The importance of Eagle Farm as a racing venue has again been highlighted with better than expected Queensland wagering figures for the past season.
Racing Queensland has announced a 9.8 per cent overall increase in wagering on all three codes with thoroughbreds leading the way with a 12.8 per cent boost.
Greyhounds in Queensland were up 8.4 per cent but harness racing dropped by 4.5 per cent.
Eagle Farm was out of operation for most of the two previous seasons but was in action in the past season before being closed indefinitely on May 27.
The fact it was able to operate for a lengthy period and an increase in turnover on Saturday metropolitan races at provincial tracks were among the reasons for the increase.
But at this stage Eagle Farm will not be in use for at least the first six months of the season with plans for remedial work on its upgrade to be released this week.
RQ chief executive Dr Eliot Forbes said the pleasing results flowed from a successful winter carnival and summer carnival, a restructured racing program and some quality racing backed by local and interstate participation.
The winter carnival had an increase in turnover of 14 per cent across domestic wagering operators.
Forbes said that was despite the Oaks, Stradbroke and Tatts Tiara meetings being transferred to Doomben.
“One of the most positive aspects of the results was wagering support for provincial meetings including the Toowoomba Weetwood day, which was up 31 per cent, the Ipswich Cup day was up eight and the Caloundra Cup day which increased by 32 per cent,” Forbes said.
“The summer carnival was also a success increasing 7.1 per cent compared to last season. Given there was one less meeting in the year, on a per race basis this equated to an increase in average turnover of 22.4 per cent.”
The Magic Millions Gold Coast race day was once again the major drawcard with total turnover increasing by 16 per cent.
