Warwick Farm was initially the centrepiece of the Australian Turf Club’s plans to close and redevelop Rosehill racecourse, with The Cabinet Office told by the idea’s key architect, Steve McMahon, that the ATC wanted to directly relocate racing from Rosehill to Warwick Farm.
Minutes of a meeting on November 8 last year between the ATC’s Head of Membership and Corporate Affairs, McMahon, William Murphy, the Assistant Secretary of The Cabinet Office and Rowan Fisher, from the Department of Enterprise, Industry and Trade, were provided to the parliamentary inquiry into Rosehill this week,
While the role of Warwick Farm as part of the broader plan was significantly diminished by the time it was publicly announced on December 7, it is now clear it was initially a crucial part of the ATC’s ambitions.
The minutes of the November 8 meeting, supplied by Murphy to the Select Committee, indicate plans for a ’broader proposal’ were presented.
“ATC then presented a broader concept proposal to relocate racing from Rosehill to Warwick Farm, with the entire Rosehill Gardens site to be developed for housing, green space and a school,” the minutes read.
According to the minutes, key aspects of the proposal included:
- relocate racing from Rosehill to Warwick Farm
- ATC to retain and develop the entire Rosehill Gardens site for housing (in the order of 20-25,000 residences), green space and a school
- redevelop Warwick Farm as a state-of-the-art racing and training facility
- establish a Centre of Excellence horse training facility at Horsley Park to accommodate the relocation of 3-400 horses from Rosehill (and potentially some from Warwick Farm).
This detail backs up the early drafts of press releases, as seen through a parliamentary call for papers earlier this year, which had Warwick Farm as a clear direct replacement for Rosehill.
McMahon was asked about the Warwick Farm plans during his appearance at a public hearing of the Select Committee in August.
“Original documents show that the plan was originally to relocate racing from Rosehill to Warwick Farm. When did that change?” Committee chair Scott Farlow asked.
“What do you mean, ‘relocate racing from Rosehill to Warwick Farm’?” McMahon replied.
McMahon then inquired which documents Farlow was referring to before ATC chairman Peter McGauran interjected.
“Yes, we re-envisaged Warwick Farm as the replacement track. And we would invest on widening the corner, extending the straight, building new stabling, building new spectator and member facilities,” he said.
McGauran then indicated it was the idea of a site at the brickpit at Homebush which changed the ATC’s ideas about Warwick Farm. However, the genesis of the brickpit idea came much later, in late December or early January, according to Racing NSW, not prior to the ATC’s announcement.
Racing NSW told the inquiry that the brickpit idea emanated from discussions between its chief operating officer Graeme Hinton and CEO Peter V’landys.
Warwick Barr
McMahon did say at the inquiry that there are plans to upgrade Warwick Farm, but there was no mention of its replacing Rosehill as Sydney’s second track.
So what changed?
On November 17, Racing NSW then chairman Russell Balding and V’landys held a meeting with The Cabinet Office.
Among the aspects discussed at that meeting, via the minutes released through parliamentary order earlier this year, was the role of Warwick Farm.
“Racing NSW considers Warwick Farm might be expensive to convert to a full top-grade racecourse. Subject to deeper investigation there may not be enough room,” the minutes from that meeting read.
“On this basis, it is important to consider the state of racing venues across NSW to potentially share the load.”
Asked about the possibility of Warwick Farm replacing Rosehill during his appearance at the parliamentary inquiry in August, V’landys said it was unlikely that plan would proceed.
“We would look at Warwick Farm but, as I mentioned, we want a track that is conducive to competitive racing, which gives the horse less injury and gives the punter the best opportunity to win - because the wider the turn, the longer the straight. It is conducive to competitive racing,” he said.
“If an engineer can show us that Warwick Farm can accommodate all those minimum standards that we have on the radius of the turns, the length of the straights et cetera, we would certainly look at it. Canterbury certainly can't; it won't fit. Warwick Farm may be a possibility.”
Bren O’Brien
Racing NSW chair Saranne Cooke poured further cold water on the Warwick Farm plans when she spoke before the Select Committee in September.
“It sounds like it's going to be expensive. We're yet to do the work and, again, we don't make decisions without facts and information by the right experts. We're yet to do that. We'll wait for that and then make the decision. The early indication is that it will be very expensive,” she said
The closure of Warwick Farm as a racetrack was mooted in 2004, soon after V’landys assumed the role of Racing NSW CEO. There have been several plans to regenerate the racetrack since, but no serious upgrade has been undertaken.
The confirmation that the ATC was initially so keen on Warwick Farm as an alternative to Rosehill is also in contrast to the opinion of David Hall, the former AJC chairman from 2005 until 2007.
“I was the chairman of the AJC when we conducted the one-in-100-year flood event studies on Warwick Farm. There is no ability to expand Warwick Farm,” he said in July.
“It is bound by, on the one side, the river, and, on the other side, by the Hume Highway. It can never be made into a quality Group 1 track to carry a burden that would be placed upon it if Rosehill were sold.”
Leading trainers Gai Waterhouse and John O’Shea both said they didn’t believe Warwick Farm could ever be a suitable ‘Group 1’ racetrack.
“Yes, we re-envisaged Warwick Farm as the replacement track. And we would invest on widening the corner, extending the straight, building new stabling, building new spectator and member facilities” - Australian Turf Club chairman Peter McGauran
The lack of esteem in which Warwick Farm is held can perhaps be best exemplified by the evidence of Planning Sectary Keirsten Fishburn who said she spent four years complaining to the ATC about the club failing to paint the fence at Warwick Farm while she was CEO of Liverpool City Council.
“I'm sad to say it has not yet been completed,” she told the Committee.
Farlow replied: "There might be a recommendation to paint the fence at Warwick Farm from this inquiry."
Fishburn: “I'll keep on trying until I see that fence painted."
