The Rise and Rise of Country Racing in NSW
See: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-13/rise-and-rise-of-horse-racing-in-country-nsw/12540542
Featured Image: Scone Race Club provided by Scone Race Club.
See also: https://sconeraceclub.com.au/brand-heritage/
See also:
NSW government punts $67 million on regional racetrack upgrades – ABC News
Scone Race Track $20 million upgrade – scone.com.au : scone.com.au
Millions of dollars being poured into race tracks including Scone – AM981 Hunter Valley (2nm.com.au)
$67m boost for NSW country racetracks – Racenet
My good friend Mike Pritchard put together a very positive cornucopia of commentators on NSW Country Racing for his morning breakfast programme on ABC Radio 1044 Muswellbrook. I was honoured to be the historical ‘starter’. See URL above. My contribution was concatenated to an overall purview about the introduction of TAB betting since the 1960s and its impact on prizemoney. Trainer Brett Cavanaugh, jockey Mikayla Weir and leviathan John Messara improved the programme!
Key points:
- Country racing has been the launching pad for many of Australia’s top jockeys and trainers
- Before prize money increases in 2012, many country race clubs in NSW were struggling to survive
- The money has attracted new trainers and owners, as well as a younger generation of racegoers
A gathering of prominent country racing identities many years ago were told by Bob Dawbarn, an icon of NSW racing, that the sport was all about three things: betting, betting and betting.
Not much has changed, except now there is a greater portion of betting turnover finding its way into the industry.
Annual prize money for country racing in NSW is more than $81 million, an increase of $48 million from 2012.