TENDERS have been called for a $3.7 million upgrade of the course proper and sand training track at Port Macquarie, including an all-weather racing surface, with work to start in the new year.
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Approval of the project, funded by Racing NSW, is announced in the annual report that club president Gregory Delaforce will table at the annual general meeting in the chairman's lounge at the race course starting at 7.30pm today.
The report also contains an outline of the work.
Delaforce will also announce a profit of $135,934 for the last racing season an increase of $37,759 on the previous season.
The sand track will be re-built first which will allow racing to continue on the course proper until after the Port Macquarie qualifying heat of the Country Championship on Friday, March 6.
Delaforce said that with the scale of work involved there would be an unavoidable and lengthy disruption to local racing.
"Details on the length and timing of the works and alternative race venues will involve considerable discussions with Racing NSW, the successful tenderer or tenderers and other relevant parties but we believe the short term pain will be worth the major benefits to be had, " Delaforce said.
Work on the course proper includes widening and reshaping the cambers on the back turn and home turn, widening the home straight, building a premium all weather turf track and upgrading the irrigation and pumping systems and water storage.
Work on the sand track includes repairs to the track's base, replacing the existing sand and upgrades to the irrigation system and rails.
"As a condition of projects requiring in excess of $1 million funding Racing NSW requires clubs to adopt a new governance model that includes a mix of six elected and four appointed independent directors," Delaforce said.
"The constitutional changes required for this will be the subject of a special general meeting early next year but, in the meantime, the directors appointed at this AGM will continue to function under the current constitution."
Delaforce said better weather and track conditions had contributed to the excellent profit with only one of the 21 meetings abandoned and only one meeting run on a heavy track.