News

ATC plans for the future and a return to the financial glory days

14th Feb 2016

Sydney Morning Herald - Chris Roots - Monday, 15 February 2016

The move in Victoria to trial a 30-minute gap between races has brought the future of the sport into sharp focus – but the industry may need to look to the past if it is going to succeed.

For too long, racing has let the world pass it by as it has been pushed to the margins of the sporting landscape, in the process losing a generation of punters.

Going to the track today is like stepping back in time. Look at the betting ring – in the glory days, it bustled with activity; nowadays it is pensions being put on the line, rather than pay packets.

The collapse in the numbers attending regular meetings left clubs without the cash flow they needed and plunged them into debt. It has been a slow, sorry decay. But the old adage rings as true today as ever – strong clubs equal strong racing.

In the glory years, the Australian Jockey Club (AJC) ran racing. The power has now moved away from the clubs and into the hands of the regulator. While that has its benefits for racing, the clubs took too long to adapt to the new power structure and change their models.

The Australian Turf Club (ATC) has turned things around. It has recovered from a debt-laden start and is ready to become a force again. The strongest clubs in Australia make the most of their racecourses and have other interests to sustain them.

The ATC has the foundations in place to do that. Look at Canterbury, long rumoured as ripe to be sold, it has transformed itself from urban racetrack to a centre of the community, with its ties to the local populace growing stronger all the time. It is to be home to a medical centre and a supermarket complex, together with coffee shops, which will be located on the ground floor of the grandstand.

The problem with most racecourses, especially metropolitan ones, is under-capitalisation of the land on which they stand. It is something the ATC is looking to tackle at all its venues.

Similarly, Warwick Farm could become a focal point of the community in the west. In a couple of years, it will become the focal point of the sales industry in NSW, with Inglis to be located out there.

Both Canterbury and Warwick Farm have been all but forgotten in recent times but the plan is to update and upgrade. In years to come, the landscape could change again if land can be found on the outskirts of Sydney to build a mini Newmarket- or Chantilly-type course. Other than in Australia, training is usually done away from the major cities and the concept has growing support at the ATC. It would allow trainers to cash in their investment around Warwick Farm and move to a purpose-built centre.

Randwick will continue to flourish with the light rail and car parking during the week. There is a suggestion High St stables could become a shopping front with stables built at the back of the course.

Rosehill, which is ATC owned, will eventually house the bowling club with greens on racecourse land and even an indoor green, which could act as another entertainment area on major days.