Racing Qld CEO Brendan Parnell reveals predicted timeline for Gold Coast track upgrade

GOLD Coast’s long wait for upgrades to its training track could be over with Racing Queensland CEO Brendan Parnell revealing his predicted timeline for completion of the project.

GOLD Coast’s long wait for upgrades to its training track could be over with Racing Queensland CEO Brendan Parnell revealing his predicted timeline for the completion of the project.

Trainers at the Gold Coast have been becoming increasingly frustrated with the weathered training surface at Aquis Park along with Turf Club bosses who have had attempts to lure some of Australian racing’s biggest names north derailed due to the industry-wide view of the track.

Racing powerbrokers have watched on as Eagle Farm, Toowoomba and Sunshine Coast all had their tracks revamped in recent years while Gold Coast’s sat stagnate.

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Making matters worse is the botched job at Eagle Farm which has forced it to be redone multiple times.

But with Eagle Farm back up and running, Parnell said work at the Gold Coast could begin early in the new year on both the training tracks and installation of lights for night racing.

“We are hoping to begin work in 2019, potentially in the early stages of the year, on the training tracks and lights. All going well it could be completed by 2020,” Parnell said.

“There is $28 million allocated to it from the (racing scheme) and we are eager to get started. “Any projects worth over $1 million need to be signed off individually by the Government.

The outage at Eagle Farm has held that up but with that on the mend we can now look to start putting our focus on the Gold Coast.

Racing Qld CEO Brendan Parnell at the Gold Coast Turf Club racetrack. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

The training track is set to be converted to a synthetic surface and Gold Coast Turf Club staff recently joined Parnell on an expedition to see how well it worked at interstate tracks.

“We actually did a tour recently of a few synthetic tracks in southern states and different materials work in different weather conditions,” Parnell said.

“We had Gold Coast’s (track manager) Steve Andrews and (race manager) James Cable do the tour with us along with some Sunshine Coast club officials and trainers.

“There has been concern in the past with material coming off the track but they are well more advanced now and like all things, need to be maintained properly.”

For more on Racing Queensland CEO Brendan Parnell’s plans for the Gold Coast, night racing, programming and the return of harness and greyhound racing to the Gold Coast, read Saturday’s Q&A in the Gold Coast Bulletin.