Racing Queensland has been accused of doing nothing as Gold Coast harness racing haemorrhages up to $250,000 a year in lost revenue over a marketing dispute.
The Gold Coast Harness Racing Club was punted from its Parklands home in 2013 when the track closed for Commonwealth Games preparations.
Club president Barry Grimsey said it was meant to be relocated to the Redcliffe track for Thursday meets, then moving to Albion for Friday races, until a new Gold Coast venue was built.
Mr Grimsey said Racing Queensland was meant to be paying the two clubs to host races under the Gold Coast club’s banner.
But he claimed the Gold Coast would crucially be able to retain the lucrative international marketing rights for the races held under its name, which would deliver income through an agreement with Sky Racing.
“Racing Queensland could host us at Albion Park because they own the venue, but they’re not giving us any help at all,” Mr Grimsey said.
He said the club was haemorrhaging losses of up to $60,000 a quarter because money from the marketing rights was flowing to Redcliffe and Albion tracks.
“We’re losing somewhere around $200,000 to $250,000 a year,” he said.
A letter obtained by TheSunday Mail appears to confirm Racing Queensland told Sky the marketing rights for the Albion and Redcliffe meets belonged to those two clubs instead of the Gold Coast.
Racing Queensland said the organisation was aware that the relevant harness clubs had reached an agreement for the branding of those meetings but that those arrangements had recently come to an end.
By Tom Snowdon