VRC honchos off and racing – but not for Flemington
While the VRC stumped up for flights for chairman Neil Wilson and chief executive Kylie Rogers, who were 'invited by Royal Ascot and attended on official duties', an insider told CBD that the other directors had paid their own way. The VRC and Royal Ascot have reciprocal membership rights.
The case can be made for promoting Melbourne Cup Week among the English racing elite and even luring some of their top-quality horses Down Under for the coming spring, but there is also a question of optics for an organisation with $70 million in debt and four years of losses.
The club, which doesn't expect to return to profit until next year, spent $130 million on a new stand at Flemington before COVID and then shed 90 per cent of its revenue during the pandemic. (The stand looks like a cruise ship, for what it's worth).
Glamorous international trips aside, board members will have to refine their drinking tastes. Penfolds has ended its four-year partnership with the racing club and Grange is off the menu. The VRC has signed De Bortoli Wines in its place.
The Victoria Racing Club board was in good company at Royal Ascot 2025. It was opened by King Charles and Queen Camilla and was also graced by Gillon McLachlan, the king of Melbourne while leading the AFL, and now head of gambling business Tabcorp. The AFL's executive manager for government and stakeholder relations, Jude Donnelly, was also there for the first day of one of the world's most prestigious racing carnivals.
Wearing a top hat, McLachlan told UK media that Royal Ascot was the pinnacle. 'There's a lot of Australians in town. I seem to have met hundreds of them,' he said.
While on McLachlan, the former AFL top dog has lost his top billing. He was relegated to the graveyard 4pm shift at the recent Macquarie Australia conference, leaving him to compete for attention with .
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