'You've got to really understand what your trainers are thinking' - Unanswered questions over ATC's $800m plan for Warwick Farm

Warwick Farm may be the beneficiary of an $800 million upgrade should the proposed sale of Rosehill proceed, but trainers at the south-western Sydney track are concerned about the impact such a dramatic renovation may have on their businesses.

For one of the few times, Warwick Farm trainers were united.

Competition between trainers is fierce on the track, but it is arguably even more so off it as they constantly battle for the support of the biggest owners, the best horses and for the services of the most accomplished jockeys.

But on Wednesday, the Australian Turf Club was able to achieve the almost impossible: bring Warwick Farm trainers together as one.

Many of the centre’s trainers are deeply concerned about the impact on their businesses and staff if the arguably overdue $800 million Warwick Farm transformation proceeds.

Trainers spoken to by The Straight say the ramifications of such a project on stables based at Warwick Farm have not been adequately addressed by ATC management in their seemingly unrelenting drive to convince the club’s members – and the wider thoroughbred industry – that Rosehill racecourse should be sold for at least $5 billion to the NSW Government.

On Tuesday, the day before the trainers meeting, and not long before the ATC released its full plan to members, the ATC’s head of corporate affairs and government relations Steve McMahon met with a small number of industry figures in an online meeting to outline the organisation’s latest sales pitch.

With Warwick Farm brought in as the centrepiece of the Sydney racing masterplan without Rosehill, provincial venues Hawkesbury, Kembla Grange and Newcastle would be central to housing the majority of the impacted trainers’ horses.

Officials indicated that more than $800 million had been set aside for the complete overhaul of Warwick Farm under the latest plan, which would leave it out of action as a racing venue for two to three years and possibly less as a training centre.

Warwick Farm currently has about 700 horses in work, prepared by 35 different trainers from on-course and off-course stables, the ATC says, but it has the capacity for about 800.

No sooner had McMahon briefed the industry figures about plans to reconstruct the 87-hectare Warwick Farm site, meaning the necessity to temporarily relocate the horses that are trained there, the ATC appeared to have changed its messaging.

Just 24 hours after the online catch-up, in a face-to-face meeting with affected Warwick Farm trainers on Wednesday, McMahon and the ATC’s head of racing and wagering Nevesh Ramdhani told the aggrieved training cohort that Randwick and Canterbury would play a far greater role in housing their horses during the construction of their home track.

The Straight understands that the Warwick Farm committee room became animated given the previously mentioned provincial training centres, with McMahon and Ramdhani, as well as property development advisory firm Mostyn Copper’s joint managing director Matt Mostyn, told that even if there were adequate boxes to relocate all the horses to other metropolitan tracks that it still wasn’t as simple as they were making out.

It is not just the horses who have to move, it is the trainers and the hundreds of stable staff who live and work in and around Warwick Farm who would also need to relocate or travel daily to maintain their employment. They could be lost to the industry altogether, trainers say.

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Relocating to provincial tracks, for the majority of Warwick Farm’s trainers, would exacerbate those issues and potentially cripple their businesses was the prevailing feedback.

Then there’s the trainers’ intellectual property, built up over years, about how best to get a horse fit and race ready at Warwick Farm; it is different to training a horse at Rosehill or Randwick, Kembla or Hawkesbury, or any other track for that matter.

The ATC says development approvals have been received to build 300 stables at Randwick while Canterbury could house 150 horses in temporary stables with a new training track also constructed to accommodate the increased workload. Rosehill could also house an extra 100 horses in temporary boxes, information that has not previously been distributed in such detail.

Hawkesbury could take on an extra 150 Warwick Farm-trained horses, according to the ATC, while Newcastle has DA approval to build stables for another 260 horses and there are plans to construct 200 boxes at Kembla Grange.

The ATC has promised financial support for trainers to help offset the additional costs and inconvenience such a relocation would cause.

McMahon acknowledged the impact construction at Warwick Farm would have on local trainers, but said the ATC was not in a position to provide greater detail of its plans before informing the club’s members on Tuesday.

