39th Asian Racing Conference comes to Melbourne

Cover image courtesy of Asian Racing Federation

Every few years, the Asian Racing Federation (ARF) comes together for its Asian Racing Conference, and next month, from February 14 for six days, it will come together in Melbourne.

The southern city was the initial host for the 39th Asian Racing Conference (ARC) in February 2022, but COVID caused an infinite delay and the event was rescheduled to next month.

It’s been a popular addition to the industry calendar for over 60 years.

Cities like Istanbul, Mumbai, Seoul and Hong Kong have all played hosted to an ARC over the years, with delegates and attendees flying in from all over the world. Australia will host the event this year for the fourth time.

The Asian Racing Federation represents nations as far west as Turkey and South Africa, as far east as New Zealand, Australia and Japan, and countries like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China, Mongolia and Thailand in between.

In fact, the stats on ARF membership are impressive.

There are 21 full members, two associate members (from China and Mongolia) and four affiliate members (from China, Indonesia, Philippines and Kuwait). Rather than representing nations in themselves, the ARF members are racing organisations. For example, in Australia the member is Racing Australia.

The first conference was held in Japan as far back as 1960, and there have been 38 Asian Racing Conferences since. In 2001, the Asian Racing Federation was formally established as a permanent organisation, which occurred during the 28th ARC in Thailand.

The objectives of the Federation were to ‘meet and foster goodwill and mutual understanding through the medium of periodic conferences and other racing events’, all the while promoting the racing and breeding industries of member nations, exchanging ideas and promoting discussion on relevant issues.

The ARF is also central to the Asian Pattern Committee, advising and assisting with the co-ordination of members’ best races.

These objectives have helped each year’s ARC blossom into a go-to event, something that Melbourne is looking forward to next month. From February 14 to 19, the city, and specifically Racing Victoria, will showcase its local wares to around 650 delegates.

The theme of the 39th ARC is ‘breaking barriers’, and the three-day business program of the week will look at racing and wagering landscapes, fan engagement and such fundamental issues as modern ownership. It will also look at equine welfare, which is so key to the industry these days.

A post-COVID reset

Carly Dixon is the general manager of corporate affairs at Racing Victoria. She’s also the director of next month’s conference and she's gearing up for a deluge of interesting visitors.

Dixon is expecting around 650 delegates in Melbourne by February 14, with two-thirds of them being international.

“The last conference I attended was in Cape Town in 2020, shortly before lockdown, and it was quite an interesting time because the world was rapidly changing around us,” she said, speaking this week to TDN AusNZ. “Borders were starting to close and I remember getting home around four or five days before they shut, it was that tight.

“So we’ve since had two or more years of incredibly unusual times globally, and for me, coming out of that, the conference will be the first time, as an international racing community, that we’ll be getting back together.

“There’s a real opportunity in that for a refresh almost, to take the things we all learned during the global pandemic and see how they've affected racing, and to see how racing moves forward.”

As such, the 39th ARC will be unique among its peers. No other has occurred after a lifestyle-altering, world-affecting global event, and it will promote interesting discussions in the sessions.

“The theme of ‘breaking barriers’ was something we landed upon as a backward-looking conference, but as a forward-looking conference too,” Dixon said. “What barriers have we overcome as an industry and a sport internationally, and what hurdles do we still have to get over to ensure our sport maintains its currency in a really dynamic external environment?

“I’d characterise this conference as something of a resetting of how racing wants to engage with the world around it, and that will be obvious in the different sessions we’ve got planned for the week.”

Who’s who

The opening day of the ARC, Valentine’s Day, will take place at Crown Conference Centre. It’s a bureau meeting environment, with the opening ceremony later that day at the Palladium.

Thereafter, the business program will see three days of sessions at the Melbourne Convention Centre with evening entertainment scheduled before the closing ceremony on Friday, February 17.

The following day, delegates will be invited to the Black Caviar Lightning Raceday at Flemington, followed by an optional regional tour on the Sunday of Lindsay Park Racing and Mitchelton Winery.

Like all of these conferences, Melbourne’s ARC is an attractive social occasion. The business end of things knits well with its social agenda, and the opportunity of meeting likeminded industry participants. But as social as the conference is, it usually hits its target as a riveting industry spectacle.

Next month, Chris Waller will be a key speaker on the opening day of the business sessions. He’ll be joined by Denise Martin of Star Thoroughbreds.

“Chris is such an extraordinary advocate for the industry,” Dixon said. “He has such amazing stories himself, but he really has a sound understanding of the nexus and importance of ownership to the racing industry in general, and also that crossover to owner-breeders.

“There are issues there of micro-ownership and how owners and owner-breeders are navigating those challenges while still securing investment and continuing to supply and support the entire industry.”

The ARC is still narrowing its list of key speakers for next month. It will include prominent racing people, like Inglis Bloodstock’s CEO Sebastian Hutch, but also wider business heads like Katie Page-Harvey.

Gallery: Some of the key speakers for the 39th Asian Racing Conference

Dixon said AFL identity Eddie McGuire was also a likely speaker, a man that has a long sporting repertoire and who returned to commentary roles last year for Channel 10’s Melbourne Cup broadcast.

“We are aiming to feature speakers from within the industry, but also prominent people outside the racing bubble,” Dixon said. “Katie Page-Harvey and Eddie McGuire would be friends of racing, I guess you might say, who have a longstanding affection for and engagement with racing, and they will bring a different lens to the event through their own corporate and personal experiences.”

Why should I go?

The promotional material for the 39th ARC describes it as a ‘significant occasion for ARF members and stakeholders to gather in person to exchange ideas for the betterment of our sport’. Often, to everyday industry workers, the idea of a conference is eyewatering, but the ARC is a genuine good time most years.

What would Dixon say to those industry participants, be they studmasters, racehorse trainers, hobby owners or office staff, who ordinarily wouldn’t consider a racing conference of this nature?

“For me, it’s a week to establish those networks of thought leadership,” she said. “It’s about connecting with people that are at the cutting edge of their trades and professions, both locally and overseas, and sharing their knowledge.

“I really do think we’re an industry of very humble people, people that don’t brag about their achievements, but we’ve got some exceptional owners, breeders and administrators here in Australia. I think we’ve got a lot to give the world, and the conference is about sharing that expertise and, in turn, learning and sharing from others.”

Dixon agrees that the connections made at an ARC, hosted anywhere in the world, can last a lifetime.

“I have colleagues that have been going to these conferences for a decade and they still get as much out of them now as when they first went,” she said.