Warwick Turf Club on the rise

By Jordan Gerrans

As Barry Burgess casts his eyes over the blooming roses adjacent to the mounting yard at the Warwick Turf Club, he is still blown away at how far his beloved club has come.

In the space of 12 months, the regional club have been arguably the busiest and most prolific when it comes to redevelopments and improvements across the state.

Upgrades include a brand new five-storey high broadcast and judges tower, fresh tie-up stalls, all new jockeys and stewards rooms, a new running rail as well as a shed that houses all the club’s equipment, including two sets of starting barriers.

As the president of the booming club, Burgess could take all the accolades, however, he quickly points out who has driven all the improvements.

“If it was not for Kristen Doyle, we would not have Warwick Turf Club the way it is today,” Burgess said.

The emerging racing administrator started at the Allman Park Racecourse just over a decade ago working a few hours a week and as the club’s status has risen, so has her contribution.

Doyle now holds the title of chief operating officer, which will soon be upgraded to chief executive officer.

When Doyle first came on board, Warwick mainly raced on the country non-TAB circuit.

Now, they race nine TAB meetings a season – as well as their popular annual picnic races, which remains as non-TAB – and Burgess would like to go even further in the coming years, declaring they could manage 15 nationally broadcast race days if they were on offer.

While the club’s committee and other staff have also been instrumental, Burgess describes Doyle as the driving force behind the resurgence.

“Kristen knows what she is talking about and has great rapport with other people in the industry who she deals with,” he said.

“Our association with Racing Queensland has gone through the roof and she has driven that.

“Her contribution has been invaluable.

“She knows exactly what she is doing.”

The revival of racing at Warwick has been stunning.

All in all, it is estimated $1 million has been ploughed into the facilities at the club, with $320,000 alone going into the five-storey high broadcast and judges tower.

The financial injection came via a combination of the Palaszczuk Government, Racing Queensland and the Warwick Turf Club.

The multi-purpose two-level tower accommodates judges, stewards, a race caller, the primary television camera and the photo finish camera and operator.

Whereas the new tower is considerably higher than the earlier structure, it is accessed by a staircase. The previous tower could also only be reached by a ladder.

Installations included a soundproof race caller's room, air-conditioning, tinted windows and modern data points and cabling.

The new structure ticks all boxes and counters all weather events.

An external semaphore board, that will display results at the touch of a button, has been affixed to the side of the structure.

“This time last year we were a country club at a Tier Four and overnight virtually, we became a Tier Two club here in Queensland,” Burgess said.

“With that, comes with all the changes we can see at the track.

“The club changed dramatically at that point as the first thing we did was put on two full-time employees as track managers, that gave us the chance for our volunteers to drop back a little bit.”

In years gone by, Burgess and other volunteers have had to deliver projects at their club.

With track managers employed as well as Doyle’s hours increased, the volunteers were able to slightly take a step back from their usual workload.

The volunteers are still heavily involved, but they do not now need to shoulder such a burden as they once did.

Warwick’s rise has also been aided by other clubs from around the state.

Doomben provided them with a set of barrier stalls that they previously used while Toowoomba’s staff helped install the running rail at Warwick.

Burgess is a breeder and owner of racehorses in the area around Warwick and understands the need to support other local businesses.

So, whenever they were in search of materials and contractors for their many projects, he called on locals, and in turn, the people of Warwick are now attending the races more than ever.  

“People in town have become more and more aware,” Burgess said.

“We hosted the local Mayor at our Melbourne Cup launch recently – the Mayor had not been associated with the club at all in recent times – but he wrote a glowing report in an email the other day about how he can see new things happening here.

“Everything that happens here at the club flows through the town, every dollar spent here at the track goes through the town.”

Veteran horseman Les Clarke - who won the 2022 Warwick Cup - has prepared his team of gallopers in the town for decades and says it is the best time he can remember to race horses in the area. 

“It has been good for the club, the town and for us trainers,” Clarke said.

“We have had it tough down here because of the wet weather in recent times and all these things should help.

“It is getting better all the time and the club is heading in the right direction, so hopefully it can keep going.”

The Warwick committee were also chuffed to host Racing Minister Grace Grace at their recent Cup meeting.

Heather Browne – Racing Queensland’s Executive General Manager of Infrastructure – was also on hand with Minister Grace on race day.

“It was great to be with the Racing Minister Grace Grace on Warwick Cup day as we unveiled a number of key projects that we worked with the club to deliver in 2022,” Browne said.

“We were really excited to be able open over $630,000 worth of investment through RQ, as part of a celebration about what is great about country racing.

“It was great to be able to partner with the Palaszczuk Government to deliver part of the Country Racing Program, which is so integral to country racing across the Sunshine State.”

All the recent redevelopments are only the start, according to Burgess.

“With the assistance and guidance of Racing Queensland, the club will be embarking on long range three-stage plan to upgrade the drainage at Allman Park and an upgrade the training track and the main track," he said.