Take you back to last month and the Federal Court's ruling on various challenges around the right of Racing NSW to charge a fee for use of its race fields.

All parties had their take on the decisions but over all the NSW racing heavies claimed a substantial victory.

After Justice Nye Perram brought down his rulings to challenges to the legislation from Sportsbet and Betfair, RNSW chairman Alan Brown said: "We are delighted with a number of findings".

The most important was that the legislation to charge a fee for use of the fields was ruled appropriate and valid.

Brown and his CEO Peter V'Landys would then use the word certainty a lot. That the industry could bound into the future with vigour because income streams through fees on race fields had been guaranteed by a court ruling. Certainty, certainty, certainty.

That certainty lasted about as long as the time the two gentlemen took to make their ambitious claims.

In the parlance of the sport it was "an early crow". Nothing about race field legislation is etched in stone. Sportingbet has brought fresh litigation, Sportsbet is back in court on appeal. Betfair is expected to join the queue within days. Back in court, too, is RNSW with its own appeal on one of Justice Perram's rulings.

Money being collected under the legislation remains untouched by RNSW as it waits for the court processes -- a possible appeal to the High Court -- to be exhausted. V'Landys told The Australian yesterday that matters could be accelerated and perhaps a definitive position be reached by the beginning of next financial year. That's the best guess.

In Victoria, that state's race fields legislation has been challenged as well.

At the moment Victoria collects its race field fees from betting exchanges and corporate bookmakers with a calculation based on gross revenue. NSW collects fees from a calculation on turnover.

The difference is critical. The majority of corporates have signed off on the Victorian formula.

RVL chief executive Rob Hines has been promoting the Victorian model to corporates in Sydney in the hope of achieving a consensus on legislation and fees that could be adopted nationally. That would be a healthy development because anything that unifies the nationally dysfunctional business must only be for the good.

V'Landys sees two problems with this. Any deal with corporate bookmakers and betting exchanges is only as good as the number of signatories. He worries that another party might refuse to sign and initiate more legal challenges. That is why he wants the race fields legislation bedded down, appeals exhausted, before he would even contemplate striking a deal other than one that dealt with turnover and not revenue.

Racing in NSW is in crisis. The tell-tale sign was the board's decision to take out a large advertisement in the Sydney print media saying that it wasn't, in fact, in crisis. In part, the open letter to the NSW racing community said: "Over the past few days there have been several stories written and comments made which have cast a veil of uncertainty over the true facts relating to the on-going legal dispute between Racing NSW and the corporate bookmaker Sportsbet and the betting exchange Betfair."

Part of the unrest the board was referring to was a NSW trainer's meeting on July 13 where 34 out of the 35 who attended passed a motion of no-confidence in V'Landys. The trainers expressed concern that the race fields legislation had not been settled, about the health of country racing and a stagnant prizemoney pool.

V'Landys is a dogged man and will not give in on an issue that he is convinced -- and has convinced the board -- will ensure the long-term viability of racing in NSW. But here is the problem.

RNSW is being seen as stubborn rather than principled. If the industry continues to be dogged by uncertainty, lack of money and now lack of confidence then the damage being caused may be so debilitating that the sport and industry will be permanently maimed. People will not invest in an industry that appears to be regularly at war on all fronts.

Racing everywhere in Australia is being marginalised, coverage shrinking, interest dwindling. It is losing punters to other forms of wagering as well as gaming. There will come a tipping point for racing in NSW where the damage done by holding out will make it impossible to hold on even if the cases and controversies fall in favour of V'Landys and his board. That will hurt the sport and business not just in NSW but around the country.

Brinkmanship is a game won not by the heart but by the head. V'Landys, his board and NSW racing are on countdown.

Courtesy of PATRICK SMITH of THE AUSTRALIAN, 21/07/2010