Sydney International Equestrian Centre upgrade branded ‘a hazard to horses’

A NSW government official ­labelled a $1m taxpayer-funded upgrade of the Sydney International Equestrian Centre as ‘substandard’.

A dressage event at the Sydney Equestrian Centre near Horsley Park. Picture: Chris McKeen

A NSW government official ­labelled a $1m taxpayer-funded upgrade of the Sydney International Equestrian Centre as “substandard”, warning it was putting the safety of elite horses at risk and fell short of competition ­standards.

Letters between the NSW ­Office of Sport and contractor Barrie Smith Motorsport (BSM), obtained by The Australian, show the surface required major rectification works after its installation.

The leaked documents show parts of the surface, which was supposed to be new, had been “dug up” and repurposed from ­another equestrian centre — Wallaby Hill in NSW’s Southern Highlands — and was littered with “thousands of pieces” of ­debris.

As the coronavirus pandemic scuppered sporting competitions across the world last year, Matt Brown, a project manager at the NSW Office of Sport, wrote to BSM calling for urgent work to “remedy the substandard surface” before the 2020 Olympic Games qualifiers.

Again on May 14 Mr Brown raised concerns that the indoor arena may not meet international competition standards and could pose a hazard to horses due to the presence of debris throughout the surface.

“The equestrian community, in particular the users of the arena, are strongly concerned that the pieces of the mat pose a hazard to the health and performance of their horses,” he wrote.

Former NSW director of Olympic ­Venues, Darren Crumpler, raised the alarm in 2017 over “evident contamination in the surface” that was out of line, given the “large cost and clear procurement” of a new arena floor.

After efforts to fix the arena last August the Office of Sport continued to find “exposed pieces of foreign mat particles” or pieces of arena surface that had been left over from the Wallaby Hill arena transplant.

Another Office of Sport letter says that after the August rectification effort the contractor’s service providers “failed to then subsequently collect and remove any remaining exposed pieces of foreign mat particles” and staff had collected about 200 particles.

Mr Smith told The Australian the surface from Wallaby Hill had been “brand new” when it was transported to Sydney International Equestrian Centre, had been installed under the supervision of an expert engineer and the particles never posed a risk to horses or riders.

“It’s correct the pieces of mat particles came from the removal process but the international arm of Otto (engineers) has since written to the Office of Sport, saying these is ­absolutely no risk to the horse or to the rider and they (the particles) are purely cosmetic.”

He said that, from his point of view, the Office of Sport was happy with the arena and it had always been his intention to create an arena surface that rivalled those in Europe, considered the best in the world.

“It was only after several people with an axe to grind used the presence of the mat particles to question the riding surface that the presence of the particles ­became an issue with the Office of Sport,” he said.

A spokesman for the Office of Sport said that following its 2020 rectification the equestrian centre was now fit for purpose and had since been tested by three elite-level dressage riders, two international equestrian experts and two Olympic equestrian judges.