LIKE many people, Ballarat Turf Club CEO Lachlan McKenzie woke to news on Wednesday, 30 January that one of the most successful thoroughbred horse racing trainers in the country, Darren Weir, was the subject of ongoing police and racing authority raids.<\/p>\n
One was taking place in Warrnambool, the other at Forest Lodge, a sprawling training facility and anchor to the Dowling Forest complex in Miners Rest that also includes the Ballarat Turf Club.<\/p>\n
Mr McKenzie and team at the Turf Club had a few options.<\/p>\n
He could sit back and watch the process play out, but he also knew that what was taking place within view of his office was more than just about Mr Weir\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could have sat on our hands, and just say \u2018well, Darren Weir Racing has got to comply with the sanctions, and his advisors can sell the property,\u2019 but we just thought by becoming involved we could speed up that process and save jobs,\u201d Mr McKenzie said.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s what happened. A week after the raids Ciaron Maher Racing purchased Forest Lodge outright.<\/p>\n
Until that announcement there were jobs and livelihoods in limbo. Many, many jobs. Not just a Forest Lodge but within the supply chain that worked with the operation.<\/p>\n
\u201cBusiness like The Hay Market which provide all the feed to Forest Lodge, and have done for a number of years, they\u2019ve invested in staff and trucks and other infrastructure just to supply that one business,\u201d Mr McKenzie said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s also farriers and vets and the such and we really wanted to do what we could to ensure that the facility was kept with horses in it because then the staff and those indirect jobs could continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s hard to quantify the exact value that Darren Weir Racing brought to the Ballarat economy, Mr McKenzie said the total value of thoroughbred racing in the region was $59 million and Mr Weir\u2019s operation trained about 40 per cent of the horses.<\/p>\n
Something had to be done as there was a need to facilitate the best possible outcome from a bad situation.<\/p>\n
Working collaboratively with other stakeholders Mr McKenzie began a process aimed at helping find a solution.<\/p>\n
\u201cA couple of days after the raid I phoned Ciaron Maher and asked if he\u2019s interested in leasing the facility,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCiaron was the first person called because in my view he is like a younger version of Darren Weir in his horse training ability.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got that freakish sixth sense when it comes to horses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Maher was interested.<\/p>\n
As it turned out leasing the site wasn\u2019t going to be possible as a condition of the sanctions placed on Mr Weir were that he couldn\u2019t receive money from the racing industry, including rent on Forest Lodge.<\/p>\n
That meant the only other option was for Mr Maher and his backers to buy the facility outright, something that wasn\u2019t going to be easy for many reasons.<\/p>\n
The site Forest Lodge occupies is made up of a mix of Crown Land managed by the Turf Club and freehold lease that was owned by Darren Weir.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the Monday I called Ciaron again and said we\u2019ve got to get going on this if you\u2019re serious because if we don\u2019t act very quickly the horses and staff will be gone and the place will be mothballed,\u201d Mr McKenzie said.<\/p>\n
Mr Maher toured the facility the next day, shown through the site by Darren Weir.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t like a real estate sales tour, it was more just to show him the way it\u2019s run, the way business had been facilitated in the past and the good, bad and indifferent parts of the property,\u201d Mr McKenzie said.<\/p>\n
Mr Maher was again intrigued, returning the next day with advisors and spent the whole of Wednesday working with Ballarat Turf Club staff and Racing Victoria on how a deal could be done.<\/p>\n
A deal was done.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn that one day a valuation was agreed, the terms of sale were agreed, a deed was drawn up by Racing Victoria\u2019s legal counsel which would tie the parties \u2013 being Darren Weir Racing, Ciaron Maher Racing, the Ballarat Turf Club and the stewards \u2013 into an agreement which meant that the stewards\u2019 requirements were acceptable.\u201d Mr McKenzie said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still to this day amazed that we were able to get so much done in one day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the end of the day we had reached a sale agreement and we had a new trainer at Forest Lodge who was our number one pick from the club\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was nothing other than sheer relief from me, and for the industry, and I\u2019m eternally grateful for the spirit in which particularly Ciaron approached this with compassion and in terms of the way in which he dealt with Darren Weir, who was under extreme duress.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LIKE many people, Ballarat Turf Club CEO Lachlan McKenzie woke to news on Wednesday, 30 January that one of the most successful thoroughbred horse racing trainers in the country, Darren Weir, was the subject of ongoing police and racing authority raids. One was taking place in Warrnambool, the other at Forest Lodge, a sprawling training […]<\/p>\n