HAWKESBURY Race Club’s plan to install a $3.5m synthetic track was blocked by Racing NSW last month, but the club hasn’t given up hope of installing a ProRide surface.
The club had written to Racing NSW seeking permission to build the all-weather surface, asking for $2.5m, while it would pay the other $1m and the $100,000 per year to maintain the track.
The club would also pay for the track to be partially relaid roughly every eight years.
But Racing NSW has, so far, decided it isn’t a good financial decision, with CEO Peter V’landys saying the club needs to “provide a detailed business plan to substantiate such a significant investment”.
“Peter said it would be an irresponsible decision by the board to build the track,’’ Hawkesbury Race Club secretary Brian Fletcher said. ‘‘And he’s right in a way because we only get $35,000 per year in track fees and we want to spend $3.5m on a track.
“But there are a lot of decisions in racing that aren’t financially good ones.”
NSW Trainers Association chief executive Steve McMahon wrote to V’landys arguing that Hawkesbury is “one of the most affluent race clubs” and deserves the ProRide track.
More than 25 local trainers agreed the new track should be installed, and leading trainer Tony McEvoy, who relocated a portion of his large Adelaide base to Hawkesbury in May 2013, was understandably frustrated by the decision.
“It was disappointing to hear,” he said.
“I’ve made a big investment in Hawkesbury and I had the belief that the track upgrades were going to happen.”
But McEvoy wasn’t giving up on future upgrades to the track.
“Racing NSW haven’t walked away either and I haven’t given up on it yet. Racing NSW certainly want us to have good facilities,” he said. “We’re looking at other surfaces and other ways to make the tracks better.”
Fellow group 1-winning trainer Noel Mayfield-Smith said the decision to block the new track was a blow for the club.
And despite the large amounts of money required to not just build the track, but maintain it, Mayfield-Smith had full confidence it was the right move for the future of the club.
“I was devastated [when told it wouldn’t be built],” Mayfield-Smith said.
“To be taken seriously as a training centre we need facilities like this.
“Hawkesbury’s a progressive club and I’m not worried or anxious about the financial decisions Brian and the board make.”
McEvoy told the Gazette in July that the track was “very much needed” to make the facility a good centre to train at.
But when asked if the setback could force him to leave Hawkesbury, he quickly said he was enthusiastic about the club’s future and expected to have 55 horses in work next month as he slowly built up his stable.
“Absolutely [I’m staying], I’m here for the long term and I back Brian and the committee all the way,” McEvoy said. “My horses have settled in well and I’m pleased with the way they’re running out of Hawkesbury.”
