It’s not over yet

By Kath Gannaway
RACING Minister Denis Napthine has told the Mail that Racing Victoria and Yarra Valley Racing Club got away too fast in announcing that thoroughbred training was finished at Yarra Glen.
The Mail reported on 15 March that YVRC and VRL had told trainers there would be no more training at Yarra Glen after 30 April.
“They’re wrong,” he said. “Thoroughbred training is not being closed.”
The minister’s reassurance that the option is still open has been welcomed by Yarra Valley-based racehorse trainers who were looking at either having to relocate to regional training facilities, or get out of the industry.
“The sand track has been washed away and the grass track is unsafe to train on, so there’s no ability to train there at the moment, but when that problem is fixed, then we will need to see what demand there is for training and whether infrastructure for training will need to be put in place as well,” Dr Napthine said.
He said he believed Racing Victoria was anticipating that the demand would not be there because the track was likely to be closed for 12 to 18 months.
“Maybe that’s the reality, but it’s certainly not a fait accompli,” he said.
Leading trainer Shane Nicols has relocated to Mornington. As the biggest trainer in the area, he says he is aware it would be hard to prove the demand without his return.
“I have invested heavily in property and business there and have a pretty solid client-base there so it would be very much in my interest to return my operation to Yarra Valley,” he said. Trainer Mark Ashton also welcomed what might be a tentative lifeline.
“There would be a demand because we have trainers who are just not going to shift because they have family and other commitments which make it impossible for them to move to places like Seymour or Kyneton,” he said. “We are prepared to hang on if there is some assurance given to us.”
Yarra Valley Racing CEO Brett Shambrook restated their stance that their first priority was redevelopment of the main racetrack.
“If the government is going to do that (reinstate the training track) and the RVL is going to support annual maintenance, that’s fantastic,” he said.
“But if a decision on the course proper is not made within the next few weeks, we won’t be racing for another year.”
RVL spokesman Shaun Kelly said that, given the risk of future floods, they had no intention of replacing the training track.
He said they were working with the minister and were pleased that he was leading discussions with Melbourne Water on options for mitigating the flood risk.
Melbourne Water spokesman Nicolas McGay told the Mail Melbourne Water was midway through their investigation of the (Steels Creek) catchment, which was expected to be completed by mid-June.
The results of that investigation and resultant modelling would provide the basis for possible mitigation works.