This week you may have noticed the appearance of videos on our website and social channels from track managers leading up to their race days.

This is something which had its origins from the recent Racecourse Managers’ Conference where the track managers were given a one-page brief on filming these for use online. I am sure you will agree that the track managers are all doing a great job providing the relevant information sought after by punters, trainers and owners alike.

These videos, which started to go up last week, are being widely shared on social media so there is definitely an appetite for this quality information from the people charged with preparing our tracks for racing.

While the track managers are doing a sterling job with this initiative back in the office at Petone our compact finance team is busily making many owners smile a little wider.

A protracted battle, which culminated in the High Court, resulted in a win for owners, and Inland Revenue approving GST refunds to those racehorse owners who were not registered for GST.

Owners can extend their thanks for this to NZTR which absorbed the costs of this over four years and also to Greg McCarthy who not only initially raised the possibility of such returns but worked tirelessly to ensure they became a reality.

These returns total $3.2 million and impact 7,100 owners.   The finance team is now steadily working through to ensure every entitled ownership receives their refund.

To qualify for a return a non-GST registered owner needs to have had an ownership in a horse which won a stake during the period of 1 June 2013 and 31 October 2018 and paid GST on percentages to a jockey, trainer, apprentice or apprentice’s employer.

If you do fall into this category, then you will need to contact the racing manager of your ownership group as this is the person who any payment will be made to. 

As you will understand this is a massive exercise but the team here is focused to getting the returns out as efficiently as possible.