Incentives For Trainers To Race In Rockhampton

The Rockhampton Jockey Club is now offering a money-saving incentive for trainers to race locally at Callaghan Park.

With TAB calendar congested in the region, and race meetings often just days apart, local horses travel frequently to race in Mackay, Townsville and at other CQ regional and country tracks. In a busy week like the one just experienced, there’s a strain placed on the local racing population, reducing field sizes and ultimately TAB wagering.

To entice trainers to race locally, more often, they will now be rewarded with sizeable discounts off their monthly track and stable fees if they choose to race the majority of their horses at Callaghan Park.

Trainers will receive up to 40% discount off their monthly fees under the RJCs new Stay in Rocky Incentive (SIRI) scheme. For trainers with larger teams the incentives could put thousands of dollars back into their pockets every month. But under the SIRI scheme it doesn’t matter whether a trainer has just one or two horses or 20 horses that are racing in any given month, trainers can all potentially save money by choosing to race at their home track. The SIRI – RJC trainers discount scheme commences 1 March 2025 and will remain in place for a trial period up to 30 June 2025.

“We would love to see all local trainers select us as the first-choice track to race so we can then reward them for their loyalty to Callaghan Park,” RJC chairman Rob Carr said.

Trainers “Stay In Rocky Incentive” (SIRI)

Monthly – Discount of Track & Stable Fees

The discounts in the table below are based on the percentage of starters at Callaghan Park compared to the total number of starters at all tracks by individual trainers, each month.

Scheduling and Programming Of Races In CQ And NQ Remains A Hot Topic

The RJC management continues to work closely with Racing Queensland to resolve field size issues. Let’s not lose sight of the main reason why the field sizes and race numbers were so small here on Tuesday. The lack of starters was largely attributed to poor programming and scheduling of race dates. The racing calendar in the week leading into Callaghan Park’s race meeting was Monday 17^th February – Thangool; Thursday 20^th February – Townsville; Friday 21^st February – Mackay and, Tuesday 25^th February – Rockhampton. Unfortunately, Rocky was the last cab off the rank.

Thank-you, David Aldred (CEO)