Brickpit or bust? Where to for Sydney metropolitan racing should Rosehill be closed

Should the ATC’s proposal to close, redevelop, and sell off Rosehill materialise, it would raise a burning question about the future make-up of Sydney’s metropolitan tracks. Bren O’Brien looks at the options on the table.

In the lead-up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the Brickpit, the former site of the State Brickworks at Homebush, had been slated as a site of an Olympic tennis stadium, until the discovery of 300 endangered frogs forced a change of heart.

Thirty years later, the Brickpit, now the host of an elevated walkway and a habitat for the now thriving species of frog, is at the centre of another bold sporting plan, a new Western Sydney racecourse. But is it legitimately an option?

The Australian Turf Club shock announcement that it was considering closing, redeveloping and selling off Rosehill in December has prompted plenty of strong reactions.

Many of those in the industry, including trainers, don’t support Warwick Farm assuming the mantle of Western Sydney’s main track.

Among those concerned is Racing NSW, which raised questions over the size and suitability of Warwick Farm for a major redevelopment in a meeting with the NSW Government Cabinet Office in November.

The details of that meeting, which occurred before the full ATC board had even been informed about the Rosehill plan and three weeks before the public knew, were released in a tranche of documents made public as part of a parliamentary ‘call for papers’.

Those documents also detail the drafting process for the announcement of the Rosehill plan as ‘Project Wattle’ as it had become known, took shape.

The first draft of the state government media release, dated November 23, stated ‘racing will be relocated from Rosehill to Warwick Farm’ and ‘Warwick Farm would be redeveloped as a state-of-the-art racing and training facility’.

At that stage, there was no mention of development at Canterbury or of a new racecourse for western Sydney. The draft release then left notes for “quotes from Mr V’landys and others from the ATC”.

You may recall that when the media release was made public on December 7, there was no comment from Racing NSW CEO Peter V’landys. The most powerful man in NSW Racing kept a very low profile during this time.

Leaving that aside, the final, publicised media release looked very different to the first draft. It revealed that “several sites across Sydney will be earmarked and investigated for a new, world-class racecourse”.

Warwick Farm was still in the mix for a redevelopment, but any suggestion racing at Rosehill will be ‘relocated’ to that course was removed. A redevelopment of Canterbury as well as the Randwick stabling area was also included.

The establishment of the ‘centre of excellence’ horse training centre at Horsley Park featured in both the first and final editions of the media release.

The Horsley Park idea has been doing the rounds for at least 20 years. Also among the tranche of documents publicised last month is a 2004 Racing NSW-led proposal to close Warwick Farm and relocate it to the Horsley Park site.

So Racing NSW’s concerns about Warwick Farm are hardly a new thing. They have existed since V’landys took over as CEO in early 2004, and plans for Horsley Park to be the training hub of Sydney racing were the centrepiece of the strategic plan released by Racing NSW that same year.

But what of this new racecourse? How does a state government and a racing industry find the requisite greenfield open space in suburbia to plonk a new racetrack?

This is where the Brickpit idea comes in. First mooted in the media in March, it has become a focus of the post-Rosehill reality. Although there has been no public confirmation that it is being considered.

While building a racecourse around/on what is a reclaimed industrial swamp, whose footprint is substantially smaller than Rosehill, requires some lateral thought, proponents of the idea suggest privately it is the best way forward.

But is the idea for a racecourse to co-exist with the green and golden bell frog actually a red herring?

Mark Latham, maverick independent MP, horse breeder and ATC member, is cynical as to the feasibility of the Brickpit idea.

Last month, he asked a question in NSW parliament of Penny Sharpe, who along with her many portfolios, represents the minister for Planning and Public Spaces in the Upper House. Sharpe took the series of questions on notice and replied over the weekend.

The most significant aspect of Sharpe’s answer is the final two paragraphs.

“The (Brickpit) site is vested in the Sydney Olympic Park Authority via the Sydney Olympic Park Authority Act 2001,” she said.

“Sydney Olympic Park Authority (SOPA) has advised me it has not participated in or facilitated any inspections by representatives of Racing NSW, nor the Australia (sic) Turf Club, at the Brickpit.”

What is intriguing about that is that last week Latham had asked Sharpe about the ATC unsolicited proposal, which was lodged on March 28.

Her response included that the proposal contained:

“Several sites across Sydney earmarked and investigated for a new, world-class racecourse track and facilities, plus upgrades of all existing Sydney racecourses.”

So where does the Brickpit sit then? SOPA had not facilitated any inspection of the site, so either someone else has, which seems odd, or the inspection hasn’t been done, which casts doubts on whether the Brickpit is in the mix at all.

Adding another layer of uncertainty is that in a February 6 meeting with The Cabinet Office, also documented in the ‘call for papers’ documents, the ATC said:

“While the USP was being developed with a proposal to upgrade Warwick Farm and Canterbury to host races relocated from Rosehill, consideration was being given to seeking government assistance to secure an additional, new location in Western Sydney for a racecourse.”

The ATC asked if it could amend the unsolicited proposal after lodgement if it later decided to add this to the proposal but was advised that a substantial change to the proposal down the track would typically result in the process being closed and reconsidered as a fresh proposal.

So if, as Sharpe indicated, the proposals for a new site were included in the USP, then a lot of work must have been done between February 6 and March 28.

So, if not Warwick Farm or the Brickpit then where?

Some have suggested that Hawkesbury could come into consideration for substantial redevelopment, while there have been rumours about a possible site near Penrith. Both of those options are a long way further west Rosehill, Warwick Farm or indeed Homebush.

Then there is the matter of Kembla Grange, which came up for conversation during that February 6 meeting between the ATC and The Cabinet Office.

“ATC noted that Racing NSW had expressed an interest in the racecourse at Kembla Grange becoming part of the suite of upgraded venues as part of the USP. NSW Govt advised that Racing NSW is not a proponent of the USP so might like to raise that proposal separately,” the meeting minutes said.

Racing NSW had also raised Kembla Grange at its meeting with The Cabinet Office back in November.

Having outlined ownership issues surrounding the course, it said that in its opinion “the Kembla Grange racecourse should be an industry asset, and on that basis, transferred under freehold or long-term lease to RNSW.”

It raises the question if Kembla Grange would be considered a possible left-field metropolitan racing option. The Straight understands that is not an option that the ATC is supportive of.

The reason we know so little about what options are on the table when it comes to a replacement for Rosehill is that the first stage of the unsolicited proposal process is private. We won’t know what is in that document until it progresses to stage two.

However, if the ATC has any chance of convincing its membership base to support the Rosehill sale, something it says it needs to have to progress, then it will surely have to put forward a clear vision for what a post-Rosehill reality looks like.

Watch this space.

Brickpit or bust? Where to for Sydney metropolitan racing should Rosehill be closed

Author

Related Articles