Earlier today, Racing NSW held a press gathering in which CEO Peter V'landys and Tamworth MP, Kevin Anderson, announced a $30 million increase in prize money along with a new $125 million infrastructure fund.

The injection of additional prize money takes the total amount paid per year to $358 million, more than triple the winnings on offer in 2012. Given this latest boost, minimum winnings from Country TAB races - the predominant grade held in Tamworth - will increase from $25,000 to $27,000.

Additionally, Racing NSW confirmed, two races at each Country TAB meeting will be restricted to Country NSW-trained horses only and are worth $30,000 in prize money.

"I think [the increased winnings] will continue to bolster our field sizes for our race meetings," Tamworth Jockey Club general manager, Michael Buckley, said.

"We've seen across the board lately, there's been a lot of increases in costs of everyday life. No doubt that will affect the cost associated with training and owning a racehorse, so hopefully the injection of prize money will help out our trainers and our owners."

Local trainer Cody Morgan corroborated Buckley's assessment, and said having the additional money on the line was "incredible".

"It attracts new owners to the stable and makes the cost of fuel and living [more achievable]. It's great to be able to win that little bit more money," he said.

Over the last 12 months, the Tamworth Jockey Club has begun development on a master plan which Buckley said will bring "significant improvements" to the local training facilities, race days and event centres.

"I'm hopeful that [Racing NSW] will recognise the much-needed improvements that we're proposing to make," he said.

"A lot of what we're trying to capture in that master plan is seen as being a big benefit to racing in our region."

The infrastructure fund includes $70 million from the state government, and $55 million from Racing NSW.

Morgan cannot remember the last time a new trainer moved to Tamworth.

This, he said, is in large part due to the facilities at the local club. Although the Tamworth Jockey Club does "a great job with what's there", Morgan hopes to see some of the infrastructure funding come Tamworth's way for the good of local racing.

"Tamworth is expanding all the time, there's more and more people coming here ... but I can't think of a trainer that's moved here [recently]," he said.

"Hopefully with this master plan, if the training facilities are improved, you'll get new trainers wanting to come to Tamworth. That's what you want."

Along with the boost to local racing, spring feature races on the state calendar have received significant increases in prize money as well.

The Kosciuszko, the Sydney Stakes, and the Nature Strip are just some of the headline races which will offer significantly more prize money this year.

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