The two smaller racing codes are avoiding the doom and gloom talk even as the Messara report looks likely to lessen their take of the gambling dollar.
The leaders of both the harness racing and greyhound codes were at the release of the Messara report in Hamilton on Thursday where almost all the emphasis was on doubling stakes for and the future sustainability of the thoroughbred industry.
Although Racing Minister Winston Peters was adamant a healthier overall racing industry will benefit all three codes, changes to the way industry funds are distributed look certain to mean harness and greyhound racing gets a lesser percentage of the total amount gambled on racing in New Zealand.
But with Peters also suggesting the overall industry could be boosted by repealing the $13 million betting levy racing pays to the Government, if harness and greyhound racing get their fair shares of that based on domestic turnover it could avert any financial disaster from the report, which had initially been feared.
"There are obviously a lot of thing in the report we, and many people in the three codes, will agree with," says HRNZ chief executive Edward Rennell.
