Ballarat Turf Club CEO announces he’s moving on

HEAD of the Ballarat Turf Club’s day-to-day operations, CEO Lachlan McKenzie, has announced he’s moving on from the top job.

Mr McKenzie has been leading the region’s premier thoroughbred racing venue for the last eight years and will officially stand down on Saturday, 23 November, the day of the Sportsbet Ballarat Cup.

“I’ve got a strong view that in these positions like the CEO of sporting clubs or high-level board positions there should be a maximum tenure,” he said. “A person needs a minimum of five years but shouldn’t stay more than 10.

“You need enough time to make your mark introduce your management style and processes and systems. But I say a maximum because it’s important for sporting clubs in particular to have fresh ideas and new innovations from other people.”

While he’s still got five months before he officially steps down, Mr McKenzie said he has a bit of an idea as to what he might do after 23 November.

“I love the racing industry and if the opportunity came up, I’d be keen to do that,” he said. “I’m going to be doing some work for the Turf Club in a different capacity, in a business advisory, business development, special projects type role. That’s a 12-month arrangement.

“Other than that, I’m just looking forward to taking stock and recharging the batteries and seeing what’s next.

“My self and my wife have some agri-business investments, a couple of farms, and a grain and fodder trading business. I’m keen to put some time into that as it’s been done without much involvement from me in recent years.

Belinda Glass, current Executive Assistant and Operations Manager at BTC, will take on the role as CEO following Mr McKenzie’s official end date.

In the meantime, Mr McKenzie will pull back on his involvement in the Club, providing Ms Glass with a five-month handover period.

In an official BTC statement, Ms Glass said she was looking forward to taking on the top job.

“After eight years working at the Ballarat Turf Club in an executive capacity with CEO, Lachlan McKenzie, I am pleased to have the opportunity to take on the role of CEO following the 2019 Sportsbet Ballarat Cup. I am looking forward to the role and extremely grateful to both Lachlan and the Committee for having belief in me to take the next step,” she said.

“It is a fabulous opportunity for me in career development and I am very enthusiastic to continue to work with Lachlan, the Committee, our local trainers, sponsors and stakeholders.

“I have had in-depth involvement in the significant projects and growth that BTC has achieved in recent years and look forward to the next phase for the Club.”

Mr McKenzie said Ms Glass was the right choice for the CEO role.

“She’s the best administrator of a club that I’ve seen,” he said.

“She’s very, very good at the administrative parts of the job, she excellent at the governance, she’s a terrific people manager, has an unbelievable work ethic and she’s perfectly poised to take over.

“We’ve had a succession plan in place and we’ve been working towards this day by way of giving Belinda some exposure to all aspects of the business and I’ve tired to keep her included in all major projects, all the financial parts of the business.

“It’s a great opportunity for her and she’s certainly earned the opportunity.”

During his eight years at the helm of the BTC Mr McKenzie made a number of improvements to the facilities at Dowling Forest and attracted some of the sport’s biggest names including Ciaron Maher, Archie Alexander, Matt Cumani, Mitch Freedman, Symon Wilde, Nigel Blackiston, Henry Dwyer, Amy McDonald and Michelle Payne.

“I’m really delighted with the growth of the training centre,” Mr McKenzie said. “To be involved with building a facility that has attracted some of the best young trainers in the country, that’s something which I’m completely chuffed with and looking forward to seeing the trainers from the Ballarat Turf Club go from strength to strength.”

“There’s little doubt that some of our trainers will be in the top-10 in the country for years to come. They are the young up-and-coming stars of the sport.”

Capital works include adding raceday stalls, a mounting yard, big screen, grandstand viewing decks, a public amenities block and a workshop and machinery facilities.

Of course, there’s also the Club’s synthetic track, which opened in May this year and has saved a number of race days that may have been washed out due to an unusable turf track.

However, Mr McKenzie said his personal highlight was behind the scenes.

“Just getting the Club back onto a position of finical stability,” he said. “It was in disarray, really, when I started there. It’s very gratifying to leave knowing that that the Club is financially secure, trading well, surpassing ambitions budgets and well set up for the future.”

During his tenure Mr McKenzie also oversaw an increase to raceday events by a third and managed to secure a clear day for the Ballarat Cup, with no metropolitan races in Victoria scheduled, resulting in better quality fields.

He also saw the Club ranked as a finalist in the Country Racing Victoria Club of The Year for the last four years in a row, and winning 2015 and then again in 2017.

BTC board chair, Con Powell, has praised Mr McKenzie for his service to Ballarat Turf Club.

“Lach has done an amazing job in turning around the fortunes of our Club and has put us in a great position for the future,” Mr Powell said. “Senior Executives with his passion for racing, determination for success, business acumen and management skills are not easy to find and we have been very fortunate to have had him at the helm for the last eight years.

“His hard work and commitment has resulted in the BTC becoming one of the key racing and training centres in Australia.

“Although it will be sad to see Lach move on from BTC, we wish him all the very best for the future. He has left an indelible mark on our Club, and the outcomes from his work will benefit many people in the Ballarat racing community for many years to come.”

That good-will was reciprocated by Mr McKenzie, talking highly of the board and their willingness to allow him to flourish.

“What hasn’t been recognised is all the success comes solely from having two things; a united committee that have a fixed agenda that they are all on board with – no factions or infighting or conflicts of interest.

“If a committee has that view, and that’s passed on to the CEO, who gets to pick his own team to deliver it, it’s a huge advantage over trying to work in a situation where you don’t have that.

“I’ve been extremely fortunate to have the full faith of the committee.”