Turf club ready to appoint manager
THE Gold Coast Turf Club is set to hire a new racing manager to oversee the sport’s changing landscape in the city.
Turf club chairman Brett Cook said a new racing manager could be appointed within the next fortnight, six years after the previous man in the role, Neil Archer, left.
“I have got him lined up,” Cook said.
“I’ve had him lined up for six months. If it goes through, we could get it done within the next fortnight.”
Racing Queensland have looked after race programming at the club since Archer left but Cook said the club’s merger with Beaudesert Race Club this week fast-tracked plans they had to bring another person into the role.
Cook said it was critical GCTC had someone to help navigate a changing program that will include race meetings being shifted between Gold Coast and Beaudesert, the introduction of night racing in the coming years, improve nominations and be the voice of local trainers.
“We have been talking about putting someone on for years,” Cook said.
“Now that we will have two individual racetracks to service, it’s worthwhile putting on a race manager to start looking at our own internal planning.
“The role will be about trying to keep all the nominations up.
“We also need to look at the next 12 months of programming and what grade and distances they are and talk to the local trainers.
“We want someone on the inside who has the feedback from the trainers so we can give that to Racing Queensland so we get the programming right.”