Picnics play – Home of iconic bush meeting on Racing NSW’s radar

Racing NSW is considering purchasing a farm in the state’s south to ensure an iconic once-a-year picnic meeting continues to be staged in its traditional and unique setting.

The Ardlethan picnics, an important community event in the Riverina region for decades, has been run on the private property Warri for 65 years but not in 2025 after protracted negotiations between the landowner and the committee broke down in January without a resolution being reached.

The dispute arose over the installation of a new plastic running rail at the track, a piece of infrastructure deemed necessary by Racing NSW to improve horse and jockey safety, but it is understood the owner of the farm declined to grant permission for the implementation of permanent new outside railing that would enclose the track.

After months and back-and-forth talks, the impasse forced the Ardlethan Picnic Race Club committee to assess its options of either abandoning the meeting or running it elsewhere. 

As a result, the difficult decision was made in January to hold the March 22 race day at Narrandera, 66km southwest of Ardlethan. 

Ardlethan Picnic Race Club secretary Lou Clemson, who has served on the committee since 1993, confirmed the organisation approached Racing NSW two years ago, soon after Warri was listed for sale, about the prospect of the principal racing authority buying the property and safeguarding the local meeting’s future.

Those discussions, which started via Racing NSW Country board member Brian Charman, didn’t proceed any further until the issue was raised again earlier this year when it became apparent that a rolling 12-month gratis lease between the club and the property’s owner to stage the races would not be renewed.

“I started looking at our vulnerability and our options while it was up for sale a couple of years ago and then they (Racing NSW) picked it up again in January, especially after what happened (with the running rail),” Clemson told The Straight.

“I said, ‘look, let’s revisit this’ and so I rang Racing NSW and said, ‘I’m going to step back a bit and it’s just between you and the agent now to have discussions’, which is very exciting if it does happen.”  

Warri owner Justin O’Brien is sympathetic to the hardworking Ardlethan picnics committee and the event’s significance but he refuted the inference that he was responsible for ending six decades of racing at the track.

“I took over the farm when my father died, and as I said to the Racing (NSW) people … it’s farmed for 364 days a year and it’s used as a racecourse for five hours,” retired farmer O’Brien says. 

“Their demands were just getting out of control. We donated that (land) to the town and we had people from near and far attending and they are a pretty good race club. I just said that I wasn’t interested in having a full running rail around the place because the place has to be farmed.

“We had a lot to do with it as well. My brother and I are both life members.”

The 1190-acre Warri is on two titles, with the racecourse section sitting on a separate 350-acre parcel, making the prospect of two separate buyers for the land a possible outcome.

Based on current market value, the land that the racecourse is on could be worth around $2000 to $3000 an acre, placing a value of between $700,000 and $1.05 million on the acreage which is being examined by Racing NSW. 

Warri is listed for sale with Angus McLaren of Miller and James Real Estate at Temora.

“It’s a beautiful block of land with good soils and creeks. It is good grazing and cropping country, but it’s a very slow market at the moment,” says McLaren, who would not speculate about Racing NSW’s interest in the property.

“We had a bull run from 2000 to 2022 where prices doubled and, in some cases, tripled very quickly. Now I guess we’re having a bit of a hangover with the reality of paying money back at higher interest rates and all our input costs have gone up.”

The question is, if the property did end up in the hands of Racing NSW, what would the regulator do with it for the remainder of the year? The most obvious answer could be to lease the land back for agricultural purposes such as cropping, as O’Brien currently has.

The standard rate is about 3 per cent of the land value but given the inconvenience of the races being held annually on the property, it could potentially be leased at a discount to make it an appealing prospect to farmers while guaranteeing a permanent home for the Ardlethan picnics.

It is understood that the proposal for Racing NSW to buy the property is yet to be taken to its board. 

“I started looking at our vulnerability and our options while it was up for sale a couple of years ago and then they (Racing NSW) picked it up again in January, especially after what happened (with the running rail)” – Ardlethan Picnic Race Club secretary Lou Clemson.

The Straight reported last year that Racing NSW had accumulated a property portfolio worth more than $125 million, a holding that includes the $22.5 million Bong Bong Farm and the $14 million Princes Farm near Hawkesbury, once owned by the late Bart Cummings.

Leading trainer Ciaron Maher is leasing Bong Bong Farm in the state’s Southern Highlands as part of his increasing presence in NSW.

The PRA also owns a 992-hectare farm in Capertree, about 50km north of Lithgow on the NSW Central Tablelands and an 87-acre equine property on Oxley Island, near Taree on the state’s Mid-North Coast.

The importance of country and picnic race meetings to their local communities can’t be underestimated, Clemson says, and he is optimistic about the longer-term future of Ardlethan and similar picnic meetings such as Bedgerabong near Forbes and Duck Creek at Nyngan.

The volunteer racing administrator also attended last Saturday’s Condobolin picnics, another iconic race meeting in the central west of the state that welcomed about 700 punters.

“The Ardlethan races is our one big event of the year for the wider community. We’ve got the Barellan community involved, we’ve got Ariah Park and Mirrool and then you’ve got the community of Ardlethan that contributes to the success of the races,” Clemson says.

“It attracts close to 1600 people and it’s just continued to grow. Families and community members come along and set up on the bank of the Mirrool Creek. It’s packed every single year. Every family has their spot and all their friends come over as well.

“They hang chandeliers in the trees. It’s a truly amazing experience.”

Clemson is hopeful that the Ardlethan picnics can return to its spiritual home in 2026 and beyond.

“It feels surreal that we’re not racing there after all these years,” she says of the move to Narrandera.

“I feel sorry for the kids and I just hope that we’re not over and out.”

Racing NSW was contacted for comment.