The argument over the future of Rosehill may have been settled, but the way forward for racing in Australia’s biggest city is far from clear. Bren O’Brien wonders if the toxicity of the debate will continue to cloud real progress.
Having achieved their aim, albeit by a narrower margin than many expected, those forces which aligned to oppose the Australian Turf Club’s $5 billion proposal to sell Rosehill are unlikely to rest on their laurels when it comes to reform of racing in the state.
For most of those involved in the Save Rosehill campaign, this was about much more than being against a hastily compiled and not particularly well-thought-through plan to try to secure a $5 billion windfall which may underpin the ATC’s bottom line for generations to come.
It was about the difference in opinion on what the future of racing should look like in Australia as the 21st century evolves. They saw proposals like Rosehill as an example of racing retreating to margins and that the sale of the racecourse would only further concentrate power, particularly in NSW.
As one person put it to us, perhaps slightly idealistically in the aftermath of the vote, “maybe this was about a group of passionate sporting people with a respect for history, maybe that when they go racing they’re in a place of joy where they can see their friends and they can have a good time”.
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