The members of the Brisbane Turf Club today voted to proceed with a merger with the Queensland Turf Club.

The chairman of the QTC Bill Sexton said that he was delighted the members of the BTC had approvd the merger o the two Brisbane clubs.

The vote in favour of the proposed “Merger of Equals” will see the BTC amalgamate with the QTC to form one Brisbane metropolitan race club to be known as the Brisbane Racing Club Ltd.

“Today marks an historic moment in the history of metropolitan racing in Brisbane,” Sexton aid.

“The merger will deliver a more profitable, sustainable and strategic direction for racing in Brisbane.

“A major benefit of the merger will be that instead of competing against each other, the focus will be more strongly on competition from other forms of entertainment.

“Over the past few months the two Boards have been working closely together, especially in the master planning for Eagle Farm and Doomben racecourses.

“The merger will now allow us to really get cracking on the planning for improvements to both racecourses.

“We still require some formalities and procedural issues to be finalised but hope that the new club can be up and running by July 1, 2009.”

QTC members approved the merger last August.

Queensland Racing chairman Bob Bentley also applauded the members of the BTC in their support of the merger.

“After initiating and advocating in favour of a merger for sometime, the Board of QRL is pleased with the outcome of today’s vote,” Bentley said.

“We have said all along that an amalgamation of both metropolitan clubs must occur to enable the clubs to move forward.

“The amalgamation will now pave the way for a better and brighter future of racing in Brisbane and secures that future.

“This is the first positive step towards securing racing in Brisbane for the future with over 81% of votes in favour of the merger.”
(Source: Racing & Sports)