RACING legend Bart Cummings has joined opposition to the holding of next year’s World Youth Day Mass at Randwick racecourse.
Mr Cummings, a Catholic and regular Mass-goer, was reported in Fox Sports early last week as saying that the racecourse was not the place for the Pope.
Mr Cummings’ comments followed the Randwick Trainers Association’s (RTA) unanimous vote on July 4 to explore legal avenues to stop the racecourse’s use for 10 weeks in the lead-up and aftermath of World Youth Day events next year.
The RTA’s vote also challenged the right of the racecourse tenant, the Australian Jockey Club (AJC), to negotiate the deal with the World Youth Day Committee without their consent.
However, Mr Cummings was also reported on Fox Sports as saying he would leave the talking and negotiations to his son, Anthony, RTA president.
WYD08 communications director, Jim Hanna, said he was surprised at the latest development because it had been known since October last year that the racecourse would be the venue for the evening vigil and final Mass.
“Randwick was recommended to us by the NSW Government – which owns the site – because it provided the most efficient transport solution for these events and enabled more people to see the Pope directly,” he said.
Anthony Cummings has been instrumental in presenting the industry’s side of the upheaval.
Impacts include the need for 52 registered trainers at the racecourse, managing a horse population of almost 700 in the Randwick precinct, to find alternative accommodation for their horses.
Compensation figures of $20 million and more have been discussed.
