THE price tag of Albury Racing Club’s track upgrade has blown out to an estimated $1.6 million and put the project on hold.
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Almost 12 months ago, Racing NSW agreed to put together a funding proposal on the basis the club and Albury Council played a part in a track redevelopment initially priced at $1 million.
But an independent assessment of required works including earthworks to realign, reshape and widen the existing track, drainage improvements and turf replacement revealed the cost blowout.
Works will create major disruption to training and racing at the track when they do start.
The club requested $600,000 from the council to complete the works as part of the recent draft budget deliberations.
But the approach was rejected due to the uncertainty on the commitments from the club and Racing NSW.
Club chief executive officer John Miller said he was planning to meet Racing NSW officials about the status of the track upgrade.
“It is fair to say the council sees it more as a Racing NSW responsibility,” he said.
“We need to have some more discussions with Sydney.”
Future funding for track upgrades and prizemoney increases are hinging on betting tax negotiations with the NSW government.
Racing NSW is paying more than its Victorian counterparts on money wagered on the TAB.
But the state government wants to control any additional money to Racing NSW if parity with Victoria is achieved.
“Within the next month or so we will be a lot of clearer on what is happening,” Mr Miller said.
“I’m hoping by the start of the next financial year we will know whether we are doing works on the track.”
In recent years, Albury Racing Club has been forced to cancel a string of meetings due to its inability to cope with even small amounts of rain.
Last year’s Albury Gold Cup meeting was almost called off due to the state of the track.
The gold cup is one of the city’s biggest events and provides an economic spin off to other businesses with regular crowds of more than 10,000 people.
The council has given a half-day holiday for the cup meeting.