The Moonee Valley Racing Club has hit out at what it says is unfounded misinformation surrounding the progress of its historic $250 million redevelopment, as Betsy can reveal Racing Victoria has sought assurances over the return of racing to The Valley.
In an extensive interview with Betsy, Moonee Valley chairman Adam Lennen and CEO Michael Browell provided a series of updates on key construction wins, the club’s finances, its new grandstand and plans to resume racing in September 2027.
Both say the club is on track to deliver a “world-class facility” and emerge with a “significant cash surplus” despite global economic pressures plus rising construction and financing costs, but also revealed the club will not sign a contract for the grandstand until late next year as part of what they described as “prudent financial management”.
It has emerged Racing Victoria recently wrote to the club seeking assurances over its planned return to racing, including how major meetings such as the 2027 Cox Plate would operate and whether crowd and participant infrastructure would meet the “standard expected of a premier metropolitan venue”.
In a wide-ranging interview, the leadership of the club revealed:
- They had formed a working group with Racing Victoria to ensure the Cox Plate and Manikato Stakes meetings return to the club as planned in 2027
- That economic pressures that are impacting their development have been offset by increased earnings surrounding the selling of residential apartments
- The club will look to sign a contract for its new grandstand in late 2027, a delay but a deliberate tactic that will allow the club to use more of its own capital rather than rely on more costly debt facilities
- The club’s leaders both hit out at ‘’outside’’ noise running campaigns against the development and the club, with Lennen saying he has been ‘’shocked’’, while Browell said the club ‘’knows who our friends are’’
- That the ‘’world class track’’ will have its first set of gallops in March 2027
- Guaranteed the club will return to racing and the $250 million development completed as apartment sales at the site remain strong
- Believe the club’s cash position and balance sheet is ‘’the envy of many’’ as Moonee Valley say they are still sitting on huge freehold land worth hundreds of millions of dollars
‘There’s a working group that’s being developed between the two organisations to ensure that we’re not wasting money’
Speculation around the health of the Moonee Valley development has been rife for some time now, but it is all unfair according to the club.
Both Lennen and Browell expressed their frustration at the ‘’stone throwing’’ from some within racing, but confirmed the club is now ready to share more about their progress moving forward.
Betsy can reveal that Racing Victoria recently wrote to the club, seeking a range of assurances surrounding how The Valley will look and operate when the Cox Plate is slated to return in 2027.
Racing Victoria has confirmed they are now working with the club, stopping short of guaranteeing the Cox Plate will be run at its historic home in 2027.
“This return to racing framework extends beyond the construction of the racetrack itself and ensuring that the surface has consolidated appropriately. It includes ensuring that the racing and participant infrastructure is fit for purpose, the suitability and capability of customer facilities for meetings allocated, and that the Club has a business and operating model to support the successful completion of the project and delivery of race meetings at the standard expected of a premier metropolitan venue,’’ a spokesperson said.
It is believed one key reason Racing Victoria are keen to have far greater oversight of the project follows the Melbourne Racing Club’s development of Caulfield, which saw its mounting yard worth tens of millions of dollars go largely unused.
It is a position Lennen said the club understands.
‘’We’ve got what I think is a very open relationship with [Racing Victoria chairman] Tim Eddy and [Racing Victoria CEO] Aaron Morrison and the team and that’s across the RV board as well as the executive,’’ Lennen said.
‘’I get it, right. There was a lot made of how Caulfield played out. It wasn’t a great showcase for the industry to see the turmoil at the board level and spending all that money, ultimately walking away from it.
‘’And so we’ve been very happy to be open with Tim and Aaron around what we’re doing, and we are working collaboratively. They sent us some stuff on how they’d like to work together and we’ve responded to that.
‘’There’s a working group that’s being developed between the two organisations to ensure that we’re not wasting money and that we’re actually building facilities that meet the expectations of all stakeholders.
‘’And I think pleasingly, one of the first things that’s gone through that group is the race day facilities. And I think [Racing Victoria executive] Jamie McGuiness was very positive.”
‘We’re in advance talks with them around designing multi-level facilities’
One major talking point between Racing Victoria and Moonee Valley will be members’ and public facilities while the grandstand is designed and built.
Racing Victoria are keen to ensure the track can deliver a modern race-day experience befitting the Cox Plate.
Lennen said the club is still placed to deliver a “world class racing facility’’ without a cent coming from the industry.
‘’We’re working very collaboratively with RV on a return to racing program for September next year,’’ he said.
‘’It’ll be a mixture of permanent and temporary facilities. As I said, we’re building owners and members bars, refurbishing the Legends Bar.
‘’There will be ongoing permanent facilities under the new construction, so there will permanent facilities. Things like all the horse stalls.’’
Lennen said they are engaging contractors that can build temporary infrastructure, akin to the Birdcage, that the club is confident can deliver the optimum experience.
