Away from the race track, 2005 was characterised by a series of gentleman's debates and bar room brawls.

Whilst New York Racing stared down the barrel of bankruptcy and the FAIR TAX debate raged in NZ, in Australia the TVN v SKY Broadcasting dispute continued with lawyers, drama, high costs and (surprise, surprise) still no outcome.

The war against Betfair also persisted, the offshore 'gambling den' out in the cold until Tasmania opened the door to them sparking the (unsurprising but nevertheless amusing) response from Racing Victoria that promised to set up a similar on-line gambling operation. Speculation also continued that the Queensland-based Unitab was planning a similar system and one major corporate bookmaker may also apply for a betting exchange licence if Betfair is approved. At this rate, the various Race Clubs' vicious attacks on betting exchanges (as they frantically try and set up one of their own) will mirror Bush's recent admission that there WEREN'T weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

In other news, Beijing probably could have benefited from the services of a good PR agency after a reported "cull" of bloodstock had various animal rights groups in a lather; various insolvent partnerships came to pass and in all things legal a number of cases hit the courts including a man wanting a slave's name for his horse; and Gary Birzer (who was paralysed from the waist down in a fall at Mountaineer Park in 2004) filing a US$10 million lawsuit against the Jockeys' Guild & former Guild president Dr Wayne Gertmenian, who allowed the Guild's on-track insurance policy to lapse several months before the accident.

We said a sad farewell to a number of key Industry players this year including (amongst others): Michael Osborne, Sir Tristan Antico, Keith Nolan, Greg Kelly, Alan Abrahams, Tony Hewitt, John Cobcroft, Arthur Fitzgerald, Tom Ivers, and Kerry Packer. We also lost some equine legends - Best Mate, Mummify, Persian Punch, Crown Jester, and Rubiton.