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A progressive option is required for Werribee

TRAINER Lee Freedman has described plans to transform Werribee racecourse into a private training facility for David Hayes as scandalous.

Freedman, who insists his objection to Hayes' grand plan has nothing to do with the rivalry between Victoria's two top stables, said the much-maligned, cash-strapped track should be developed as Australia's first national apprentices' academy.

"I feel it is the responsibility of RVL (Racing Victoria Ltd) to solve the Werribee problem and the best result for the Victorian racing industry is to enhance and then utilise the facilities there. Perhaps not as a racetrack, but as the first national apprentice academy," Freedman said.

"Werribee should not be allowed to fall into private hands. I acknowledge the race club has a lease arrangement with the State Government and faces possible closure of the track if a reported $4.5 million reconstruction isn't performed, but it should resist the private option."

Hayes revealed in Friday's Herald Sun he has had preliminary discussions with the Werribee Racing Club to redevelop the facility, which has been inadequate for many years.

Under the proposal Hayes would train exclusively at the course, which would continue to be used as a racetrack. Hayes has proposed a 50-80 year lease of the track.

"If the industry gives up a valuable asset such as Werribee to private interest it would be a scandal. It wouldn't matter if that self-interest was David Hayes or anybody else. The principle itself is wrong," Freedman said. Freedman said the impending crisis in the jockey ranks - numbers have dropped considerably at the RVL-run apprentice school in recent years - provided an ideal platform for Werribee to be used to educate apprentice jockeys from South-East Asia.

"The whole industry knows the state of the apprentice system in Victoria," Freedman said."The numbers have dwindled to next to nothing as far as intakes go. RVL has an opportunity here to develop a thriving industry with our Asian neighbours. It should work with government to lobby all Asian racing countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Vietnam and China at government level to set up a big intake of kids from these places. Their training could form part of a trade relationship with these countries to keep the cost down. We are talking underprivileged kids with the motivation to succeed. The obvious (solution) is to marry up the Werribee problem and the apprentice problem and find a solution."

Freedman said racing's preoccupation with the implications of the 2012 wagering relicensing issue meant other issues, such as the jockey crisis, were being downgraded.

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