Gai Waterhouse slams Australian Turf Club deal to sell historic Rosehill racecourse

Gai Waterhouse has slammed the Australian Turf Club’s call to sell Rosehill racecourse, labelling it “the saddest decision” by racing officials in her time in the sport. The first lady of Australian racing and Hall of Fame legend was furious after details of a pending deal between the New South Wales Government and ATC worth nearly $5 billion were revealed on Wednesday. Under the plans, Rosehill - which has hosted racing for 150 years - would be transformed into a suburb with up to 25,000 homes, a new metro train station, new school and entertainment precinct. The ATC has signed a memorandum of understanding with the State Government and club chairman Peter McGauran said the deal was likely to go ahead. Waterhouse, who has won a record seven Golden Slippers at Rosehill, said the sale was “a travesty and a great shame”. “I think it’s the saddest decision they’ve ever made,” Waterhouse told Radio Sport National. “I think the Government are completely wrong. I don’t think they’ve thought it through. “Look at Sha Tin in Hong Kong, look at Moonee Valley down in Melbourne. “They’ve built homes and different buildings around the racecourse. Keep the racecourse and work around it. “The demographic of people that go to Rosehill won’t go to Randwick or Warwick Farm. “I think they’re losing a vital part of racing and a vital part of that whole area out at Rosehill.” Australia’s biggest trainer Chris Waller is among seven trainers who use Rosehill as their main training base. A new training facility has been mooted at Horsley Park in Sydney’s west. The $4.8b expected to be raised from the deal will enable redevelopment of the Canterbury racecourse, a significant upgrade of Warwick Farm and redevelopment of the ageing stable facilities at Randwick. McGauran said the deal was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to future-proof Sydney racing. “It is sad for us to lose Rosehill Gardens and it will cause a great many people a deal of angst and regret,” McGauran said. “But sports die if they don’t re-invigorate, reinvest and re-envisage the future and that is the vision we have for racing in Sydney. “We believe we can leapfrog 50 years over the course of the next decade as we reconstruct metropolitan racing.”