In contrast to the "we've never been in better shape" message, some of the smartest racing minds are adamant that Kruger must substantially reposition racing, resolving issues of integrity, its media model and its relationship with joint venture partner Tabcorp.

The biggest challenge facing the new board and executive team at Racing Victoria in 2018 is integrity. The Aquanita inquiry will challenge racing allegiances and loyalties.

Not only is Aquanita the biggest and most powerful racing stable in the country, its board of directors contains some of the most senior people in Australian racing.

Racing Victoria has failed to support its own integrity operation in the past, particularly over the long-running cobalt saga.

There was not nearly enough support from the board and the executive for their stewards and, as a result, many on the integrity side have been left disheartened. They include highly regarded former Racing Victoria chief vet Brian Stewart, who has returned to the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Long-time head of integrity Dayle Brown has also left to join Greyhound Racing New South Wales.

It's not just a lack of support that has bedevilled the integrity function - the process and appeal system set up by former racing minister Rob Hulls has meant cases have dragged on through the courts.

In other states, cobalt cases were finished in months, yet in Victoria with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal appeals process the 2014 positives of trainers Danny O'Brien and Mark Kavanagh will not be concluded until next year.

The process is flawed, and support for the integrity function totally lacking. Australia's leading owner and six-time Melbourne Cup winner Lloyd Williams publicly criticised Racing Victoria's board and CEO Giles Thompson last month for not actively supporting the integrity team.

Williams said the only key player supporting chief steward Terry Bailey and the integrity team was Victorian Racing Minister Martin Pakula.

"What the board needs to do now is come out, and what they didn't do previously, is raise their hand and say integrity is a major issue in racing," Williams said.

The appointment of Jamie Stier as the new head of integrity may be a step forward. Stier is a former chief steward for the Hong Kong Jockey Club and may adopt the "take no prisoners" attitude to cheating for which that jurisdiction is known.

But then there are other important issues to resolve.

The board must also confront the misguided policy direction pursued by the previous board to roll out the red carpet to Northern Territory-based corporate bookmakers while undermining its joint venture partner, Tabcorp.

Courting corporate bookmakers works to the detriment of maximising wagering contributions for the very industry RV purports to administer and support and the thousands of Victorians who depend on the industry for their employment. Victoria is the nation's friendliest jurisdiction for corporate bookmakers even though racing here earns much more from a bet placed with the TAB as opposed to Sportsbet, Ladbrokes and others operating out of their tax haven in the Northern Territory.

Racing Victoria's CFO Aaron Morrison was recently quoted as saying racing's funding from corporate bookmakers was nearly as much as its proceeds from the TAB joint venture.

Tabcorp returned more than $325 million to racing's three codes last year, according to its annual report. On the corporate bookmakers' own numbers - published by their lobby group Responsible Wagering Australia - they paid $78 million to racing last year.

It is hard to see on these figures how RV and Morrison derive anything close to a 50/50 split.

While they may perceive - rightly or wrongly - the future growth in revenues will come from product fees from corporate bookmakers, the figures show the heavy lifting for the time being and well into the future on funding will be done by Tabcorp.

It is right to question why RV is so keen to court corporate bookmakers whose returns to racing pale in comparison to Tabcorp and are in many cases foreign owned and repatriating profits earned on the back of their near-tax-free status to Ireland or the UK.

In theory, Racing Victoria's new board has enough business acumen in its ranks to enable the state's governing body to reset its relationship with Tabcorp and cease its flawed courtship of Darwin-based corporate bookmakers and their profit-obsessed foreign owners.

Then there is the future of Racing.com, the industry-owned digital and free-to-air TV operator set up by RV. It, too, will be under increased scrutiny with a new board anxious to insure it pays it way.