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Ballarat City Council has approved a three-year strategic partnership with the Ballarat Turf Club, valued at $25,000 annually.
The partnership, which was approved at an ordinary meeting of Council tonight (24/10), will allow the Ballarat Turf Club to further develop thoroughbred racing and training in the region, as well as promoting the annual Ballarat Cup which provides an economic benefit of over $5 million to the local economy.
Ballarat is rapidly becoming a training centre of excellence in the thoroughbred industry, with a 78 per cent increase in the number of horses trained locally since 2013.
Currently there are more than 440 horses being trained in Ballarat and, with more than 4500 starters annually, Ballarat is now Australia’s largest regional training centre.
The rapid growth since 2013 has resulted in Ballarat being only behind Flemington and Cranbourne in the number of starters produced annually.
As training at metropolitan centres such as Caulfield winds down in the coming years, Ballarat needs to maintain a strong profile as a thoroughbred industry training centre of excellence to attract trainers to the region.
Independent economic analysis by the Ballarat Turf Club indicates the economic benefit derived from an additional 350 stabled horses would result in a total economic impact of $24.7 million and 264 full time equivalent jobs.
The strategic partnership’s success will be measured in terms of:
Training centre growth measured by annual starters produced, trainer numbers, number of horses in training and extent of job creation; Growth of Ballarat Cup Day measured by attendance, visitation to Ballarat, occupancy rates and community economic impact.