“We’re going to work hand-in-glove with every single trainer if this proposal goes ahead in terms of where they go, the timing of when they go, and to ensure that they’re no worse off financially as part of that process,” McMahon told The Straight on Friday.

“And obviously, consultation with the trainers will be ongoing from basically from now on in terms of that detail.

“We didn’t get specific with the numbers of stables that we’ve got at Randwick and at Canterbury and at Rosehill.”

“In the discussion on the day (Wednesday), it was clear that a number of the trainers would prefer to go to Canterbury or be at metropolitan courses as opposed to the provincial courses, which we completely understand.”

The Straight canvassed numerous affected participants’ opinions, with some playing down the explosive nature of Wednesday’s meeting.

While trainers are united about minimising the impacts during any reconstruction of Warwick Farm, noting that it is them who will have to do the “heavy lifting” for the industry during the protracted redevelopment stages, they are not all against the sale of Rosehill.

Warwick Farm trainers who own land and properties adjacent to the racecourse would financially benefit from the $800m transformation with the value of their properties increasing as a result of the upgrade.

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But it is not as simple as self-interest. Some of those who do own sites around Warwick Farm are against the sale of Rosehill.

“I think we all come away having a bit of a vent and putting forward some pretty constructive thoughts on what we can do and how we can do it (if the sale of Rosehill proceeded and Warwick Farm was upgraded),” one meeting attendee said.

“So, I think it was good that we had the discussion with them because I think there were some better ideas (raised). If you’re going to put forward something like they’re talking about, you’ve got to really understand what your trainers are thinking.

“It was a conversation that probably should have been had before they actually said they’re going to move us to provincial tracks.”

McMahon reiterated that minimising the disruption to staff if the project proceeded was paramount.

“Staffing is an issue across racing in general, across all of New South Wales. So we will obviously work with them and we know that Racing NSW have got programs in place to help with those 452s (visas) and other things like that,” the ATC executive said.

“So, we will work with them and that’s why the aim is to keep the bulk of them (horses and trainers) in the metropolitan area so that it’s easier for their staff and their families.”

In the ATC’s 111-page Notice of Extraordinary General Meeting document released to members on Tuesday, it says that if the Stage 3 Unsolicited Sale Process (USP) is executed, Rosehill would continue as a racing and training venue for at least three years.

“Staffing is an issue across racing in general, across all of New South Wales. So we will obviously work with them and we know that Racing NSW have got programs in place to help with those 452s (visas) and other things like that.” – Steve McMahon

Rosehill, the home of the Golden Slipper and the Golden Eagle, would also continue to host race meetings for another three years, up until December 2031.

If the Rosehill sale plan gains the majority vote, which will be conducted on May 27 at the ATC’s EGM, it would not be until at least May 2027 before Warwick Farm trainers would be forced to relocate.

“Funding has been appropriately allocated to upgrade training surfaces and stabling within ATC’s property portfolio at Royal Randwick and Rosehill Gardens as part of the proposed relocation plans for Warwick Farm trainers,” the report said.

“Further, working closely with Racing NSW, the circa 800 horses at Warwick Farm will be temporarily relocated to ATC and provincial racecourses.”

If the deal proceeds, and Warwick Farm is redeveloped, the ATC has promised to establish a Racing Advisory Board made up of a majority of independent representatives from stakeholder groups including trainers, breeders, owners and jockeys.

“The ATC will seek views and recommendations from the Racing Advisory Board on initiatives such as the redevelopment of Warwick Farm, the transition arrangements for Rosehill Gardens and Warwick Farm trainers, the improvements at Royal Randwick and the identification of the new site,” the ATC says.

McMahon, the NSW Trainers’ Association CEO from 2011 to late 2015, says he understands trainers’ cynicism when it comes to the ATC and Warwick Farm.

“There’s a natural cynicism out there because there have been many promises over the last 20 years that they feel haven’t been fulfilled,” he said.

“For example, when they sold (land at Warwick Farm to Inglis), there were all kinds of promises made by former boards and the like.

“What I said to them is that if this deal (to sell Rosehill) goes ahead, for the first time ever, the ATC would actually have the funds to implement the plans, and previous boards could never have said that.”