The five people entrusted with guiding the future of racing in NSW met officially for the first time on Tuesday.The appointment of the Racing NSW board will be gazetted in state parliament on Friday and the board will be in power from that day.That power is now confirmed with legislation enabling the board to make decisions on behalf of the stakeholders.The board consists of former Sydney Turf Club chairman Alan Brown, racehorse owner, veterinarian and former trainer Alan Bell, former director g

The five people entrusted with guiding the future of racing in NSW met officially for the first time on Tuesday.

The appointment of the Racing NSW board will be gazetted in state parliament on Friday and the board will be in power from that day.

That power is now confirmed with legislation enabling the board to make decisions on behalf of the stakeholders.

The board consists of former Sydney Turf Club chairman Alan Brown, racehorse owner, veterinarian and former trainer Alan Bell, former director general of the department of Gaming and Racing Ken Brown, leading owner and marketing expert Kim Harding and Arthur Inglis, deputy chairman of thoroughbred sales company William Inglis and Son.

All agreed the major issue was to protect the funding of racing in NSW which comes from the TAB distribution which is under threat from corporate bookmakers.

Harding, the only female member of the board, said she would use her expertise to bring more owners and punters back to racing.

"My interest is about increasing the number of owners, increasing the number of punters," Harding said.

"It is unfortunate that the industry has forgotten the customer.

"Most companies have as their goal to acquire customers and keep them - I haven't seen that yet in racing in Australia.

"That's the focus I'll look at - how to increase owners, how to increase turnover etcetera.

"Owning a racehorse is very expensive. you have to make it much more affordable for people, obviously partnership syndicates are the way to go."

Racing Minister Kevin Greene announced the new board last week after a second round of applicants was called for after the original selection process was deemed to be flawed.

Greene said he was more than happy with the five members selected.

"I'm very happy with the nominees of the selection panel and the feedback I've been receiving is that everyone is happy with the quality of the applicants and the people who have been selected from a very large field," Greene said.

"I'm confident they've got the expertise to do what's got to be done."