarded for the production line. As an argument, it has its merits.
Kennedy, unsurprisingly, does not take this view. He believes that the betting industry here is not as dependent on Irish horse racing as Grassick or, indeed, Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) would like to think.
In the wake of the visit of Queen Elizabeth II, and her interest in the stud farms of Ireland, along with the equine superstars like Fame And Glory and So You Think, Grassick and company are currently winning the public relations battle.
However, the bald fact is that those crossing the threshold of Ireland's 1000 or so betting shops are not doing so with the primary aim of backing horses at Gowran Park or Kilbeggan or Ballinrobe, or even The Curragh and Leopardstown.
They may well end up backing at these racecourses but Irish racing is simply not the main thing that lures punters in off the streets.
Kennedy says: '90 per cent of Irish sports bets on our internet and telephone channels last year had nothing whatsoever to do with Irish horse racing.' That is a simple statistical fact.
The Paddy Power boss asks why Irish racing should be the beneficiary if someone visits one of his branches and simply bets on a Heineken Cup rugby match.
It is difficult for Christy Grassivck to counter that point. It is also a nobrainer for him to complain about low levels of prizemoney here when many of the principals in Irish breeding have enjoyed and continue to enjoy a tax-free existence.
The problems of the Irish breeding and racing establishments were created by successive Fianna Fail-led governments who spoon-fed the racing fraternity. They are now suffering the withdrawal symptoms in more straightened circumstances.
The hard fact for Grassick and others is that they need to convince a new, less-sympathetic Government that racing deserves State subventions.
In the light of the visit of the British monarch and the successes of Royal Ascot, they have a chance of bending the ear of Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney.
But, at the end of the day, Coveney knows how handouts to Irish racing, where many are over-paid and owners and breeders are not paying their dues, will play with the electorate.
This column has stated previously that bookmakers and their customers should be heavily taxed; but that Irish racing has no right to that levy which should be directed to health and other areas.
Our views, unlike the statistics thrown up by Messrs Grassick and Kennedy, have been constant on this issue.
CAPTION(S):
BOOST: Fame And Glory's win at Ascot showed the health of Irish breeding at Coolmore
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