‘’We’ve got nearly two hectares of land there that we’ll build temporary infrastructure and have landscape gardens and lawns and things that we can put in there.
‘’The ability to host people is not going to be our problem. We’re working very closely with two really good providers.
‘’They do a lot of work for things like the Grand Prix, which hosts over four hundred thousand people at theirs with largely temporary infrastructure. They do a lot of the work for the VRC with the birdcage.
‘’We’re in advanced talks with them around designing multi-level facilities that should be capable of providing a great race day experience for patrons. They’ll look, for all intent and purposes, like permanent facilities.
‘’But we’re actually going to really invest into the race day experience as well. So for members and guests that come along, we’ve discussed at a board or committee level what we do around food and beverage offerings.
”How we choreograph the whole race day experience with entertainment across it. We want this to be really well received. We’ll make that investment not only into the permanent and temporary facilities, but also into the race day experience.’’
’We’ve always said there’s two big judgments for us here’
Alongside the new track, The Valley’s new grandstand is the most talked about element in the redevelopment.
The club confirmed there had been delays in signing the necessary contracts as they work through the size and importantly, the financials.
The club is likely to land on a facility that will host around 7,000 people, a position it has communicated to Racing Victoria.
Browell said the club is purposely taking a long-term view of the entire development, slated to take more than a decade.
The decision to look to sign contracts for the grandstand in 2027 is financial – the club is due to receive a significant cash return from the next development stage allowing it to contribute its own funds for the grandstand, rather than rely purely on borrowings.
The club says the move represents a significantly better outcome for members.
‘’The racecourse site comes back to seventy-five acres. When racing returns next September, seventy-four acres will be complete, and the one-acre outstanding will be the final position of the grandstand, ‘’ Browell said.
‘’We just need to be financially prudent at the moment. We’ve got another ten or twelve years of a redevelopment project where we’re a majority shareholder. We’re clipping the ticket on the first apartment and the last apartment, and every apartment in between.
‘’ We’re still working a model that delivers a cash surplus, which becomes the future fund that underpins the long-term security of the club.
‘’We could easily go off and start building a grandstand starting next week, but as Adam said, you don’t want to just burn your future surplus in interest costs whilst we wait for the redevelopment or the apartment development to catch up.’’
Lennen said the club will eventually be judged on two main aspects – how the tracks races and its facilities.
‘’We’re still budgeting for very significant cash surplus when we’re all said and done. Do we want to pay that away in financing costs up front and take more risk? The committee’s taken the view that let’s really prioritise and focus on getting the race day back,’’ Lennen said.
‘’We’ve always said there’s two big judgments for us here with this development. One will be whether the racetrack is a good racetrack. Punters will decide that. The wagering service providers will give us feedback. The jockeys will give feedback. We’re very focused on making sure that surface is a great surface.
‘’The second will be the return for patrons. I would love nothing more than have our completed product and cut a ribbon and whatever else. But if we need to sacrifice something and bring people back on, with permanent and temporary infrastructure, I’d prefer to do that. And I think that’s where the members sit too.’’
‘’We know who our friends are’’
The future of the club has been the centre of intense gossip within various circles across Melbourne, much to the club’s frustration.
Both Lennen and Browell said that despite working in the cut and thrust of racing politics for many years, they were shocked by the level of mis-information spread.
Browell said the club ‘’knows who our friends are’’.
“The MVRC is committed to building a world-class racecourse and precinct for the benefit of the Victorian racing industry, club members, residents in the Moonee Valley Park development and the broader local community,’’ he said.
‘’To quote Winston Churchill, ‘you will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks’. Day by day our vision is becoming a reality, and we look forward with great excitement to a return to racing at The Valley next September. ‘’
Lennen said he was ‘’ shocked by the fact that the way people behave’’
‘’I am amazed from my time … in the chair, and that’s when you really get to see the insights on the industry and various stakeholders. I’m shocked by the way some people behave,’’ he said.
‘’I don’t know whether it’s envy because we’re lucky enough to have freehold land.
‘’And I think it’s only probably a small cohort. I think increasingly I’m getting confidence that Tim [Eddy] and Aaron [Morrison] are very positive. They were blown away by the development
‘’I guess in life there’s always detractors and people who have different motivations.’’
‘It’s still roughly within a twenty million dollars range’
In a development of its size, with the cost of building supplies soaring and interest rates rising, racing has been awash with speculation surrounding the financial health of the club.
The club has been on the record of saying it will deliver a ‘’significant cash surplus’’ without revealing the figure. It also told Betsy that every cent spent so far has come from cash reserves and its debt facilities remain untouched.
‘’The projected end cash surplus is still roughly within a range of $20 million that was first targeted. It hasn’t really varied that much. The reality is, we know that number will move around. What we’re focused on is just making sure we give out the best chance to maximise that,’’ Lennen said.
