The untouched block of land that is key to a $100 million arm wrestle with the Victorian government

November 11, 2026 — 5:01am

The state’s harness racing industry claims it was shortchanged $100 million in a state government land deal on the outskirts of Melbourne that threatens the sport’s survival.

Harness Racing Victoria was forced to sign over ownership of 93 hectares of Melton real estate to the government in 2024 to settle an $86 million debt, but the land has since been valued at up to $200 million.

The Western Highway property sits near two trains stations – Melton and Cobblebank – and a new hospital site, and is ideally situated for commercial or housing development in a fast-growing area of the western suburbs.

But a potential boon for the Melton community sits untouched, stuck in the middle of an ongoing tug-of-war, despite repeated interest from at least one developer.

Harness racing was delivered a stark wake-up call in 2023.

The government severed the sport’s financial umbilical cord and Racing Minister Anthony Carbines ordered the industry to start living within its means.

The future looked grim. At the end of the 2024 financial year, HRV announced a $34 million operating deficit.

As a result, it axed 40 per cent of its staff (cutting the workforce from 120 to 70) and slashed $14 million in prizemoney.

This financial year, HRV posted an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) of almost $1 million.

But while the financial haemorrhaging was stopped, the industry suffers in other ways.

Traditional wagering revenues remain under pressure and following three years of savage cuts, key stakeholders fear a mass walkout of breeders, owners and trainers – an exodus that would bring the sport to its knees – because they can no longer make ends meet.

“There is no incentive to stay,” said one insider, who was not authorised to speak on behalf of the industry.

HRV chairman Bernard Saundry told this masthead the sport needed control of the Melton land because the sport could not “cut our way to permanent sustainability”.

“Harness racing needs new sources of income beyond traditional wagering revenue, and we have an asset capable of helping create them,” he said.

“We are not wanting a handout. We are asking for the opportunity to use the value created by our own asset to build a sustainable future, stand on our own two feet and ultimately reduce our reliance on government.

“Harness racing contributes more than $623 million to Victoria each year, with almost two-thirds of that contribution in regional Victoria.

“There are communities, livelihoods and a 170-year sporting tradition behind these numbers.

“We think that’s a fair proposition: let harness racing use the value of its own asset to help secure its own future.”

Harness Racing Victoria bought the land for $5 million in 2007 and began racing at Melton Entertainment Park in 2009 after relocating from Moonee Valley.

But it lost independent control of the land in 2019 following changes to state legislation under then premier Daniel Andrews.

HRV is a statutory body, answerable to the government, and the new law meant proceeds from any land sale would go straight to the Treasury.

At the time, HRV was also swimming in debt. It had borrowed $42 million from the state government to prop up prizemoney, and still owed $44 million on its Melton track facilities.

The government agreed to wipe the debt in 2024 in exchange for the land. Former HRV chairman Adam Kilgour and his board agreed to the deal.

Meanwhile, the land surrounding the harness racing track remains unloved.

This masthead reported in October 2024 that a developer offered $90 million for a 30-hectare parcel of land at the Melton site, but it went unanswered.

Experienced estate agent Mark Shelly, who is managing director of Stockdale & Lego at Bacchus Marsh, said he was “dumbfounded” the land was going to waste.

“It is mind-boggling that the land is sitting there doing nothing,” Shelly said.

“It is this sort of hamster wheel, just spinning around, and nobody seems to be able to make a decision on what can or can’t happen with it.”

A state government spokesperson said that “harness racing has a long and storied history in Victoria, and we’re backing the sport, local clubs and the jobs its supports”.

“We’ve provided substantial support to Harness Racing Victoria to help clear its debt and implement a new sustainable business model,” the government spokesperson said.

Melton City Council mayor Lara Carli declined to comment when approached by this masthead and asked about the potential benefits of developing the Melton land for the local community.

Harness Racing Victoria abandoned plans earlier this year to return to Moonee Valley as part of the thoroughbred racing venue’s mega rebuild because of the prohibitive costs.

But it engaged a consultant last year to come up with three fundraising scenarios should it be able to wrestle back ownership of the Melton land. In all cases, it would continue to race at Melton.

The first was a part-sell, part-development agreement, which would return $136 million to the industry over 60 months.

The second was an all-out development agreement in which HRV retained ownership but would work with a partner to develop the land. The return was $190 million over 80 months.

The third was a staged acquisition, which returned $130 million over a 50-month period – HRV would receive $14 million every six months, starting month 24.

In all cases, HRV would have to renegotiate the initial $86 million debt absorbed by the government in exchange for the Melton land.

Other changes are happening in a structural sense.

HRV will transition from a statutory authority to a company limited by guarantee on July 1, 2028, after the government changed the Racing Act.

Had such a move been made in 2024, HRV would have had the power to retain its land.

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