Champion jockey Robert Thompson has welcomed news his beloved home track of Cessnock is set to become a pre-training facility but he hopes race meetings will not be lost to the town.
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Racing NSW chief Peter V'landys revealed this month to the Sydney Morning Herald that his organisation was in negotiations with Newcastle Jockey Club to buy the Cessnock course, which it would convert into a pre-training facility.
Funds from the sale would help the NJC to build new stables at its Broadmeadow course. Cessnock, which has 11 meetings a year, would close to racing. V'landys has since told the Cessnock Advertiser some meetings could still be held at the track.
The potential wiping of race programs sparked anger in Cessnock, which has already lost all harness and greyhound meetings.
Thompson, Cessnock's favourite racing son, believed the track would keep "two or three" meetings a year.
"Especially Anzac Day," Thompson said.
"Probably Jungle Juice has lost its shine a bit but they still get a good crowd and there's the Cessnock Cup. They are probably the main three."
The 61-year-old, who has ridden more than 4400 winners - an Australian record, said Cessnock should welcome the pre-training centre.
"There will be plenty of people coming and there should be plenty of jobs," he said. "V'landys is supposed to be putting plenty of money into it so it will be interesting to see what happens.
"It's a good, central area, not far from the expressway, so it would take some pressure off some Sydney tracks in terms of training facilities."
The Cessnock track has proven difficult to maintain, and several meetings have been transferred to Newcastle in recent years.
Thompson believed Racing NSW would need to invest heavily in track maintenance for its pre-training centre, which should lead to a better surface for meetings.
"It's been the worst drought we've ever had, there's no water in the dams and there's no good irrigation system there. It's been very hard to keep it going," he said. "They've got to look after the tracks if they are going to have a pre-training centre, otherwise no one will come here."
Local Jeremy Sylvester, one of about 20 trainers who use the Cessnock track, said the pre-training plan was "another great idea by V'landys" but the area needed to keep "half a dozen" race dates.
"We're happy with it but we can't lose all of our meetings," Sylvester said.
"We've lost the trots and dogs, the golf club is up in the air, we've lost the picture theatre, we're losing beds at the hospital and all we seem to be getting is plenty of beds for the jail."
He believed Racing NSW should bring an all-weather track to Cessnock as part of the pre-training centre. Cessnock currently has main and sand tracks.
Thompson said it would be a sad day if racing at Cessnock came to an end.
"I've been here all my life," he said.
"I'd like a dollar for every time I've been around it. I was riding trackwork since I was 11 there."