The election that could shape the future of the Caulfield and Sandown racecourses

Melbourne Racing Club members are heading to the polls over the next two weeks in an election that could reshape the future of the Caulfield and Sandown racecourses.

Six men will fight it out for two vacancies on the 10-member MRC board – a group that has come under fire from two female members in recent weeks.

An aerial view of Sandown in 2021.Credit: Joe Armao

Voting opened on Tuesday and will close on September 24, with the two successful candidates to be announced at the MRC’s annual general meeting on September 26.

The two vacancies have been created by the retirement of MRC chairman Matt Cain and six-year board member Mark Pratt.

In an election that will have significant ramifications for the future of the club, four of the six candidates – Sheamus Mills, Peter Brown, Cameron Fisher and Craig Gardner – all support racing continuing at the MRC’s Sandown Racecourse.

Three of the six – Mills, Brown and Fisher – are also openly opposed in their candidate statements to a $250 million plan to replace the MRC’s glass-fronted Rupert Clarke grandstand at Caulfield.

Of the remaining candidates, Paul Johnson says he will support the members’ decision on Sandown as well as the future development of Caulfield, while Colin Madden says his focus is ensuring the MRC has a board that works “cooperatively for the benefit of the club members”.

Three key issues at the MRC were brought to a head by rebel board member John Kanga almost three weeks ago when he filed a motion for a special general meeting, calling for a spill of the board.

Kanga claimed the MRC members had been continually ignored over their opposition to the club’s new $60 million mounting yard facility at Caulfield Racecourse, as well as plans to demolish the Rupert Clarke grandstand, and the sale of the 112-hectare Sandown Racecourse for housing development.

Melbourne Racing Club committee members Alison Saville (left) and Caitrin Kelly.Credit: Eddie Jim, Simon Schluter

He created a group called Save Our MRC and called for the removal of board members Cain, Pratt, Nick Hassett, Brooke Dawson and Scott Davidson at a special general meeting.

MRC committee members Alison Saville and Caitrin Kelly then released a statement saying they were joining Kanga’s Save Our MRC movement, just five days after signing an MRC statement criticising his actions.

In explaining their backflip, Saville and Kelly said they felt pressured into signing the MRC committee joint statement at short notice and regretted the decision.

An artist’s impression of how a new grandstand could work with the new mounting yard at Caulfield.

“We consider that there is a longstanding poor culture and toxic atmosphere within the MRC executive committee ...,” the pair said.

“We have resolved not to let this continue and to stand up against it.”

It was reported on Saturday that Pratt, who is stepping down from the board, has issued a formal concerns notice to Kelly and Saville, saying he will start defamation action against the pair “as soon as the offer to make amends period has elapsed”.

Kanga’s push for an SGM is now most likely to be delayed until after the AGM.

But if Cain and Pratt are replaced by Save Sandown candidates in the coming election, it would further strengthen Kanga’s hand as eight of the 10 MRC board members would oppose Sandown being sold for housing development.

The election comes as the state government-appointed Sandown Racecourse Advisory Committee begins to wind up its open hearing on the proposed rezoning and redevelopment of the racecourse land.

The hearing will end on Monday, and the advisory committee will then prepare a report for state planning minister Sonya Kilkenny.

The sale of Sandown has to be put to the members’ vote and cannot be decided by the board.

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