HOY in new hands

Hawke's Bay's renowned Farmlands Horse of the Year equestrian competition will now be run by SMC Events, after the Auckland-based firm won a tender process for the contract.

An Auckland-based event company has won the tender to run the Farmlands Horse of the Year Show from next year and says it sees "significant unrealised potential" in the event.

Horse of the Year (Hawke's Bay) Ltd (HOYL) yesterday announced SMC Events had won a tender process for the contract to manage the annual equestrian event, which attracts about 80,000 people to Hastings.

SMC does not have previous equestrian experience but has a long background in managing major events, including the Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon and Auckland's ASB Polyfest, which attracts 90,000 spectators over four days.

HOYL chairwoman Cynthia Bowers said SMC was selected after a robust tender process, overseen by an independent committee, that attracted 12 expressions of interest.

"We were looking for an event manager with sound financial backing who had the resources to actually make an investment in the show," Ms Bowers said.

"We interviewed some really good companies but SMC Events stood out because of their experience at running large-scaled annual recurring events.

"They are very well resourced, with an experienced team."

The decision to put the event management contract out to tender caused controversy when it was announced early this year.

It was considered by many to be a slap in the face to long-time event manager Kevin Hansen, who had an 18-year history of involvement with the event.

Mr Hansen, who now has ties with an Australian event management company, later announced his company would not be part of the tender process.

HOYL said taking the contract to the market was a prudent business move.

SMC chief executive and founder Dave Mee said while the company did not have any equestrian experience, some of its staff had competed in sport at an elite level, so had passion for top-flight competition.

"We see HOY as one of thoseevents that has history, tradition and a massive community buy-in, and we believe we can add a little polish and additional value to it," Mr Mee said.

Other events managed by SMC include the Ellerslie International Flower Show, Big Boys Toys and the Sovereign Tri Series.

Asked how the company's plans for Horse of the Year, which is held annually in March, Mr Mee said: "It's early days but visually on sight we'd like to look at how we can improve the customer experience of the event.

"A huge part of event delivery is about making an event that people just don't want to miss - from a rider's perspective and also for the punters attending the event."

He said there was an element of "risk-sharing" with the contract which would potentially benefit both parties.

"We don't mind investing our time, effort and resources and if we don't get the numbers that we believed we would then we share the risk with HOYL.

"We do that with a couple of other events we're in partnership with. If we back ourselves then other people are more likely to back us as well ... It's about putting a stake in the ground and saying we believe we can deliver."

The five-year contract has a further five-year right of renewal, subject to performance, and while SMC Events are answerable to the HOYL board, who have set a range of key performance indicators, Ms Bowers said the expectation is that the board will not be involved in day-to-day management issues.