By Brad Kingsbury
Matt has dedicated the last six years of his life to rebuilding Sandown’s once stellar reputation in the dog-racing industry, after a fall from grace that coincided with a general re-positioning of the racing industry during the 1990s.
The introduction of live televised broadcasts into homes, pubs and clubs, together with new and more accessible off-course wagering options, meant that the days of a full house and an even fuller bookmakers ring on a Thursday night were no longer.
The challenge to regain and then grow the business fell to the former Tabcorp pricing analyst in 2002 and his success since has been stunning.
Sandown is now seen to be the premier venue in Australia and Matt chuckled with pride when that was suggested.
“We like to push ourselves up as a national leader and if you asked me which club I would like to manage tomorrow, it would be here.
“I love it. There is a great committee and we’ve got great facilities and wonderful support from the greyhound fraternity.
“We’re not ‘flavour of the month’ just yet but we are back in vogue,” he declared with more than a hint of satisfaction.
The 39-year-old father of two is married to Olivia and moved from Prahran to Frankston South four years ago after growing up in Ivanhoe.
He has university qualifications in the arts, business and sports management, but Matt admitted his journey to a career in the racing industry was set during his childhood.
“It’s funny that I ended up here. I always loved racing and sport and I always wanted to get into it,” he said.
“Dad (Peter) was the track doctor at Sandown Racecourse across the road and I went with him from about the age of 10 or 11 through to 16. I’d look forward to being around the people and, as a kid, I thought that racing was the best thing ever.
“He passed away (from cancer) last year but he worked a meeting at Sandown eight weeks before he died. He loved it and I guess I inherited that love of racing along the way.”
Matt started at Tabcorp in 1995 and spent almost six years working with six retired bookmakers, learning the ins and outs of the industry.
He then dabbled in IT for three months before, as he puts it, he was in the right place at the right time.
“Geoff Davies was chief executive of Sandown Park at the time and he lamented that he didn’t have an up-and-comer to pass on to when we were at dinner one night,” he said.
“That was my break and I became the Sandown Park marketing manager.”
After three years in that role, Matt was appointed chief executive and set about building a team that has led the re-emergence of Sandown as an industry leader.
“We needed young blood and I tried to get people in who were passionate about racing,” he said.
“We’ve gone through a considerable restructure and my philosophy is that if you’ve got good staff you can do almost anything.
“They’re your most valuable asset by far.”
Matt has set ambitious goals during his three years at the helm.
The first task was getting costs under control which has been achieved, the second was promoting the venue and the industry which is ongoing, and the third is to undertake renovations to the facilities, which are pending.
He said the support of Sandown’s six-man committee led by greyhound racing legend Geoff ‘Smoky’ Dawson was magnificent and had helped achieve results such as last year’s Melbourne Cup breaking the $1 million wagering barrier for the first time, and an increase of 130 percent in dining patronage at the venue over five years.
Matt added that Greyhound Racing Victoria was far and away the benchmark of the sport in Australia which was another plus, together with great club-to-club co-operation.
“At club level Sandown and The Meadows are two of the biggest players in the country. We work hard with each other to maintain our edge and we’re very aware that the only thing that can hurt us is a civil war. We won’t let that happen.”
“Our biggest risk is complacency. Good decisions are the key to now and the future.”