CHECK IN AND CHECK OUT RACES
Turf club plan hotel beside course
PUNTERS will be able to watch live racing from their trackside hotel room as the Gold Coast Turf Club looks to mirror Dubai’s equine showpiece Meydan (pictured). The turf club’s partnership with gambling, racing and development giant Aquis has breathed new life into plans for the Bundall track.
PUNTERS will be able to watch live racing from a hotel room overlooking the track as the Gold Coast Turf Club moves to mirror Dubai’s world-class equine showpiece.
The bold venture is part of decade-long plan to make the club the city’s premier entertainment precinct.
The turf club has revealed a large revamp that will include a hotel, residential property, $8 million light installation, track upgrades that include a synthetic polytrack and redevelopment of the “Dome” venue, betting ring and carpark.
The club told the Bulletin of the plans as it yesterday announced a historic threeyear naming-rights deal with Aquis Australia, headed by Hong Kong billionaire developer Tony Fung.
As part of the deal, it hoped to have racing under lights within two years. It already has a business case with Racing Queensland.
The Bundall track’s multimilliondollar refit has been inspired by the spectacular Meydan Hotel at Dubai Racing Club.
Complete with a rooftop pool, the hotel overlooks the track.
Gold Coast Turf Club CEO Steve Lines said the completion of the masterplan would make the facility a hotspot for social and entertainment seekers on the Gold Coast.
“You can see what we are doing, not only from a racing perspective, but the whole equine and entertainment areas of the precinct,” Lines said.
Aquis Australian CEO Justin Fung revealed the lure of being part of the planned developments – worth hundreds of millions – played a key part in the decision to join the turf club.
“We are very excited about the club’s masterplan for the precinct and we see a number of opportunities to be involved,” Mr Fung said.
“The site has significant potential for value-added development including hotels, apartments and entertainment facilities.
“While there are no specific arrangements related to specific projects we look forward to work with the Club as the facility is expanded.”
The Gold Coast Turf Club is freehold owner of the land it wishes to develop and would push for a large percentage of any revenue garnered from improved infrastructure.
The club posted a $1 million deficit in the 2015/16 financial year but is forecast to post a small profit in 2016/17 before the Aquis deal bolsters its financial standing in the next 12 months.
“The club has been through some tough times and a lot of people worked really hard to get this done,” Gold Coast Turf Club CEO Steve Lines said.
“We are a big cruise ship, it takes a bit of turning but I think we have it pointing in the right direction which is a big plus.”
WE ARE VERY EXCITED ABOUT THE CLUB’S MASTERPLAN FOR THE PRECINCT. JUSTIN FUNG
JUSTIN Fung can probably afford to buy any racehorse he wants but he prefers to try to breed his own potential track stars.
The Aquis Australia CEO and son of billionaire Hong Kong developer Tony Fung has overseen the company’s rapidly growing Canungrabased farm that has already become Queensland’s largest thoroughbred racing and breeding facility.
Fung has the financial power to secure any big-name thoroughbred but his love of the sport doesn’t come from actually racing horses.
Instead Fung’s passion lies with breeding champion horses and developing worldclass equine bloodlines.
“I’m very much interested in the breeding side and to be able to make investments at the right time,” Fung said.
“Especially before a colt can establish himself as a stallion, when he is still a prospect.
“If we can do that well then that is going to be really great for our business.”
Fung is as hands-on as they come and the analytical thinker has spent the past week at the National Broodmare Sale on the Gold Coast.
Fung already has more than 125 broodmares that will be linked with 13 of his stallions located at Aquis Farm and the Emirates Park facility they recently acquired management rights to in the Hunter Valley of NSW.
Watching Invader, a horse he part-owns, win the Group 1 ATC Sires Produce Stakes (1400m) at Randwick in April was special for Fung but his proudest recent memory came from stallion Spill The Beans.
“I was very proud of the fact that Spill The Beans in his first year covered over 200 mares in Queensland,” Fung said.
“He covered more mares than any first-year stallion in the country and he covered more mares than any stallion in all of Queensland.
“We have some first-year stallions coming up this year and my personal goal is to repeat the success we had with Spill The Beans with all of our first-year stallions.
“I’m just excited about our entire roster, really.”
Fung hasn’t ruled out shuttling his stallions to studs in the northern hemisphere should he get the right offer.
“We are not going to say no to a shuttle prospect at the moment,” Fung said.
“We are very much focused on the Australian market but if one of our stallions proves to be popular for the northern hemisphere and we find the right farm to do a partnership with, then we would be open to the idea.”
Aquis began with a goal to become the premier thoroughbred farm in Queensland and, believing it has achieved that faster than expected, Fung has set his sights doing the same nationally.
“Within that one year we have really catapulted ourselves to becoming the premier farm in Queensland and now we definitely have our foot in the door in terms of being a competitive national farm,” Fung said.
“We are really proud of the progress and just want to continue to grow.”
Fung said Aquis was not immediately focused on following in the footsteps of international giants Godolphin and Coolmore, who breed and race horses around the world, but could see an opportunity to go global in the next five years.
“I don’t want to set one as a particular goal for us,” Fung said. “I think we can grow with our own strategies and our own visions and we can be Aquis Farm at a very large scale in the future.
“We may get there sooner rather than later. In five years time we want to be really established as one of the top farms in the country. “We are on the right track. “There are so many opportunities in this industry both domestically and internationally to make something work and that’s one of the things I love about this industry.”
In its latest venture, Aquis has teamed with Gold Coast Turf Club, which yesterday revealed plans for a worldclass development.
IN FIVE YEARS TIME WE WANT TO BE REALLY ESTABLISHED AS ONE OF THE TOP FARMS IN THE COUNTRY. AQUIS AUSTRALIA CEO JUSTIN FUNG