The Gold Coast Turf Club could soon have a definite guideline as to when lights will be introduced at the track.
Racing Queensland and the state government have made a commitment to have night racing at the Gold Coast by next year.
There has been a delay and opposition racing spokesman John Paul Langbroek grilled RQ and government reps about the night racing plans during estimates hearings last week.
Langbroek asked if night racing would be delivered as promised next year.
RQ boss Brendan Parnell and racing minister Stirling Hinchliffe did not put a time line on the development.
Parnell said night racing at the Gold Coast was a “core issue” for the industry and preliminary assessments were being done.
He said the business case for night racing would need approval from both the Racing Department and government as well as Governor in Council.
“Once the business case has been approved through government, then we will be in a position to confirm when lights will be available,” he said.
No timeline was provided but AAP understands the case will be available to go to government as early as September.
Work could then start early next year.
Lights at the Gold Coast could also solve a problem for RQ as there is a push for the club to host an extra metropolitan meeting to coincide with the Magic Millions National Sale in late May to early June.
One suggestion is the extra meeting be a Friday or Saturday night with a big money feature race to fit in with the existing Brisbane carnival meetings.
