Racing Victoria has selected Ballarat Turf Club as the venue for what will be one of just two all-weather racing surfaces in the state.

The BTC won the race for the $8 million project ahead of Kilmore and Geelong.

Racing Victoria has synthetic tracks at Geelong, which was the first, and Pakenham. However, the Geelong surface will be converted to turf at the end of this year owing to wear and tear.

Construction of the Sportsbet Ballarat synthetic track, which will replace the inner turf circuit and complement the existing outer turf racing surface, will begin immediately after the Ballarat Cup in November this year with a view to being ready for racing in May next year.

BTC chief executive officer Lachlan McKenzie said project was one of the biggest in the club’s history.

He said it was massive vote of confidence in every aspect of the BTC’s operation.

McKenzie said the new track would weather-proof the facility, ensuring it as a racing desination any time of the year.

He envisages the new track to enable Ballarat to have up to 42 race meetings programmed each season, as well as being an option for transferred race dates when other venues were deemed unsuitable for racing.

McKenzie said the synthetic track would also enhance Ballarat as a training centre, with it available as a training facility to complement the existing uphill straight synthetic, and sand and grass tracks – giving it even more appeal as a destination for new trainers to the area.

Racing Victoria, in announcing the project on Thursday, said Ballarat was chosen owing to its central location, proximity to a larger percentage of the state’s racehorse population, strong training numbers and capacity for enhancements in track shape and size.

RV executive general manager for infrastructure and club support Jamie McGuinness said not only would there be an initial outlay of about $8 million to build the track, the industry was committed to spending more than $6m every eight to 10 years to replace the surface of each synthetic track.

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The announcement follows an extensive 12-month review, conducted in consultation with industry stakeholders, which considered the number of synthetic racetracks required to service the industry’s current and future needs, along with the most appropriate locations.

The decision to conduct the review was prompted by the scheduled need to replace the Geelong synthetic track at the conclusion of 2018 due to wear and tear.

The review ultimately established that it is not in Victoria’s best interests to build and maintain three synthetic racetracks due to prohibitive costs. It also noted that the current quantity of synthetic race meetings appropriately services the state’s racing schedule.

Pakenham, which commenced synthetic racing in 2015 and has an average 22 synthetic meetings a year, remained a preferred location for RV given the large racehorse population in the state’s south east and the track’s relevant infancy.

McGuinness said the decision to adopt Ballarat over Geelong as the preferred location for a synthetic track was done in the best interests of racing in this state over the next decade and beyond.

“Not only will we be able to deliver a better track with all the traditional race starts at Ballarat, but the track will better align to our current and future population of trainers and horses. It will also complement the synthetic track at Pakenham by providing the right geographic balance across the state,”  McGuinness said.

“We recognise that this decision will have an initial impact on Geelong trainers which is why we are committed to investing over $1.5 million to transition their synthetic track to an inner turf training track that has the ability to conduct a select number of race meetings each year.”

 McGuinness noted that RV’s preferred position means that the request from trainers in the state’s north east for a synthetic racetrack to be built in their region has not been met.

“Given the review determined that a footprint of two synthetic racetracks, one located at Pakenham and the other at Ballarat, is in the best overall interests of the industry, we understand that the wishes of all stakeholders, particularly some in the north east, cannot be met,” he said.  

“We have invested heavily in enhancing tracks in the inner north and north east regions in recent years with major upgrades conducted at Seymour, Wangaratta and Wodonga and will continue to do so.

“We plan to make further announcements in relation to additional club infrastructure upgrades in the north east, with the upgrade of the sand training track at Benalla a priority.

“We are also committed to working with the Kilmore Racing Club to progress plans for a course proper upgrade and we look forwarding to discussing with government the opportunities for funding support to deliver important projects such as this,” McGuinness said.