Harness racing industry in standoff with Victorian government over land valued at up to $200m

The land, bought by Harness Racing Victoria for $5 million in 2007 and home to the Melton Entertainment Park since 2009, has since been valued at up to $200 million. The property sits near two train stations and a new hospital site in a fast-growing western suburb, and is ideally situated for housing or commercial development. At least one developer has expressed interest, but the site remains untouched.

Harness Racing Victoria chairman Bernard Saundry said the sport needed control of the land because it could not “cut our way to permanent sustainability”. “Harness racing needs new sources of income beyond traditional wagering revenue, and we have an asset capable of helping create them,” he said. “We are not wanting a handout. We are asking for the opportunity to use the value created by our own asset to build a sustainable future, stand on our own two feet and ultimately reduce our reliance on government.” Saundry said harness racing contributed more than $623 million to Victoria each year, with almost two-thirds of that in regional areas. “We think that’s a fair proposition: let harness racing use the value of its own asset to help secure its own future.”

Harness racing was delivered a stark wake-up call in 2023, when the government severed the sport’s financial support. Racing Minister Anthony Carbines ordered the industry to start living within its means. At the end of the 2024 financial year, Harness Racing Victoria posted a $34 million operating deficit, prompting it to cut 40 per cent of its staff and slash $14 million in prizemoney. This financial year, it reported an EBITDA of almost $1 million, but stakeholders fear a mass exodus of breeders, owners and trainers as they struggle to make ends meet.

A government spokesperson said that “harness racing has a long and storied history in Victoria, and we’re backing the sport, local clubs and the jobs its supports”. “We’ve provided substantial support to Harness Racing Victoria to help clear its debt and implement a new sustainable business model,” the spokesperson said.

The dispute has roots in a 2019 change to state legislation under then premier Daniel Andrews, which stripped Harness Racing Victoria, as a statutory body, of independent control over its land, meaning proceeds from any sale would go to Treasury. By 2024, the government agreed to wipe HRV's $86 million debt in exchange for the land. Former HRV chairman Adam Kilgour and his board agreed to the deal.

Harness Racing Victoria engaged a consultant last year to develop three fundraising scenarios, conditional on it regaining ownership of the Melton land. All would keep racing at Melton. One involves a part-sell, part-development agreement projected to return $136 million over 60 months. A second scenario, an all-out development agreement with a partner, is projected to return $190 million over 80 months. A third, a staged acquisition, is projected to return $130 million over 50 months. In all cases, HRV would have to renegotiate the initial debt.

Real estate agent Mark Shelly, managing director of Stockdale & Lego at Bacchus Marsh, described the situation as a “hamster wheel, just spinning around, and nobody seems to be able to make a decision”. “It is mind-boggling that the land is sitting there doing nothing,” he said.

Harness Racing Victoria is set to transition from a statutory authority to a company limited by guarantee on July 1, 2028, after the government changed the Racing Act. Had such a move been made in 2024, HRV would have had the power to retain its land.