“We’ve got the funding, either with the cash … or bank facilities that are all in place. We’ve recently refinanced our facilities across the racecourse works and the gaming facilities. We’ve got long-term ten-year construction loans to support us right through. There are no barriers for us now to deliver the racetrack and the race day experience in September next year.
‘’The reality is the last piece is working and taking RV on the journey and our members on the journey.”
‘We’ll turn the lights on for grand final eve ‘
Browell said the club was eyeing off its popular Grand Final Eve meeting as its first night back on track.
”We’ll turn the lights on for Grand Final Eve, and all of the build for what would be Cox Plate day will be in place that night,’’ he said.
‘’So if we can accommodate more than 20,000 people on Cox Plate day, we can accommodate more than 20,000 to see the ribbon cut, the lights turned on, and racing return.
‘’We’re not cutting any corners at all on the build. We’re delivering a world class track. As Adam said, you walk the site, you see how it’s all coming together.
”I was on the site for an hour and a half last Friday with some interstate visitors, and it just blew them away. You see the scope of the work and you see what’s being delivered, you just stand there and they just look at it and go, ‘like this is unbelievable’.
Browell said the club will likely choose not to run its full suite of races on its new track in a bid to let it thrive.
‘’It could be that we run up to fifteen race meetings instead of our usual twenty-three, and then gradually build up to the twenty three just to give the track every chance to succeed,’’ he said.
‘’But the site looks absolutely sensational. It’s lived in our head for fifteen years. But to actually walk the site, you see the additional width that we’ve got. We’ve increased it to twenty-seven metres. You see the undulation through the track, peaks up and then runs down the Dean Street side. It looks schmick with all the black light towers and the black Steward’s towers.
‘’ In ten years’ time, when all of that western precinct is developed, and there’s 2,000 apartments there, and they’re twenty stories high, and it’s all lit up. The amphitheatre of the Valley, with the apartments to the west, Brunswick Hill to the east, and then you’ve just got this magnificent city skyline as the backdrop. It’ll be like nothing else in the country. It’ll be spectacular racing.
‘’We’ve got what I think is we’ve got the greatest racecourse in the country [Flemington] five minutes down the road here. But as a customer, you’re not going to get a better on course experience than when you come to the new Valley.
‘That’ll be a big event in itself’
Lennen revealed the club is planning to allow gallops on its brand new track in March 2027, signalling a major milestone.
‘’The reality is we want to start to build the excitement as we approach the return to racing. We’re hopeful of having the first horses gallop on this track in March next year. That’ll be a big event in itself,’’ he said.
‘’We’re giving the track nearly a year to bed down, which hopefully should mean that we end up with a really good racing surface. The grass has already been growing at Evergreen for over twelve months.
Lennen said demand for its apartments have been strong and that the penthouses on site have already sold – one for more than $5 million.
‘’I think it’s a point that’s probably lost in this. I think outside, maybe when Docklands was done, this has got to be close to one of the biggest Melbourne urban renewal projects,’’ he said.
‘’Put aside the racing and the race club stuff, the redevelopment of that 20 odd acres up on the hill into a couple of thousand apartments, which we’ve already settled and done five hundred apartments and townhouses, it is a big deal’’.
‘This return to racing framework extends beyond the construction of the racetrack’
In a statement to Betsy, Racing Victoria stopped short of guaranteeing racing would return to The Valley in 2027.
“The Moonee Valley Racing Club is leading and funding the redevelopment of The Valley and continues to provide updates to Racing Victoria that the project is progressing,’’ a spokesperson said.
“As is standard practice for racecourses undergoing major redevelopment, Racing Victoria is working with the Club on a comprehensive return to racing framework that considers key milestones and requirements for the safe and successful resumption of racing, including the return of premium and feature meetings.
“This return to racing framework extends beyond the construction of the racetrack itself and ensuring that the surface has consolidated appropriately. It includes ensuring that the racing and participant infrastructure is fit for purpose, the suitability and capability of customer facilities for meetings allocated, and that the Club has a business and operating model to support the successful completion of the project and delivery of race meetings at the standard expected of a premier metropolitan venue.
“We note that the foundation of the new track has taken shape quickly and that turf is expected to be laid this spring, providing a significant establishment period ahead of the Club’s desired return to racing in spring 2027.
“Our race dates for the 2027-28 season are not finalised until autumn 2027 so decisions regarding the allocation of meetings by Racing Victoria is not due for some time. When that work takes shape, Racing Victoria will consider all of the factors contained within the return to racing framework before making a decision on both the suitability to resume racing and meetings allocated next season.
“We will continue to work closely with the Club as the project progresses and look forward to seeing further milestones achieved throughout the next year.”
