New HRV chair Adam Kilgour on challenges, opportunities

Newly appointed Harness Racing Victoria chair Adam Kilgour says his passion for a challenge and the people in racing drives his desire to strengthen the industry.

Kilgour was yesterday announced to replace Dale Monteith as the head of the board, on which he has served since 2018, and said he was eager to use his more than 35 years of governance experience to help the industry “navigate our way through those challenges to a new normal”.

“I want to get the best deal I can for harness racing in Victoria,” Kilgour said. “To do that we will need our participants to stand beside us and join us for the journey.”

Kilgour spoke about the need for the industry to evolve and advance as well as his passion for horses and racing.

You were first appointed to the harness racing board in February 2018, what was your connection with the sport and what motivated you to get involved in its administration?

I have always loved horses. I grew up on the Mornington Peninsula riding horses and had a common interest in racing with my grandfather, who was a keen racegoer in both codes. I’d watch him hand out the Cox Plate for many years as the major sponsor of the race.

For the last 30 years I have been an owner, breeder and punter, mainly in thoroughbreds, but have part-owned three pacers and one greyhound. I also did a six-year stint as a board member and chair of the NSW Trainers Association, which had 1300 members.

HRV had a board vacancy in 2018 and the then racing minister asked if I would throw my hat in the ring. I knew Danny Frawley, who was on the board then, and talked to Dale Monteith, who both encouraged me to apply. I understood back then that harness racing in Australia was facing challenges, but I love a challenge and decided I was up for the fight for Victoria’s harness racing people.

What have you most loved about your involvement with harness racing in Victoria?

First of all, I have worked with one of the best boards I have ever been involved with. The quality of all of the people in my time and their intent has been amazing.  I am an activist board member. I believe board members need to roll up their sleeves and apply their specific expertise, not read a set of papers and go to a meeting a month. Under Dale’s leadership, the HRV board has been focused, cohesive and very active.

But racing is about horses and people. I am passionate about our equine athletes and that they are loved and respected. About 25 years ago I was watching trackwork with Lee Freedman, who was at the height of his powers, and he said to me “you’ve got to love this racing game – you meet a lot of weird and wonderful people and none of them are boring”. Lee was right. The people in racing are fantastic.

You’ve taken on the role of HRV chair at a significant time for the industry, why did you accept the opportunity?

For the last 10 years, HRV has been living with legacy decisions that weren’t favourable for the sport and its revenues. As a board we feel like we have been fighting with our hands tied behind our backs. This year is the year we get to remake some of those deals, but we are doing it in a vastly different market to 10 years ago.

I want to get the best deal I can for harness racing in Victoria. To do that we will need our participants to stand beside us and join us for the journey.

What mindset do you take into tackling some of the key challenges, headwinds and opportunities in HRV’s path?

Change or fall behind. Businesses, political parties, institutions and, dare I say it, sports have to constantly evolve or they wither.

I have empathy for all the people in this code who ask why we can’t just go back to racing at The Showgrounds or the Valley in front of big crowds? They generated so many fantastic memories, but it’s not going to happen. We’ve got to constantly ask who are we putting the show on for and who’s willing to pay for it?

It means constant changes to our race programming, our rules of racing and finding more efficient ways of engaging the audience.

It’s important that HRV communicates and consults with our participants in an open and collaborative way and then decisions are made, not just kicked to the curb. Our participants have to accept we are on a constant journey together and the minute we sit back and relax someone will cut our lunch.

You have significant governance experience to this point, can you provide a snapshot of that and how you believe it has prepared you to tackle the challenges and embrace the opportunities at HRV?

I have been a board member of many commercial and Non-Government Organisation boards in the past and I have always viewed the role in the same way.

First, you need to attract quality executives. At HRV we have done that in spades despite the restrictions a Government statutory body has on remuneration, which forces us to offer well below market rates. But I think our top quality executives and HRV staff generally cop that because they love racing.

Over the last 35 years I have advised hundreds of boards, CEOs, Premiers and Prime Ministers and community leaders on how to manage difficult issues that have a material impact on their futures. Help them understand how decisions are made on both sides of the fence in government and the commercial world and how they can find points of common interest. I have a very good understanding of the challenges facing the racing industry in Australia and where we are doing well and where we can improve.

My role, and the board’s role, is to use those skills to help our very capable executive navigate our way through those challenges to a new normal.

What message would you most like those in the industry, including participants, owners, breeders and fans, to have front of mind as harness racing in Victoria transitions to a self-sustainable model?

I’ve often thought in this role that there is a bit of a them and us feeling from participants towards HRV. And I think I’ve worked out why. HRV is often seen more as the regulator than the custodian of the sport. Handing out fines and suspensions. Saying no to financial requests et cetera. So I get that. But I want all the people who love this sport in Victoria to be aware that they have a group of dedicated and talented people at HRV fighting for their sport every day.

The Victorian Government has been very generous to us over the last few years as we worked through Covid-19 and caught up on a lag in infrastructure spend, but that won’t last much longer. The message from the Victorian Treasury is very much live within your means. There are millions of household budgets around Australia that have had to make those adjustments in recent times too. We are not immune.

HRV has been the most efficient clearing house of revenues returned to participants of all the codes and will continue to be. To everyone out there that loves the sport, be interested in where we are going. Talk to us at HRV. All of your views will be heard and valued. Stablehands, vets, punters, owners, drivers, trainers and even their families who go along for the ride, get interested in the journey we are about to take and stick with us.

by Michael Howard, for Harness Racing Victoria