New-look $800m racecourse in Western Sydney to have a final straight to rival Flemington

Warwick Farm racecourse will get an $800m revamp to turn it into a Group One racecourse with world-class facilities if the sale of Rosehill Gardens goes ahead. Watch the flyover video.

A first look at the $800m Warwick Farm Racecourse transformation, which will go ahead if Rosehill Gardens is sold to make way for housing. Picture: Supplied

Warwick Farm racecourse will get an $800m revamp to turn it into a Group One racecourse with world-class facilities if the sale of Rosehill Gardens goes ahead.

Australian Turf Club members will receive details of the new course design and training facilities on Tuesday as they prepare to vote on the Rosehill sale on May 27.

ATC chairman Peter McGauran has previously said the $5bn sale would “rejuvenate and secure the racing industry for many generations to come”.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has welcomed the unsolicited ATC offer to sell Rosehill as an opportunity to create a new 25,000-home suburb to help ease the housing crisis.

But it has been met with howls of protest from ATC members and prominent trainers, including Chris Waller and Gai Waterhouse, who have all raised concerns about the loss of the course and lack of any viable alternative to stable and train racehorses.

The new plans, obtained exclusively by The Daily Telegraph, to revamp Warwick Farm rather than buy land for a completely new course are aimed at addressing those concerns.

Under the plan, the Warwick Farm course will be completely redesigned to give it a new shape and a 463m long home straight to match Flemington’s in Melbourne.

It will incorporate six new tracks, including a new “A Grass” inner track for racing that would be superior to the current Kensington track at Royal Randwick, and four training tracks including a synthetic polytrack.

The trainers will have the use of a 600-box stabling precinct with 15 barns on the course that would be able to accommodate 1000 racehorses for training.

Spectators would be able to watch racing on the newly reconfigured 2175m-long course from a state-of-the-art multipurpose grandstand and event centre positioned on the new finish line.

A first look at the $800m Warwick Farm Racecourse transformation, which will go ahead if Rosehill Gardens is sold to make way for housing. Picture: Supplied

A first look at the $800m Warwick Farm Racecourse transformation, which will go ahead if Rosehill Gardens is sold to make way for housing. Picture: Supplied

They would enter under a new canopy from a multi-deck carpark and have the use of a seven-day-a-week Lifestyle Club, which would operate in conjunction with the next door Inglis Hotel.

It is understood the ATC has not ruled out looking at buying another parcel of land to house a further training facility but Warwick Farm is now the focus of a second Group One racecourse in Sydney.

Breeder Julia Ritchie has been a vocal leader of the Save Rosehill campaign and has previously criticised the ATC for not providing members with more details of an alternative for Rosehill.

Racegoers at the Golden Slipper race day at Rosehill Racecourse this year. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“If they could present us with more information and have done appropriate due diligence, members would be looking at a totally different position,” she has said.

An ATC insider told The Daily Telegraph it was hoped the new plans for Warwick Farm would help put members’ minds at ease before the vote on May 27. More than half of the 11.500 members need to agree for the sale to go ahead.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” the insider said.

“We will never again get the chance to sell one of our assets for $5bn and secure the future of the industry.

“These plans for Warwick Farm show just how bright the future for racing can be in Sydney.”
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Originally published as New-look $800m racecourse in Western Sydney to have a final straight to rival Flemington