THE Queensland Racehorse Owners' Association is urging Racing Queensland to rethink its priorities if it is serious about sustaining and growing racing in Queensland.

"Metropolitan and Provincial prizemoney levels are critical to a sustainable racing industry in Queensland," said QROA President, Kerrina King.

"Currently Queensland owners are voting with their feet and sixty percent of starters in Northern NSW are Queensland owned horses."

Ms King believes that is atrocious for our industry, but comes as no surprise when you look at the figures and compare midweek provincial prizemoney to begin with.

First prizemoney for a maiden race at Hawkesbury on a Thursday is $12,250 compared to just $6,500 going to the winner of an Ipswich maiden race on a Friday. The NSW provincial meeting even out-rates a Brisbane (Metropolitan) midweek meeting, with the first placegetter there pocketing $11,050.

"It is just embarrassing, no wonder our owners are heading south," said Ms King.

"They deserve more incentive to keep their horses racing in Queensland and prizemoney is that incentive."

The QROA believes increased prizemoney in Queensland will keep horses racing here which will automatically drive turnover through Tattsbet. This TAB turnover is critical to the income stream for racing in Queensland. It is basic maths - the less horses in the field, the less horses for punters to bet on and therefore a reduced income. Of course, it will work in the reverse.

"Money needs to be allocated to the correct resources of our industry," Ms King stated.

"It is time to forget about club restructures and similar stakeholder interests and get back to the bread and butter.

"The prizemoney allocation needs to be restructured to better compare with our neighbours and keep owners racing in this state.

The QROA welcomes the initial increases to prizemoney that Racing Queensland announced a few months ago and understands it is working hard to implement further improvements.

"Time is of the essence here and RQ needs to move faster to not only save our industry, but grow it," said Ms King.

QROA MEDIA RELEASE: For further information or interviews contact QROA President, Kerrina King