The Nathan Tinkler 'debt' story seems to grow each day. The Age now claims that Tinkler has left 'a trail of debt devastating business owners from the upper Hunter to Queensland.' It says dozens of businesses, mostly small start-ups, are chasing debts totalling more than $1 million from Tinkler's companies. It adds: 'Some people have been forced to re-mortgage their homes, while others have had to increase overdrafts or sell their cars....Fairfax reported yesterday that Mr Tinkler, who BRW estim

The Nathan Tinkler 'debt' story seems to grow each day. The Age now claims that Tinkler has left 'a trail of debt devastating business owners from the upper Hunter to Queensland.' It says dozens of businesses, mostly small start-ups, are chasing debts totalling more than $1 million from Tinkler's companies. It adds: 'Some people have been forced to re-mortgage their homes, while others have had to increase overdrafts or sell their cars....Fairfax reported yesterday that Mr Tinkler, who BRW estimates is worth $915 million, had failed to meet superannuation payments for workers at his racing company, Patinack Farm, since November. In the past 10 months, seven businesses have successfully taken court action to recoup outstanding debts from Patinack Farm and the building company Bolkm, the construction arm of Mr Tinkler's Buildev Group.'

Money galore...Next year's Mornington Cup day will be Victoria's first ever regional raceday to offer $1 million or more in prize money, says the Melbourne Racing Club. As part of the "Mornington Millions" announcement, the Club has introduced a $50,000 increase on the total prize pool of the Cup, reinforcing its position as Australia's most lucrative country cup. From 2013, Cup runners will be racing for a share of $350,000 as well as ballot exemption from the Caulfield Cup, making the race the most important on the national racing calendar outside a metropolitan area.

Queensland's chief steward Wade Birch has launched a strong attack on Betfair. He reckons the betting exchange doesn't give full co-operation to stewards in regard to betting activities. But is Birch right? The stewards have 'live' access to all Betfair transactions on racedays. Don't the stewards in Queensland do their own monitoring? And how much help do they get from TABs in tracking betting moves? It's a bad look for the chief steward to be sounding off against Betfair - it's been shown to be more than helpful in exposing dodgy betting activity.