NZTR general manager of racing Mitch Lamb says the subsidies will be reviewed at the end of the summer racing season and could change back to a refundable system for next season. “We just wanted a clean, easy to explain incentive to get Australian horses here for the major meetings,” Lamb said. But whether that case can be made for some of the lesser-known subsidised Australian gallopers getting a $10,000 payment is arguable. Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.

Source: New Zealand Herald February 03, 2026 23:03 UTC