RACING Minister Peter Lawlor has written to Queensland Racing chairman, Bob Bentley, advising that the harness control body has agreed to be part of an integrated board for the three codes.

“Accordingly, I intend to proceed with the amalgamation of the control bodies by introducing legislation into Parliament in the near future to amend the Racing Act 2002 and establish one control body to manage the thoroughbred, harness and greyhound codes of racing,” Mr Lawlor said.

 

“The significant capital development funding that the Government has made available will be utilized by this new control body to progress a range of capital works within the thoroughbred, harness and greyhound codes.

“Officers of my department will be in contact with you to progress the necessary administrative actions required to ensure a smooth transition to the new control body structure.

“Thank you for providing your views on the significant Government initiative and I look forward to us working together under the new arrangements for the benefit of the thoroughbred, harness and greyhound codes,” Mr Lawlor concluded.

A similar letter from the Minister has been placed on the Queensland Greyhound Racing Board web-site but there is no mention to be found (as of Wednesday) on the Harness Racing Queensland web-site nor is there an explanation of why that code decided to be part of the integrated board after showing some reluctance at first.