HOONS HIT CLUB FOR SIX
A GOLD Coast cricket club is counting the cost after out-ofcontrol hoons tore up its pitch at the weekend.
Palm Beach-Currumbin Cricket Club spent $60,000 recently putting in a new fivewicket block only for the hoons to tear it up by doing doughnuts.
“It doesn’t look great and there seems to be a fair bit of damage to the pitch,” the club’s president Ryan Kettle said.
“It will need work to repair it and that costs money.”
NIGHT racing is on the cards at the Gold Coast Turf Club with a submission currently before the State Government.
Turf Club chairman Brett Cook said he was confident the proposal would be approved.
“A lot of planning has gone into this over the past 18 months and I’m confident it will be approved ... it’s a step in the right direction for racing,” he said.
“We have consultants coming down next week so hopefully we’ll be able to confirm a start date and put a timeline on the project by then.”
The proposal is part of Racing Queensland’s five-year plan released at the weekend, which will inject $200 million into infrastructure to stimulate the industry.
Proposed upgrades to the Gold Coast Turf Club include track remediation, lights for night racing and a tunnel for infield car-parking to allow commercial development.
The Bulletin broke the story in June when the club made a submission to Racing Queensland to host night racing after signing a landmark namingrights deal with Aquis Australia.
Racing Minister Grace Grace said the million-dollar blueprint would develop infrastructure for future generations.
“It identifies a number of key priority infrastructure projects and the government will carefully consider these recommendations,” she said.
GIDDY UP, Gold Coast.
The tourism capital of Australia has been crying out for new attractions and facilities of late, as city leaders warn against resting on its so-called laurels.
Recent news is proving promising on that front.
Movie World hosted the exciting launch on Thursday night of the city’s newest thrill ride — a $30 million stomach-churning DC Rivals Hypercoaster.
Movie World operators Village Roadshow have also foreshadowed a potential investment in a new attraction in the near future, likely to be at its Sea World attraction in Main Beach.
In another win for the city at the weekend, Racing Queensland confirmed it would come to the party with funding for night racing at the Gold Coast Turf Club.
Part of its $200 million racing industry stimulation package will be earmarked for a world-class lighting system at the turf club to make evening events a reality within two years. The announcement comes after the Bulletin revealed in May the turf club had made a submission to Racing Queensland pushing for night racing, on the back of a historic sponsorship deal with Hong Kong billionaire Tony Fung’s Aquis Australia.
The Gold Coast climate could not be better suited to night racing and it will add another string to the bow of not just the city tourism profile — but its attraction as one of the best places in the country, and world, to live.