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The circuit is back in the spotlight with Supercars bringing the 2024 Penrite Oil Sandown 500 forward a week after the MRC advised it could not meet “operational needs” on the original date.
That 60th anniversary running of a Sandown saloon car enduro could very well be the last, with Supercars already announcing that The Bend will host an enduro in 2025, and its contract understood to stipulate the event shall be held outside of winter.
The Sandown 500, though, could still make it onto next year’s calendar if the circuit remains open by then, given Supercars CEO Shane Howard has not ruled out the idea.
It is a prospect which must be more likely now that the MRC has ruled out a partial sale and redevelopment of Sandown Racecourse.
Notably, a partial sale would have meant the end of motorsport at the venue, as club Chairman Matt Cain revealed to Racing.com last month.
“The impact of a partial sale versus an overall evaluation on what we think the Sandown precinct could be worth, has an impact of about $300 million,” he explained.
“So the materiality of going partial rather than exploring either a full rezoning process for Sandown and/or keeping Sandown as it currently stands is just material.
“It’s $300 million, and a big part of that is there’s some heritage overlays attached to the grandstand, moving a lot of the racing infrastructure to the inside of the racetrack and taking away the motorsport facility just has a financial impact on the overall component of the club.
“So right now we feel that that’s just not an option we want to explore.”
Accepted wisdom had been that Sandown, in the short- to medium-term, will be sold off so that both the horse racing and car racing tracks can be ripped up for redevelopment of the 112ha site into a new suburb.
However, there will be no serious movement on any redevelopment plans, should they indeed come to pass, until at least late this year.
Per an update to MRC members on December 29, last year, Cain advised that the Planning Scheme Amendment would begin early this year and “will take about 12 months to complete” according to an update on the club’s own website.
Crucially, a full sale of Sandown Racecourse would require a vote of MRC’s members.
Three overtly pro-Sandown members were voted onto the MRC board in its September 2022 Annual General Meeting in what was regarded as something of a ‘referendum’ on whether to proceed with the sale or to save the historic facility.
Notably, Cain has also moved to correct claims that MRC wants to sell Sandown in order to fund the redevelopment of the sister Caulfield Racecourse, the club’s main track.
“We’re not wedded to having to sell Sandown to fund other options attached to this Caulfield master plan,” he declared to Racing.com.
“I think that’s really important for our members in the community to understand.”
Cain cited healthy gaming revenue as one source of redevelopment funds, and also added, “We’ve got great options to debt fund with a strong asset base, but we also want to make sure that we’re not taking on too much debt and we’ve got some assets to sell at the appropriate time to fund those extra [Caulfield] master plan activities.”
According Racing.com, a members’ vote on a Sandown sale is not expected until at least 2025.
Notably, The Thoroughbred Report reported in September 2023 that the Caulfield masterplan is due to be completed by Spring 2026, which could also become another marker in the future of Sandown.
Sandown Racecourse was last valued at $600 million if the hypothetical rezoning was successful, although Racing Victoria would receive $50 million from the proceeds of a sale.
The 2024 Sandown 500 will now take place on September 13-15.
