Under the change, Racing NSW has taken over the Crown land management of the site.

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Many trainers, horse owners and others who have invested in property at the racecourse only learnt about the change in December 2024, two weeks before it was due to come into effect.

Their concerns are centred around the ownership of more than a dozen stables, where some have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars, and foreshadowed rent increases that may make their operations unviable.

As part of the new arrangements, leases and sub-leases that were previously managed locally – for many years by a racecourse trust, now fall under Racing NSW’s jurisdiction as a “Category 1 Crown land manager”.

At the heart of the matter are the stables, stalls and other improvements built over the past 40 years on the racecourse land, which “owners” have been able to rent out and on-sell under what they thought was an ongoing arrangement of rolling ten-year leases.

Several have described these stable blocks and stalls, and their sub-leasing, as their “nest egg”, “superannuation policy” and “retirement fund”.

Local horse owner and stable lease holder Peter Wood, said people originally invested their own money to build stables and attract trainers, on the understanding that if racing ever ceased in Coffs Harbour, the physical buildings would return to Crown Land ownership.

“That was considered a reasonable risk,” Mr Wood said.

“There was always… a clause that at the end of the lease any property on the area returns to the Crown, but the understanding was always that the leases would be renewed, and they have been for over 30 years.”

He said if investors in the stables hadn’t had that assurance from the racing club, “obviously they wouldn’t have built them”.

Mr Wood said the previous arrangement had been “universally accepted” by the Coffs Racing Club, and NSW Crown Lands “has had no objection.”.

“Nobody’s ever questioned the ownership of the actual buildings on top of the land.”

Mr Wood said lease and sub-lease holders were also upset that Racing NSW was changing the way rents were structured, which would likely lead to large increases.

Previously, rents were determined on the area of land the stables occupied.

Now they will be based on the number of horse stalls per stable.

“If a trainer has ten horses in work and five have to be spelled, he will still have to pay for the ten boxes.

“At the moment it’s looking a bit bleak but we’re still hoping we can get a satisfactory resolution.”

Coffs Harbour Racing Club CEO Tim Saladine, said that while the club was “certainly sympathetic”, it was “a little bit naive” of people to think they owned assets built on Crown land when they were signing a sub-lease.

“We still have the head lease for this reserve and we’re just trying to sort out those intricacies that involve certain stables and how they’re going to pay their lease fees to the Crown,” he said.

“You can transfer a sub-lease and that’s always been done with the Minister’s consent and the Crown land manager’s – which has obviously, historically, been the race club.

“That’s always been allowed, but whether there was money exchanged was never disclosed to the race club.

“We’re aware that some people were able to get money for these leases, some people saw it as a good investment.

“It’s a very unique case, but at the end of the day it’s Crown land and you certainly can’t suggest that you own anything that is on Crown land.”

Mr Saladine said rental costs paid by some trainers under the previous structure were relatively cheap and it had not been “a level playing field”.

Leaseholders under the new structure would likely pass on any increases to horse owners.

“I think what Racing NSW and even what Coffs Harbour Racing Club wants to see is one fee for everyone.”

He said the club is fully supportive of Racing NSW taking over the management of the Crown land and believes it will secure the future of the racing industry in Coffs Harbour.

Racing NSW became a Category 1 Crown land manager last year for a number of country racecourses in NSW, including Queanbeyan, Armidale, Inverell and Port Macquarie, along with Coffs Harbour.

By Mike HELY