Newcastle Jockey Club has sold the historic track to Racing NSW, which plans to build a world-class pre-training centre at the site.

The transfer was officially completed last Tuesday.

Racing NSW chief executive officer Peter V'landys said there will be no more racing at Cessnock "at this stage", but community race meetings may return in the future.

Mr V'landys said Racing NSW is developing a masterplan for the site, with its main purpose to operate as a centre for pre-training and for aftercare of thoroughbred horses, while a function centre is also on the cards.

"It is envisaged that hundreds of jobs will come from the development and the area will not only be a world-class equine facility for the pre-training and aftercare of thoroughbreds but also a venue for other purposes which will add significantly to the Cessnock economy," he said.

"In addition we are looking at developing the existing grandstand into a very big function facility where weddings and other functions could be held and this would be enhanced by the provision of over 100 cabins on the site.

"Naturally this will require council approval and we will meet with council once we have the masterplan drafted.

"In the future a local community race meeting may also be held, which again will be designed to promote Cessnock."

Cessnock Racecourse opened on February 23, 1924, but race meetings were held in the district as early as 1876.

A Cessnock Jockey Club was formed in 1908, with its early meetings held at Lovedale, before moving to the new track at South Cessnock in 1924.

The racecourse was bought by the Newcastle Jockey Club in 1981, the same year it hosted the first running of the Jungle Juice Cup, which would become the Cessnock club's signature event, drawing crowds of over 5000 in its heyday.

It was held on a Tuesday in July until 2017, when it was moved to October.

Cessnock is also believed to have hosted Australia's first-ever Anzac Day race meeting, which has in recent years overtaken Jungle Juice as its most popular day of the year.

An Anzac Day meeting is not currently scheduled on the Racing NSW calendar.

Newcastle Jockey Club CEO Matt Benson said about eight Cessnock meetings a year would now be held at Newcastle. He said the NJC is "working through options" for the Cessnock Cup and Jungle Juice, and at this stage intends to run them on the Beaumont track.

Meetings have been regularly transferred to Newcastle in recent years because of the state of the Cessnock track.

Cessnock has hosted just one race meeting this year (on June 2). Fixtures earlier in the year were called off due to the drought, while the July 27 and August 17 meetings were washed out.

The sale of the Cessnock track will partly fund the building of the Newcastle Jockey Club's new raceday stalls at Broadmeadow.

August 27, 2020: 7.30pm

Newcastle Jockey Club has settled a deal to sell the historic Cessnock racecourse to Racing NSW and is now eyeing a 500-stable redevelopment at Broadmeadow that has already attracted interest from international and interstate trainers.

NJC boss Matt Benson confirmed on Wednesday that the transfer of Cessnock racecourse to Racing NSW was completed on Tuesday.

Racing NSW chief Peter V'landys said in June last year that Cessnock would eventually be closed to racing and converted into a pre-training facility, although there could still be "some racing" at the site. The Advertiser has this week sought further comment from Racing NSW to clarify those comments.

The 2021 Anzac Day meeting is the sole Cessnock event listed on the Racing NSW calendar.

Racing has been held at Cessnock just once this year (June 2), with the July 27 and August 17 meetings cancelled due to a wet track, while the drought-affected surface forced a number of meetings earlier in the year to be called off.

Benson said Cessnock meetings, about eight a year, would be held on the Beaumont track at Newcastle.

Meetings have been regularly transferred to Newcastle in recent years because of the state of the Cessnock track.

"Obviously we hope this means an exciting future for that facility," Benson said of Cessnock.

"The upshot is the funds that we received are committed to future facility upgrades at Newcastle. That was obviously a key part of the arrangement."

The NJC hopes to build 400-500 stables for on-course trainers at the Chatham Road end of the Newcastle Racecourse, where the raceday stalls now stand.

Benson said a development application to build new raceday stalls off Lowe Street, near the 200m mark of the track, had been approved. He hoped ground works would start in early October and the stalls would be complete by next February.

The development will clear the way for new stables, although funding for that part of the plan has not been secured.

"There are still questions to be answered about future funding sources and Racing NSW are exploring opportunities," Benson said. "Newcastle has been part of the Hunter Valley equine centre of excellence strategy, which has been shared at state and federal government level. There's certainly hope there."

The Newcastle Herald reported in March 2017 the NJC's hopes to build a $20 million 508-stable two-storey complex. Benson said that plan was still the preferred option for the NJC, which had received widespread interest from trainers looking to potentially relocate on-course at Newcastle. The inquiries have included trainers from Singapore and New Zealand as well as interstate.

"Just with the jungle drums about the new development, the club has received numerous and consistent inquiries from trainers locally and internationally about relocating to Newcastle," he said. "We are going to start finalising some of those expressions of interest so we can track them and hopefully keep in touch with some stakeholders and let them know how we are progressing.

"That inquiry reflects not only what this place might become as an equine facility but also the location and lifestyle. The logical future for Newcastle is as the northern centre for training and racing outside of Sydney.

"We are looking at 400-500 stables, depending on what design we end up with and that is purely a funding and affordability decision. But our preference is for a 500-stable development which is two-storey.

"This land at Broadmeadow is worth a lot of money and the utilisation of this facility is going get more and more over time, so we want to be prudent with our use of a finite resource, so two-storey would be ideal."

The NJC hoped to use funds from the Cessnock sale towards the stable development and not the first-stage, day stalls build.

"We are working with Racing NSW in getting the day stalls completed, and our efforts are to try to do that without touching the money from Cessnock," Benson said.

As for the potential of gaining government COVID-19 stimulus funding for the three-stage stable plan, Benson said the project "should shoot the lights out in terms of its cost-benefit ratio" for the region.

"The economic impact of this development is massive and the cost ratio, which the governments look at in assessing if a project gives good bang for its buck, they get excited in any cost-benefit ratio that comes up as two or more and we sit at about 3.7," he said.

"So we like to think it will get a pretty fair hearing down the track, just because of the significant boost it will provide to local industry inside and outside racing."

He said no plans were in place for the existing stables but the site was "a valuable parcel that will hopefully have a future that will assure the club of its financial future".

- With the Newcastle Herald