ATC pulls the pin on members’ meetings over Rosehill redevelopment

Two Australian Turf Club information sessions on the future of Rosehill have been cancelled as the fallout continues over a potential $5 billion sale of the Sydney racetrack.

ATC head of membership and corporate affairs Steve McMahon sent an email to members late on Friday to say forums planned for Tuesday and Wednesday next week would not go ahead.

McMahon said the sessions had been “deferred until a later date”.

“A number of questions were raised in the earlier forums that we wish to address, to ensure you have all the details you need, and it will take some time to collate this information,” he wrote.

The ATC’s decision to cancel the membership meetings comes after NSW Premier Chris Minns this week said it would be up to the club’s membership to decide the fate of Rosehill.

Minns described the sale of Rosehill as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” during a press conference to announce the western Sydney racetrack would be turned into a new suburb comprising 25,000 dwellings with Metro West access.

But he says it’s not the NSW government’s call to bulldoze Rosehill despite putting a 2028 timeline on the project when he addressed the media in December.

“I made that clear when I made that announcement … this was up to the ATC and the members of the ATC to decide, not the NSW government,” he told a NSW parliament estimates committee hearing on Wednesday.

“It was important, I believed, to explain to the people of NSW that we were not only receptive but open to the offer.

“We see it as a real opportunity for Rosehill racecourse, for the ATC, for racing in the state, as well as housing, but that decision will have to be decided by members of the ATC.”

‘Not a done deal’ – NSW premier puts Rosehill call firmly in ATC’s court

The closure and redevelopment of Rosehill is far from a foregone conclusion, according to the NSW Premier.

The StraightBren O’Brien

News of the potential sale of Rosehill and the possible relocation of on-course trainers to the NSW government-owned Horsley Park equestrian facility reverberated throughout the NSW racing industry.

But anti-sale sentiment came to a head during the first ATC information session when champion trainers Chris Waller and Gai Waterhouse launched a full-scale rebuke of the proposal.

“Rosehill is going to be here forever and it’s going to be Sydney racing’s biggest asset forever,” Waller said, slamming the leadership of ATC chairman Peter McGauran and Racing NSW boss Peter V’landys.

“You yourself, Mr McGauran. Are you going to be here in five years’ time when this mess starts to unfold?,” Waller asked.

“Is Mr V’landys going to be here in five years’ time, or is he going to be doing NRL or whatever else? Maybe he will be Minister Of Housing?

‘Give yourself an uppercut’ – Chris Waller emphatically steps up against Rosehill closure

Champion trainer Chris Waller has led an extraordinary rebuke of the plans to develop and sell off Rosehill racecourse at a members’ forum meeting on Tuesday.

The StraightBren O’Brien

Waller has since doubled down on his criticism.

“What’s been disturbing to me is it has been that flawed and that off-beat towards the betterment community, let alone racing, it’s just not funny,” Waller said in his weekly stable update.

“It’s as simple as that.

“I have no personal agenda. I care about the next generation. We do need a bigger picture and there might not be training at Rosehill in 50 years’ time.

“But this is not about training. This is about racing and a community coming together.

“There will be better places to train horses out of … it needs to happen.

“But they’ll still be racing at Rosehill when they are training at those training super centres.”