🔒 🔒 Coffs Harbour stables dispute takes legal turn over Crown land issue

Coffs Harbour stable owners have stepped up efforts to resolve a long-running dispute involving the NSW north coast racecourse, seeking a formal regulatory response to their concerns over the future of the training centre and their rights as stable owners.

A letter sent to interim Racing NSW chief executive Graeme Hinton on September 28, backed by legal advice, asks the regulator to recognise the historical arrangements under which trainers invested in, transferred and sold stable infrastructure and to amend current lease arrangements accordingly.

The approach follows an earlier representation to Hinton during his period as interim chief executive and seeks to move the dispute towards a resolution after what the owners regard as an inadequate response to their concerns.

Hinton was appointed Racing NSW chief executive this week and will formally take up the position on December 1.

The Coffs Harbour dispute centres on 12 stable blocks at the racecourse that trainers and other industry figures say they bought, built, improved and maintained over several decades under arrangements with the Coffs Harbour Racing Club.

Racing NSW became Crown land manager of the Coffs Harbour racecourse reserve in 2024, after the NSW government transferred responsibility from the local club, and the change has prompted a dispute over ownership and the stables’ future use.

The NSW Trainers Association has previously said legal advice supported the position that improvements constructed on Crown land ultimately revert to the lessor when leases expire, while Racing NSW has maintained that no tenant has been evicted and affected occupants have been offered renewed leases.

Prepared pro bono by lawyer Sharilea Hitchcock, the letter obtained by The Straight argues the historical arrangements are more complex, citing contracts and lease provisions that it says recognised trainers as having an interest in the structures they paid to build or buy.

In plain terms, the owners’ case is that they were allowed to treat the stables as assets they could invest in and sell, and Racing NSW should not now disregard that arrangement simply because the land itself is Crown-owned.

The letter references a 2017 agreement involving trainer Peter Evans in which the sale of a stable was conditional on the purchaser receiving a lease on terms no less favourable than those applying to the existing owner.

It also mentions Coffs Harbour Racing Club information telling stable owners that the club and the Crown were working towards longer leases to provide greater security for people who had invested in the facilities.

Previous lease wording is another key part of the argument, with the letter saying it expressly allowed trainers to establish, construct, develop, purchase and sell stable facilities at their own expense.

The leases also gave the club a right of first refusal when a trainer wanted to sell, with an approved purchaser able to take up a replacement lease or licence if the club declined to buy the facilities.

It is argued those provisions are difficult to reconcile with a position that trainers never had any ownership or contractual interest in the stables.

The letter also relies on two legal concepts — estoppel and unjust enrichment — which, put simply, concern whether a party can go back on representations that others relied on to their detriment, or benefit from investments made by someone else without fairly recognising their interest.

It says tenure holders made substantial investments in the stables in reliance on the club’s representations and that Racing NSW should therefore work towards an equitable commercial solution rather than simply relying on its legal title to the Crown land.

Racing NSW and Coffs Harbour Racing Club have been asked to renew the stable owners’ leases on terms consistent with historical use and to give written permission for owners to sell the stables and infrastructure they bought or constructed.

The letter seeks a response on the immediate lease position within seven days and on changes allowing sales and transfers within 21 days.

It is a dispute that has wider implications because Racing NSW is now Crown land manager at five regional racecourses – Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Inverell, Queanbeyan and Armidale – following transfers of responsibility from local race clubs.

NSW government answers to parliamentary questions confirmed Racing NSW became Crown land manager of Coffs Harbour and assumed responsibility for existing leases and licences over the reserve in 2024.