A niche website took on one of the most powerful figures in sport. Now its editor will be judged by a jury

He is probably the most powerful sporting administrator in NSW, if not Australia. She is a young New Zealand journalist running a niche website and a small marketing firm.

A fight between them over a little-read opinion article is rapidly heading to a court hearing that could cost each side up to $1 million, damage reputations and influence the future of one of Australia’s wealthiest professional sports.

Unless one side backs down, a jury will be asked to answer a tricky question: who’s in the right?

Peter V’Landys, the Racing NSW chief executive Australian Rugby League Commission chairman, is suing Vicky Leonard, owner and editor of The Thoroughbred Report, a news site that covers the breeding side of the $9 billion industry.

Mr V’Landys accuses Ms Leonard and her daily newsletter of defaming him in an article published last November that questioned whether his influence over the industry should come to an end.

“After nearly 20 years at the helm, is it time racing imposed CEO term limits?” the article asked.

The case is due to return to the NSW Supreme Court in two weeks for arguments over Ms Leonard’s defence to the eight claims made by Mr V’Landys. Among them are the assertions the article suggests one of Australia’s longest-standing sporting leaders is unfit to be CEO and has harmed horse racing.

In an interview this week, the journalist said a trial could cost up to $1 million more than double the $458,987 she has raised through a crowd-funding campaign.

Even if Ms Leonard only spends $500,000 on lawyers, if she loses, she faces having to cover 70 to 80 per cent of Mr V’Landys’ legal costs and pay compensation for the damage to his reputation.

The case is being closely watched in the racing industry, where Mr V’Landys has racked up opposition in over 22 years in charge of Racing NSW.

In an interview, Ms Leonard nodded when asked if she feared being bankrupted by Mr V’Landys, who is suing her in his own name rather than through Racing NSW.

“It’s obviously an experience I would not choose to go through,” she said this week.

“We believe the article was balanced and fair and we will defend it. We should be able to ask questions without being personally sued. We’re a very small business.”

‘Not David versus Goliath’

Racing NSW is a big business, generating more than $400 million in revenue a year and overseeing an industry that employs or provides income for some 50,000 people. The jobs has allowed to Mr V’Landys to establish relationships across sport, politics and the media that have given him substantial influence across the state.

Mr V’Landys, who is on long-service leave, declined to comment on the lawsuit. But Racing NSW executives have privately challenged the perception of a David versus Goliath conflict.

Wealthy horse breeders have contributed to Ms Leonard’s legal costs because they oppose changes made by Mr V’Landys and would like him to step down, Mr V’Landys’ supporters say.

Mr V’Landys offered to withdraw the lawsuit if Ms Leonard removed the article from her website, according to a person familiar with the case. A second offer offered to make a matching donation to a charity of her choice if she withdrew the article, the source said.

A source close to Ms Leonard said she received one written offer to drop the lawsuit if she took down the article. She refused.

Mr V’Landys has hired one of Sydney top defamation barristers, Sue Chrysanthou, SC, who has taken the unusual step of requesting the lawsuit be considered by a jury. Ms Leonard has hired Renée Enbom, KC, a prominent Melbourne barrister.

Mr V’Landys’ lawyers may argue the article was triggered by a dispute between Racing NSW and Ms Leonard over National Thoroughbred Week, a promotional event for the industry organised by Ms Leonard.

Ms Leonard has already foreshadowed she will rely on legal protections for articles published about matters of public interest.

“Racing NSW is a statutory authority,” she wrote in April. “It controls licensing, funding, prizemoney distribution and industry policy for tens of thousands of participants.

“The question of how that power is governed — and by whom, and for how long is a public interest question, and one the industry is yet to openly ask.”