Gosford racehorse trainers vow to stay put

Thursday 3 December 2015, 6:21am

NSW Trainers' Association chief executive Steve McMahon has called on racing officials to have a clear strategy for the future of training on the NSW central coast.

McMahon, along with trainers from Gosford, met with Gosford Race Club's James Heddo and Michael Cusick on Thursday after being told the club had made a business decision to close the track as a training facility from December next year.

Kristen Buchanan, Gordon Yorke and Fred Cowell, who won last Saturday's Listed Festival Stakes with Mighty Lucky, were among the trainers in attendance and McMahon said emotions ran high.

"There was a lot of anger from the trainers," McMahon said.

"The frustration is that we feel there is no plan going forward.

"We feel Gosford has jumped the gun, they've made the decision before there are plans in place."

Around 15 trainers are based at Gosford where 100 horses are in work each week.

McMahon says suggestions Racing NSW will build more stables at nearby Wyong to accommodate those affected is overly simplistic and a significant investment will also be required in the track and facilities to enable Wyong to cope with any extra load.

He fears the decision by Gosford could be the tip of the iceberg for other race clubs to follow their lead.

"If it's not sustainable for Gosford, which is a very successful club, it's probably not sustainable for many other race clubs and we're worried this will set off a domino effect," McMahon said.

McMahon said the Gosford trainers have unanimously resolved to start a campaign to reverse the club's decision to shut down its training operation.

There are no immediate plans to boycott the club's race meetings but McMahon says it hasn't been entirely ruled out.

"We hope to avoid that. We're hoping there will be a positive result or a plan going forward," McMahon said.

"I would be lying if I said the trainers weren't thinking about doing it but it would be a last resort."

– AAP

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