Change is afoot at Gallop South.
But what that change might be - and whether ties between Gallop South, the Otago Racing Club and the Oamaru Jockey Club strengthen up - remains to be seen.
Gallop South chairman Don Nicolson has been put in charge as the ''transitional managing director'' after the resignation of general manager Malcolm Little last month.
''What that means is that I'm just having oversight of some change management,'' Nicolson said.
''We're in the middle of the process and the clubs and staff are being informed as we go along.
''This change management is part of the restructure process that we've been talking about for months and the clubs sought from us.''
Nicolson said the clubs aligned to Gallop South wanted a ''recalibrated model'' in terms of their expenses.
The need for that to happen became apparent to Nicolson soon after he took over the chairmanship in October last year.
Nicolson believes the 13 clubs in Otago and Southland need to work closer together rather than the increasing the split that has emerged over the past four years.
''My end game, if I'm allowed to have one, will be a more cohesive regional racing model and personalities can't be a part of it,'' he said.
''It's got to be driven by the people for the people. You get strong personalities and they have their say and can influence a lot and I think racing in Otago and Southland deserves more than the personalities of a few people.
''We've got to be a cohesive and co-operative group or else we'll just dig the hole deeper and NZTR will have more say - we want them to have less say, not more.''
In the meantime, Gallop South is pressing on with doing the best job for its stakeholders, putting in a submission on New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing's proposed strategic plan last week.
''We're very concerned about regional racing,'' Nicolson said.
''We're trying our best down here and horse numbers in the south of the South are rising and we've got buoyant training, owner and breeder ranks in the South. We don't want to lose any race days and we'd like more feature races down here.
''In this region, we don't get a fair shake of the stick in terms of feature day racing.''
The withdrawal of the Oamaru Jockey Club earlier this year was a blow to Gallop South for its operating model.
''Us managing less race days is not useful and that's why we're going through this recalibration right now,'' he said.
''It would be good if we could get back to the full strength and utilise the talented staff resource better.''
