Future of Beaudesert industry in the balance
DIANE Murphy says she would be one of multiple trainers whose careers would end if Beaudesert Race Club was forced to shut down.
Murphy has spent more than a decade working as a rider then trainer at Beaudersert where she currently has 10 horses in work.
With the club scratching to survive each season, Murphy revealed Beaudesert’s fate was aligned with her own.
“If Beaudesert shut down it would probably shut me down because I’m only small,” Murphy said. “I have only got 10 in work but what is the point of me trying to take clients to the coast where they have bigger fees.
“I’ll have rent and I have my own property here.”
Murphy said the racing and breeding industry was the lifeblood of the Beaudesert community.
“The track needs to stay. It’s quite a big industry out here.
“At one stage after it flooded a few years ago they did a head count on the Gold Coast and what was out here and I think we had more horses in work than the Gold Coast.
“I think Racing Queensland was trying to work out whether it was feasible to fix it or not. The breeding side of things is out here too.”
Murphy said she would support a merge with GCTC if it didn’t hit trainers in the hip pocket. “I can’t see it being a bad move,” Murphy said.
“It just depends financially if there was a financial hike and what we would lose. (GCTC) couldn’t come here and expect owners to pay the monthly fees of what the Gold Coast has.”
The financial constraints of the BRC has meant trainers like Murphy have had to join the staff in working bees at the track to prepare it for racing.