The documents also demonstrate fallout from the feud beyond Sydney racing. In an email last week, Amanda Sellers, the group chief executive of beer company Asahi, shared concerns with McMahon about its $9 million contract with the ATC being revealed publicly by Racing NSW.
Among the most fascinating aspects of the court files are extensive conditions about what must be served in Racing NSW rooms on race days such as The Everest, The Championships and other feature meetings.
Peter V’landys photographed enjoying a plate of hot chips in 2012.Credit: Dallas Kilponen
According to the sponsorship, hospitality and funding agreement between the club and the regulator, Racing NSW gets exclusive use of Randwick’s Director’s Room for The Everest and a host of other race days for up to 100 people. The deal dictates that on those days “food must consist of at least four courses, followed by an afternoon tea of scones and miniature desserts and late-afternoon tea of Vili’s pies (must be Vili’s pies)”. It adds that beer and wines must be premium and champagne “must be Veuve Clicquot (including Veuve Clicquot Rosé) or equal”. There must be two TAB operators present to take bets, the deal says.
Vili’s pies, which are made by an Adelaide-based family company, are also listed as essential in another private suite Racing NSW has access to at some race meets.
According to sources, or sauces, they were specified in the agreement after the ATC had, for a time switched to serving Garlo’s Pies, co-founded by South Sydney and Roosters footballer Sean Garlick.
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The deal was signed six years ago by then Racing NSW chairman Russell Balding and ATC counterpart Peter McGauran and under its terms Racing NSW was to have the Director’s Room for 17 out of the 26 Saturday race days at Randwick in the following season.
V’landys, who has also been chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission since 2019, has regularly played host to figures from sport, business, government and media in the room, whose outside seating is positioned above the Randwick finish line. This reporter has also been a guest there in the past.
Racing NSW was to pay the ATC $548 per person for the room during The Championships, the highlight of Sydney’s autumn carnival, and $258 per person on other days, although those amounts were subject to increases in line with the consumer price index.
The ATC website lists packages in the comparable Chairman’s Club at Randwick at $430 per person.
Under the deal, which also covers media rights, raceday revenue and prizemoney contributions, Racing NSW committed to give the ATC $50,000 per race meeting if it increased its standard of catering to a “prestige level”.
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To reach that standard, the food offering in the Racing NSW private suite needed a hot and cold buffet including, at a minimum, “king prawns, Sydney Rock oysters, smoked salmon, Alaskan crab, king prawn cutlets, calamari, grilled hot scallops, oyster mornay and at least one other seasonal seafood dish (all seafood must be harvested in Australian waters other than Alaskan crab and to be of the highest quality).”
The agreement says Racing NSW was to pay the ATC $254 per person for the suite, which is for up to 30 people, but there was to be no charge during The Championships.
It also details minimum standards for hospitality services and catering in the ballroom in Randwick’s main stand, saying there must be a waiter for every 15 guests, a buffet attendant for every 50 guests and three chefs for each buffet.
An example buffet menu includes, among other dishes, seafood, roasted Illawarra lamb rack, pan-seared duck breast on sauteed English spinach, mountains of chips, and Vili’s pies. There is also an instruction not to use any onion, garlic, shallots or chives.
V’landys is reportedly allergic to garlic and onions and has spoken previously about his appetite for hot chips and meat pies.
The agreement stipulates that Randwick’s $46 million Winx Grandstand, named after the champion racehorse and opened in 2021, must be dedicated for public use only and not used for hospitality and catering packages.
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