Tamworth Jockey Club: Sand track overhaul latest in series of Tamworth Racecourse improvements

The minister responsible for racing, Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson, opened the training surface on Thursday and said the TJC was now better positioned to be a racing industry "destination".

Anderson said the Hunter and North West Racing Association "needs the Tamworth Jockey Club to be the jewel in the crown, to be the centre, so it can be the go-to [facility]" in the region.

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He added: "If you've got good facilities, you end up attracting more horses, trainers get the opportunity to get better horses and it becomes a destination for high-quality horses and trainers and owners ... they go, 'We want to come to Tamworth.'"

The sand track refurbishment is part of a $2.4m upgrade of Tamworth Racecourse, whose facilities had been criticised.

The investment - part of the state government's 2021-22 budget - includes 40 new stables and follows other course improvements, including to the drainage system.

"I think we've come a long way in the last 12 months," Anderson said of the TJC, whose previous board was replaced after it stood down in January.

In June, a Racing NSW inquiry found that the club had breached its conditions of registration. The breach related to costly maintenance work on the track.

"It's a huge day in Tamworth," the TJC general manager, Michael Buckley, said of the sand track upgrade.

"It's been a project that we've been waiting for for quite a while now."

Buckley said the TJC was "all about equine welfare and horse and rider safety".

"And this $1.6m track will satisfy and cater to those needs," he added.

The "best-case scenario" for the start date for construction of the new stables was late next year, Buckley said, adding that 40 existing stables would be "rebuilt".

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