RACING RAGE

ANGER OVER LACK OF PRIZEMONEY

GOLD Coast Turf Club bosses fear for the future of racing in the city as trainers threaten to head across the border in droves to take advantage of increased prizemoney in NSW.

Racing NSW recently announced an influx of $24 million in prizemoney across all sectors of racing in what was another blow to the Queensland racing industry labelled “draconian” by Gold Coast CEO Steve Lines.

Coast chairman Brett Cook warned clubs risked becoming a training centre if no action was taken by industry figureheads

to increase prizemoney in Queensland.

Five race tracks – Murwillumbah, Lismore, Ballina, Grafton and Casino – are located within hours of the Gold Coast and all now offer significantly more financial reward.

“There are five NSW racetracks all within three hours of the Gold Coast and as of September they will be racing for

$22,000 compared to $16,000 here,” Cook said. “That’s almost 30 per cent higher prizemoney so it’s not rocket science to know what is going to happen unless someone in the Queensland racing industry shows some innovation. We’ll end up being a training centre here at the Gold Coast, which is not sustainable.”

Lines said prizemoney allocations

for the Gold Coast needed urgent attention if the club was to have any chance of competing with NSW.

“The sport is draconian by nature and we need some innovation and leadership at the top here in Queensland to refresh the industry,” Lines said.

“Here at the Gold Coast Turf Club, we’re doing everything we can to try to grow our product and the industry.

“We’ve developed a master plan for the future, with major redevelopments in the pipeline and night racing on the agenda.

“We’ve already had a range of leading trainers like Chris Waller, Michael Costa and John Zielke relocate to the Gold Coast or set-up satellite stables here over the year.

“We’re building momen- tum but every time we do, we hit road blocks like this and we can’t keep doing it alone. Provincial tracks in southeast Queensland need a boost.”

Lines believes a prizemoney increase for just two races on an eight-race card at the Gold Coast could help stem the flow of horses across the border and implored the government to reinvest funds from the soonto-be introduced a 15 per cent Point of Consumption Tax.

“The racing industry in Queensland urgently needs funds to be reinvested from the Point of Consumption Tax like it has been in NSW,” he said.

“They don’t need to upgrade every race on the program, they could just upgrade two races to be worth somewhere between $25,000 and $30,000 and that would give us a fighting chance.”