Melbourne Racing Club’s plans for keeping Sandown racecourse open for racing are unchanged, despite the sudden departure of chair John Kanga.
Over several years, MRC had sought to rezone the 112-hectare racecourse, releasing a proposal for a 7500-dwelling, 16,000-resident housing estate.
However in an election coup last year, Kanga and a group opposed to a Sandown selloff wrested control of the MRC board and upended the plans.
This month, Kanga announced his immediate resignation after a “series of public attacks directed at me personally”.
“While I completely reject the nature and accuracy of those attacks, I do not want them to distract from the Club, its members, or the excitement of the Caulfield Cup Carnival,” he stated.
In a statement last week, MRC backed Sandown’s “vital role in Victorian racing” with a “high-quality” surface and “important training and trial facility”.
The club also intends to potentially develop “excess land” at the venue.
Any future development would “complement and support the continuation of racing” at Sandown, the MRC stated.
“The Club’s broader strategy focuses on bringing Sandown back to life — improving the racing and racegoer experience, unlocking untapped non-race-day revenue, and engaging with local communities and younger audiences to grow the sport’s appeal.”
In December, a State-appointed Sandown Racecourse Advisory Committee (SRAC) found the housing-estate plan was “well founded and strategically justified” – especially with targets of 51,000 new homes in Greater Dandenong by 2050.
“The Sandown site presents a significant redevelopment opportunity with the potential to make a substantial contribution to required housing supply in the City of Greater Dandenong and the southeast region of Melbourne more generally.”
The SRAC noted many “passionate” submissions to retain horse and motor racing at the site.
But the fate of those sports at the venue was a matter for the MRC, it stated.
