Ballarat decided to build a racetrack in 2019. It’s still waiting for cultural heritage approval

More than five years after Ballarat Turf Club announced it was building a $4.3 million undercover woodchip track to transform its training facilities, it is still waiting on First Nations approval to finish the job.

The regional racing club has not been able to complete the last 400 metres of the new 1400-metre facility because it does not have a cultural heritage management plan.

A look inside the uphill woodchip track being built at Ballarat Turf Club. Credit: Jason South

But the Registered Aboriginal Party (RAP) that oversees the Ballarat area, the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation, told this masthead that the delays have been caused by a “third party” consultant acting on behalf of Racing Victoria.

The Wadawurrung corporation’s chief executive, Matt Smith, said the organisation had been “very frustrated” by the hold-up.

Smith said the First Peoples – State Relations, the government’s peak Indigenous advisory group, was now working with Racing Victoria to help it compile a cultural heritage management plan that meets the state government’s legislative requirements.

“The RAP has enjoyed a close working relationship with the Ballarat Turf Club and has no substantive concerns about the project whatsoever,” Smith said.

Both Racing Victoria and the Wadawurrung corporation declined to name the “third party” consultant.

A cultural heritage management plan is an agreement between land users and traditional owners to properly a manage a site to protect Indigenous heritage.

Racing Victoria will contribute $3.8 million towards the $4.3 million facility, while the state government will kick in $520,000 through its Victorian Racing Industry Fund.

Ciaron Maher is one trainer frustrated by the delays, saying a well-designed, well-constructed woodchip track would help transform Ballarat into one of the best training facilities in Australia.

“We’ve invested a fair bit of time, resources and money into our Ballarat facility and, yeah, it is disappointing,” Maher said.

The top 400m uphill section of Ballarat Turf Club’s new training track has not been finished.Credit: Jason South

But Maher has reservations about the way the existing stretch of the track has been built, saying it still needed work to ensure it provided the best surface for horses. He said the track was not deep enough and the wrong woodchips had been used.

Ballarat Turf Club chief executive Peter Downs, who only took over the role in August last year, said the club was hopeful it would soon be granted approval to restart work on the project.

Downs said Racing Victoria managed the relationship with the Wadawurrung corporation.

A Racing Victorian spokesperson said they understood the frustrations of the Ballarat racing community over the delays.

“Together with the Ballarat Turf Club, we are working closely with the relevant authorities in a bid to obtain the necessary approvals to complete this important project,” the spokesperson said.

An industry source with inside knowledge of the project, but not able to speak publicly, said the delay had not affected the total cost.

Maher, who bought Darren Weir’s Ballarat stables in 2019, said there were multiple advantages of having an undercover, uphill woodchip track at Ballarat – a training centre that caters for almost 80 trainers and has grown from 400 to 650 horses in the past six years.

Ciaron Maher believes a well-built woodchip track would transform Ballarat.Credit: Eamon Gallagher

He said it would help alleviate the wear and tear on their existing grass tracks during the Ballarat winter and allow the centre to gallop “as many horses as you want all day, every day”.

Maher said similar tracks are used to great effect by champion Irish trainers Aidan and Joseph O’Brien, as well as in certain areas of Japan. Uphill tracks make horses work harder but because the animals run slower, they are less likely to suffer injury.

Maher said Ireland’s damper climate allowed the woodchips to break down and as you kept topping them up, they formed a deep, mattress-like effect for the horses to gallop on as they worked uphill.

A roof and a built-in sprinkling system would allow a Ballarat facility to be consistently watered during an Australian summer.

Maher said the international versions had larger woodchips at the bottom, and they became smaller and finer as they rose towards the top.

But he was concerned Ballarat had used “mulchy-type stuff” that had “every size chip you can think of all mixed into one”.

“I am sure it’s salvageable because the dimensions are there,” Maher said.

An aerial view of the new, incomplete, uphill woodchip training track at Ballarat Turf Club. Credit: Jason South

“If they could fix the surface, if they do it properly, it would be one of the best training locations in the country.”

Maher said one of the keys to running such a facility was to employ a person who knows how to build and maintain a woodchip track rather than rely on curators who manage existing grass tracks.

Ballarat unveiled a new 1550m inside grass training track in May last year, opened by Racing Minister Anthony Carbines. The government’s fund put $1.3 million towards the new track.

A Carbines media release said racing in the Ballarat region generated $89.1 million for the economy and helped sustain almost 700 full-time jobs.

Jockey out for a decade

Jockey Lewis German has been disqualified for 10 years by the Victorian Racing Tribunal for taking part in an illegal betting scheme that netted connections almost $260,000 from 37 races he rode in across four months in 2022.

German, 25, who currently lives overseas, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to engaging in conduct prejudicial to the image of racing, but insisted the person who profited by placing bets on his horses to lose never paid him any money.

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