NEWS RELEASE
Date released: Friday 29 February 2008
GOLD Coast Turf Club officials are fuming at a Queensland Racing decision this week to strip the Coast club of three Saturday racedays during the thoroughbred racing 2008/09 season.
They say the allocation of Saturdays to Rockhampton, Townsville and the Far-North Amateur Cup meetings is ‘yet another slap in the face’ by the state’s racing governing body.
“It’s an appalling decision,” said an outraged Gold Coast Turf Club Chairman, Hoss Heinrich, today.
“That they would even consider taking a single Saturday from the Gold Coast – a club that contributes so very much to the bank balance and stature of racing in this state – is beyond comprehension.
“We have spent weeks trying to negotiate with Queensland Racing over this matter, but all of our arguments about continuity, economic impact and duty to the Gold Coast community seem to have fallen on deaf ears,” he said.
With the Turf Club’s long-time mantra being Racing Every Saturday in Paradise, it’s no surprise high level and quite spirited calls for a reversal of the decision have been swift.
Gold Coast Mayor Ron Clarke took a break from his own re-election campaign to join the fight.
In a letter to Queensland Racing Chairman, Bob Bentley, he wrote: “The Gold Coast City Council is a strong financial and moral supporter of the local equine industry and the entire community has thoroughly enjoyed the seemingly-endless successes of the Turf Club over recent years.
“The Turf Club’s Saturday racing provides income and security for the hundreds upon hundreds of people involved in the local thoroughbred industry.
“After the disruptive effect of the recent Equine Influenza outbreak, to unnecessarily interfere with the club’s recovery through inconsiderate scheduling would seem quite at odds with the support one would logically expect of this State’s racing governing body.”
Gold Coast Tourism Chair, Paul Donovan, said his organisation invests heavily in the promotion of Gold Coast racing.
“Most of the tourists who venture to the track arrive there following word-of-mouth referrals from accommodation houses, public transport drivers, tourism information centres, restaurant staff and so forth.
“The referrals are made in complete confidence that each week’s racing will take place not five minutes from the centre of Australia’s tourism capital on a Saturday afternoon.
“From Gold Coast Tourism’s point of view, the taking of any Saturday meetings from the Gold Coast Turf Club will create unwanted confusion and a diminishment of benefit to the many Gold Coast Tourism
members who derive an income from their association with racing,” Mr Donovan said.
Gold Coast Combined Chambers of Commerce President, John Preston, called it a ‘highly questionable decision’
“For the past sixty years, the Turf Club has entrenched itself as a weekend destination for the three to four hour drive market and to see the reliability of Saturday racing taken away in this fashion certainly seems a highly questionable decision,” Mr Preston said.
“Thoroughbred racing brings enormous economic gain with it and the Gold Coast Turf Club has certainly been a shining example of how a club can interact with a local business community for maximum mutual benefit.
“The Chambers strongly call on Queensland Racing to re-think this one,” he said.
Mr Heinrich said community feeling would continue to build as word of the decision broke.
“The lack of consultation once again by Queensland Racing over a matter of such importance to the Gold Coast Turf Club is symptomatic of their ‘my way or the highway’ attitude and resolution of this issue will no doubt require involvement from the State Government.
“No-one can demonstrate that it will maximise wagering turnover as Queensland Racing claim and that is certainly a pivotal point of our argument.
“Our Board, owners, trainers, jockeys, bookmakers, and members certainly don’t take this sort of treatment lightly and we’d certainly encourage anyone affected by this decision to make any representations that they’d like on our Club’s behalf,” he said.
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