THOROUGHBRED Breeders Queensland Association President, Basil Nolan, would like to congratulate Kevin Dixon on his appointment as the new Racing Quenesland chairman, along with Warwick Stansfield, Greg Hallan and John Falvey who will join Kevin on the board.
“Racing in our State has died a slow death under Bob Bentley’s control and is in dire straits,” said Mr Nolan.
“There is a lot of work ahead for the new Board and it will unfortunately take a few years to recover and get us back on track, but I know that under these changes we can band together and do it.”Mr Nolan believes that with the new board and State Government, racing can only move forward. He had a very positive meeting with the new racing minister, Steve Dickson earlier this week and felt it was extremely productive.
“Despite being new to the industry, it was clearly evident that Mr Dickson has done a lot of research,” said Mr Nolan.
“He knows where the problems are and has some good ideas to fix them.
“Unfortunately, there appears to be very little finances available from State coffers to inject into our industry, but Mr Dickson is aware of other avenues where turnover can be generated and lead to substantially increased prizemoney.”
One of the RQ Board and State Government’s first jobs will be to review the Race Fields Legislation at the end of June.
“Let's hope they follow the lead of NSW and broker a deal that will see excellent returns and a major increase in prizemoney for Queensland,” stated Mr Nolan.
“It is the only way we can remain viable and survive.
Mr Nolan hopes that the new board listens to industry participants, the grass roots organisations that have some very good, feasible ideas.
“We all want to get our industry back on track,” said Mr Nolan.
“I am confident that there are some very exciting times ahead for racing in our State.”
TBQA MEDIA RELEASE
