MRC vote blindsides Sandown campaigners

A prominent campaigner to save Sandown from being demolished admits he was unprepared for a unanimous Melbourne Racing Club board decision that rules out a compromise over a potential sale of the racecourse.

Retired trainer Colin Little says the result of a vote to abandon plans for a partial sell-off of Sandown left him bewildered, given the dynamics of the MRC board.

Opponents of a sale have been successful in having four members elected to the MRC committee during the past two years after running on a “Save Our Sandown” ticket.

With one incumbent believed to favour keeping Sandown as an MRC asset, Little said he was surprised to learn that only two options – sell or retain for racing – remain on the table for the racetrack in Melbourne’s southeast.

“The committee is now as I understand it, five-four for retaining Sandown,” Little said.

“We just don’t understand where that (board vote) came from considering that five (members) are opposed to selling.

“We are yet to speak to our five representatives but it is terribly disappointing to see that and we don’t understand it really.”

The MRC says a 2023 independent report found the economics of a partial sell-off would have a $300 million impact on an all-inclusive value of Sandown.

Sandown has been valued at between $600 million and $800 million should it be sold off entirely for redevelopment.

But Little said his group would have happily entertained a proportional sale in the interests of finding a middle ground with the MRC.

“If push came to shove and they could have sold off some of it but retained the racetrack, we thought that was a fallback position,” Little said.

As a trainer who earned widespread industry respect running a stable that found itself in the national spotlight when El Segundo won the 2007 Cox Plate, Little’s retirement in 2022 came not long after he was forced to relocate to Pakenham when Caulfield closed as a training centre.

It irks him no end that his former base is now home to an inner track that he says can in no way compensate for a potential loss of Sandown.

“To think that a little bike track in the middle of Caulfield is going to replace Sandown is laughable,” he said.

“We just think it’s a tragedy to even consider selling Sandown. We can’t do without it.

“It takes all the grunt work through winter and bounces back at the end of spring. It’s just an asset we can’t afford to lose.”

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The Save Our Sandown group is concerned the MRC needs to sell Sandown to pay for the completion of a Caulfield masterplan that includes a new grandstand.

But the MRC rejects that claim, saying its plans for Caulfield and Sandown are independent issues.

Little isn’t convinced.

“They keep saying it will come down to a members’ decision but they have spent hundreds of thousands on the way to demolishing Sandown at the moment,” he said.

“Not only with renovations at Caulfield but planning permits (for Sandown) are just pushing along all the time.

“(The MRC) always says it’s up to the members … they can’t do anything unless they get the members’ approval and that’s been going on like that for a couple of years.

“But they keep going forward with demolishing the existing (Caulfield) grandstand at the moment, relocating horse stalls and the mounting yard.

“It all revolves around the funding for that – $400 million or something.”

The MRC claims key metrics for Sandown show that its membership is reluctant to patronise the track but Little said there was a tangible reason for that.

“To think that a little bike track in the middle of Caulfield is going to replace Sandown is laughable” – former Caulfield trainer Colin Little

“They say no one goes but there’s no real incentive to be there at the moment. Even though it’s a magnificent racetrack, the rest of it is terribly poor,” he said.

“They were forced into a coat of paint when they had to run the Blue Diamond there (last year).

“But the facilities have degraded immensely with zero maintenance over the last 10 to 15 years.”

The MRC sent out a communication to members just before Christmas, confirming that the state government had advised that the Planning Scheme Amendment (PSA) process for Sandown will commence this year.

That process, which will be overseen by the Minister for Planning, Sonya Kilkenny, is expected to take 12 months to complete, giving the MRC the information it needs to take the vote over the future of Sandown to members.

Any members’ vote on Sandown’s fate is unlikely to be held until 2025.