Hi, it’s Adrian Bo, and today I’m outside the iconic, world-class, local institution being the Royal Randwick Racecourse here in the beautiful precinct of Randwick, to talk about some recent developments and explain also how this world-class venue was born and has evolved over the decades. The track came into being in 1833 when the Governor then of New South Wales designated the land, which was particularly sandy, for use as a racecourse. However, only after a few years it was then abandoned as a racetrack, and in 1840 then used for training horses only. But by 1860 the Australian Jockey Club moved its headquarters to Randwick and race meetings were then resumed. Initially with a crowd of only 6,000 spectators to start with. It is owned by the Australian Turf Club who, it was reported last week, were surveying local residents before lodging a planning application by the end of this month to hold 16 evening race meetings a year here at Royal Randwick, mainly between October and April to benefit from daylight savings. What a great initiative. This has been vaguely discussed for several years now, but the latest move by the ATC seems to have genuine legs now, as it’s compiling an environmental impact statement to consider how the proposed lighting and increased traffic will affect the area around the track itself.

Now, the project would involve an investment of about $20 million, to instal 79 poles with LED floodlights, ranging in height from 17 metres to 40 metres. This could become a massive attraction for Sydney as the ATC’s is considering potentially running the evening meetings around two of their major spring and autumn carnival events. The Everest in the spring, which is the richest turf race in the world, and the Championships’ meeting during the autumn, which offers over $20 million in prize money over a two-day period. This would enable them to develop a week-long festival experience around the big events, attracting interstate and international visitors, as well as substantial revenue to the fashion, hospitality and tourism sectors, plus other surrounding and related industries. Of course, Royal Randwick has hosted some pretty enormous events in the past beyond horseracing itself. We go back to 1970 where Pope Paul VI celebrated a beautiful mass in front of a huge crowd of about 200,000 people, where 200,000-odd candles were lit and distributed to those attending. In 1986, Pope John Paul II celebrated a mass also for 250,000 people, and again, in 1995, as part of the beatification of Australia’s first saint, Mary MacKillop. In 2008, Pope Benedict II, held a beautiful mass for the World Youth Day here in front of 400,000 people.

I recall how massive of a spectacle it was. As a side note, Royal Randwick was used during the filming also of the movie “Mission Impossible 2”, starring Tom Cruise, of course. In 1954, the Queen, and, now unfortunately the late, Prince Philip, also visited the track and in her majesty’s honour henceforth the Queen Elizabeth Stakes became one of the major events in the racing calendar. Congratulations to the connections of the British raider, Addeybb, for backing up last year’s victory in that very race last weekend, holding off Verry Elleegant, trained by local legend, Chris Waller. In the 32 years I’ve been selling real estate in this area I’ve sold many properties in this local vicinity of this world-class landmark. And in fact, last week I offered two apartments on Cowper Street for sale, within a stone’s throw of this very racetrack. Three months ago I sold Number 5 at 7 William Street, before auction, for $1 million and was delighted with the kind words about me from Dr. Sammut, the vendor. Last year I also sold two apartments at the highly acclaimed Centennial complex, which enjoys a heritage facade not dissimilar to Randwick Racecourse, and that’s at 88 King Street. The larger one being unit 4107, sold for $1.25 million and apartment 3204, a smaller 2-bedroom unit, sold for $990,000. Now, the move to bring event evening racing to Royal Randwick seems to be a fantastic opportunity to further showcase this amazing world-wide facility to the global market, when borders eventually reopen. I hope you enjoy this magnificent autumn sun and always remember, your home is worth more with Adrian Bo.