NEWCASTLE Jockey Club chief Duane Dowell said improving training facilities at the Broadmeadow racecourse to take the load off its grass tracks was a key focus early in his tenure.
Dowell took over as CEO on Monday, a little more than two months after joining the NJC as general manager of racing and operations and following more than six years as the Muswellbrook Race Club chief.
He was then promoted after the resignation of NJC chief Matt Benson almost three weeks ago. Dowell was thrilled to gain the position, which he was being groomed for by the NJC.
"I'm very excited about what I can do here," Dowell said. "At the end of the day they are just race clubs but this is the one I wanted to run. From three or four years ago, this is the club I always thought that if I was going to progress from country to provincial, this is it.
"I've had opportunities at other provincial clubs that I haven't pushed through on, with an eye on this one."
Securing funds to bring the club's ambitious, multimillion dollar 500-stable complex plan to life is an obvious goal for Dowell, but he said more work was also needed on the Newcastle Racecourse training tracks.
He said trainers had lost confidence in the NJC's recently updated Pro-Ride synthetic track after a lack of maintenance led to its deterioration years ago. A worm infestation on the inside Beaumont grass track, which returned to raceday use in October after 20 months out of action, had exacerbated the problem and pushed more traffic onto the all-weather course proper.
"The stable masterplans, obviously it's cost prohibitive at the moment, but with the DA in, that's the next stage we need to tick off," he said.
"It's important we get that done, then we just probably need to tweak the training facilities and upgrade those to match the volume of horses that are going to be in there.
"At present, our training facility won't cater for 500 horses, so it's going to have to be a two-stage approach - stables and an upgrade to the training facilities.
"From a track manager's point of view, we need to upgrade or make an additional sand track. We need a bit more confidence in the synthetic track because not as many trainers use it as we would like.
"Recently the club upgraded the Pro-Ride but there's still some hesitancy to use it, so we need to find a balance.
"We need to get horses off the grass surfaces and onto a synthetic to take the load off the grass. There will be things put in place down the track for that to happen."
Meanwhile, the NJC announced on Wednesday the release of additional tickets for The Hunter meeting on November 13 following the easing of COVID restrictions.
Online bookings will be released on Thursday from 11am. Only fully vaccinated patrons will be allowed in.
