Hawkesbury Showground wins $200,000 Federal Government grant to build additional horse stables

The sum will allow the group - made up mostly of volunteers - to double the capacity of their existing stables, therefore attracting more regional horse shows to the Hawkesbury Showground at Clarendon.

HDAA president Ross Matheson said the new structure would accommodate an additional 24 horses, and would be built next to the existing stables. Construction would begin after the Hawkesbury Show and be completed by Christmas.

"It will be a fantastic result for the HDAA. Our current stables we've had for 30-odd years, we got them second hand and we've since put them together, kept them going, patched them up here, renovated bits there," Mr Matheson said.

"This will mean that we can increase our numbers by 50 per cent; we can build a new, modern day stable complex, which will just be fantastic - it'll put us on the map as being a modern day equine centre for equine events.

"And it just frees up funds, it makes it so we can do other developments around the showground. To build something like this with our funds is several years of collecting money and trying to make sure we get the best results out of it."

The grant was announced by Sports Minister Bridget McKenzie, who visited Hawkesbury Showground on Wednesday, April 24.

She said the showground was a "fantastic" facility that was "great for the community", attracting over 200,000 people to the district for equine and other sports, and bringing much-needed economic stimulus to the Hawkesbury area.

Ms McKenzie said the grant money was not dependent on the election, as the funds had already been allocated by the government.

"It's my great pleasure to back the vision of the HDAA and their plans to grow and expand to make sure there are more people involved in the equine sports that can access this facility and participate in dressage, showjumping, cross country, pony club - you name it, you can do it right here," she said, adding the additional stables would accommodate "more riders, accessing more events, more often".

Ms McKenzie and Mr Matheson thanked Liberal candidate for Macquarie Sarah Richards for her advocacy for the project, and Ms McKenzie said it had been a "very competitive" grants round.

According to Mr Matheson, the new stables will attract high-end events such as Horse of the Year and breed nationals to the area, and Hawkesbury will now be able to compete with Horsley Park, Castle Hill and Blacktown for horse events.