Kembla Grange’s Theresa Bateup has called for more support to be provided to provincial trainers in their efforts to compete with the top stables in the state.
With the sport experiencing a surge in popularity in Sydney and Racing NSW placing a greater emphasis on country regions, the provincial areas have been squeezed out in recent times.
Efforts have been made to rectify this, with the creation of million dollar races in Newcastle and Wollongong, however Bateup said even those days will highlight the disadvantages provincial trainers face.
We’ve got The Gong coming up, but
it would be nice if they could put on a few more provincial races or
races for provincial horses like they have with the Highway races for
the country horses,” Bateup said.
“It would be lovely to see the introduction of some sort of provincial Highway, we’re a little bit left out as provincial trainers these days.
“The horses that we used to get that aren’t good enough for Sydney, they actually bypass us and we’re losing a lot of horses because we’re not eligible for the Highway.
“They
have a Highway race on The Gong day, it would’ve been nice to have a
provincial-only race, but I hope the meeting is a great success and we
can build on it from there.”
Bateup’s comments came as Kembla Grange officially opened the new Polytrack training facility. The all-weather track will enable trainers to run their horses in all conditions, year-round.
The track was funded by Racing NSW and will be followed by upgrades to the turf training track and the race-track proper.
Bateup said the Polytrack surface lifts Kembla’s facilities to that of the state’s other provincial areas and she’s hopeful it will even the playing field over the coming years.
“It’s been a long time coming, we’re looking forward to using it. I’ve spoken to a few of the trainers up at Hawkesbury and they’re rapt with it up there, so I can’t wait to get some horses going on it.
“We’ve been behind the eight ball to a lot of the metropolitan and provincial trainers for some time. This steps us up to an even playing field with them, which is good.”
– Cameron Mee
Originally published: https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/6462853/kembla-grange-trainers-call-for-increased-support-as-facilities-finally-upgraded/