The Australian Turf Club is set to become one of the strongest sporting organisations in the country after finally clearing itself of all debt.
"We've got world-class horses - the eyes of the world are watching us - and we need a world-class stage": Chris Waller. Photo: Getty Images
Less than a year after having the millstone of TVN released from its balance sheet, the ATC will be debt-free this year, with commercial opportunities abounding in property and around racedays, with upgrade facilities at Randwick and Rosehill.
The benefit of cash flow and a strong financial position can already be seen, as the club has built a strong team in terms of numbers and talent in the past year. There is a budget to continue growth, make Sydney racing more dynamic and there is a healthy financial outlook for continued growth in the business.
The ATC will release a strategic plan in coming months, a view for its assets into the next decade, the centre of which will be tracks and facilities for training.
Advertisement
For first time since the merger, the ATC has money to spend and is ready to spend it.
Improving crowd figures a must
Sydney racing has its ground zero for the autumn carnival. The crowds for The Championships and the Golden Slipper should never be allowed to fall under the base set this year.
There is a strong product and strong awareness of major racing days. The next step should be to make them the biggest event in Sydney on each of the racedays. It should be the must-do event socially, sportingly and in terms of networking for business in March and April.
While the Melbourne spring has no competition for numbers and is rooted in strong tradition, which keeps the crowd flowing through the gates, Sydney is in the progress of re-establishing its identity for the autumn carnival and winning back the public.
Randwick deserves better than a 'cow paddock' track
Randwick has world-class facilities, but a third-world racetrack. The crowd for the final day of nearly 15,000 shows people will come to Randwick. Now the club has to work at making it palatable for the horsemen to send their steeds there with confidence. It has been no better than a cow paddock for the past three weekends.
"We've got world-class horses - the eyes of the world are watching us - and we need a world-class stage," premier trainer Chris Waller told Fairfax Media. "We don't have that at the moment.
"If Kembla Grange can get a similar amount of rain to Randwick and be a good track while Randwick is in the heavy or soft range, why don't we move The Championships to Kembla Grange and build the facilities around there to accommodate a world-class track? I walked the track on the Monday after the Doncaster and was horrified."
Waller is not the only one with concerns about the track but the big prizemoney papers over the gaping crater that is the track. The club and Racing NSW realise the benefit of having a grand Randwick track would be a significant turnover rise.
The track simply has been the same since its rebuild and ATC track bosses Lindsay Murphy and Nevesh Ramdhani can only work with what they have and that's not much.
The first part of the plan is to get a new Kensington track. Racing NSW and ATC will look at it this week. The view is it needs to be ripped up and built on the model of Canterbury, the best track in Sydney. It needs to start sooner rather than later.
It should happen in weeks. The reality is, it will be months before anything is done.
The course proper will follow. That should happen next year. In reality, it might be it won't happen before 2018.
Sticky surface added handicap for many
It was a case that if you handled the sticky Randwick surface you had a big advantage during the past three weeks.
The three main races on the final day were won by horses that had performed well on the track during The Championships. He's Our Rokkii completed the Carbine Club Stakes-Frank Packer Plate double, Prized Icon the Fernhill Handicap-Champagne Stakes and English was a slashing third in the TJ Smith before her All Aged Stakes victory.
The form stood up but more horses were disadvantaged by the track than handled it. As the racing carnival moves to Hawkesbury, Scone and Brisbane in coming weeks there might be horses that appreciate a better surface and have form reversals.
Angland avoids whip breach by hitting himself
There were no whip breaches on the final day of the autumn carnival, mainly due to Tye Angland pulling out of an attempt to strike Less Or More in consecutive strides in the last event on Saturday.
Jockeys are still adjusting to the rules, and Angland found himself ready to hit his mount in consecutive strides. "I was going to do it and realised just in time and tried to pull out of it," he told stewards. "I ended up hitting my boot, so I didn't really break the rule."
It was obvious on the film what Angland had attempted to do and for the second time he escaped without penalty by running the same defence. The whip rules will be front and centre at this week's national stewards conference, with the unlimited number of strikes in the final 100 metres as much under the microscope as the limit of five before it.