Sunshine Coast Turf Club planning for a big future

By Jordan Gerrans

While the Sunshine Coast racing community pauses to reflect on their history this Friday, the club’s hierarchy is already planning for the next 40 years. 

The Sunshine Coast Turf Club will host a special race day on Friday to mark its 40^th anniversary which dates back to their first meeting at the Caloundra site on the 25^th of July 1985.

In the lead-up to the meeting, the club have released historic pieces on their social media and website to reflect and reminisce on the history of racing in the area. 

The provincial meeting will showcase eight races with an array of dignitaries and those that were there for the first days of the SCTC invited for the occasion. 

When Corbould Park was opened in the 1980s, it was a historic event in the Sunshine State as it was one of the few new tracks that had begun racing from fresh in the 50 years prior. 

A number of high-profile jockeys from interstate flew into Queensland to compete on that opening day. 

Sunshine Coast Turf Club Chairman Peter Boyce was there at the track all those years ago.  

“It is a long way to go until we get to 50 years but in reality, 40 years seems like yesterday,” Boyce said.

“The 50-year milestone will be upon us before we know it.

“We want to celebrate the fact that we have been going for 40 years as well as celebrating the early movers and shakers – there is a couple of them still with us.

“We want to celebrate that they had the foresight to give us what we have got now.”

The club have invited previous members of the board, life members and members of the club who have been signed up for decades to a function on Friday. 

They have named the races on Friday’s card after influential people in the history of the club. 

Boyce has been a member of the SCTC since 1986 and joined the SCTC board in December of 2008. 

He also spent time on the Racing Queensland Advisory Board between 2013 and 2015. 

Boyce – who is a retired lawyer away from his racing interests – had a hand in the first-ever winner at the Corbould Park surface, which was won by Australian Racing Hall Of Fame member Ron Quinton.

“I can recall the very first race meeting, I was there,” the current club Chairman said.

“Ron Quinton rode the first winner and my cousin had an interest in the winner.

“I couldn’t believe that the Sunshine Coast had finally got a racing circuit and a great facility.”

Boyce was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in 2013.

Boyce and his committee, as well as Sunshine Coast Turf Club CEO John Miller, are in the process of ensuring that the racing industry is alive and well in the area for the next four decades. 

They are developing a master plan for their facility at Caloundra which they believe will drive revenue for the club from interests other than racing. 

Miller pointed to the club needing to plan for the next 20 then 40 years down the line. 

“It is about what other pieces of land on the precinct that we develop for other needs that can also drive some revenue back into the club and continue to improve the members experience and facilities,” Miller said.

Boyce believes the master planning of the entire site at Caloundra will be a benefit for the community around the area as well as the racing industry.  

With Caloundra an ever-growing area from a popular perspective, Boyce says the club needs to be able to cater to more people in the area over the coming decades. 

“We want to go upwards,” Boyce said.

“We have 80 hectares in all and racing will always be number one and our bread and butter as a club. We want anything we do to feed into racing, any income we have.

“The fact that we are master planning, I cannot believe the excitement that whole process brings.

“It won’t just be accommodation, there will be short-term stuff, a club, facilities for the public and we want to really blend into our community.

“We want to make sure the community knows it is not just a racing facility, but it is for everyone, and that is our plan.”

Reflecting on his time at the club, Boyce says the lightning upgrades at the facility have been a game changer, allowing them to regularly race in the twilight slot as well as night racing. 

Corbould Park is also one of the busier training facilities in South East Queensland, as well, with around 300 horses on course following the unveiling of new on-course stabling in recent years. 

From a racing perspective, the club has hosted a number of headline horses in recent years including Winx’s 2015 Sunshine Coast Guineas victory, eventual Melbourne Cup champion Knight’s Choice claiming the 2023 Winx Guineas while Private Harry’s victory in the 2025 Magic Millions Sunlight is another for the history books. 

“There has been a lot that has been achieved in the short space of time that is 40 years,” Miller said.

“What was developed and designed for our track and club, it is still fit for purpose today and people attend the races today are often blown away by the facilities and lay-out we have got.

“A lot of the credit has to go to the people that were involved in the early days in those original committees and the planning for the design of the place because it is just first-class.

“They have hit the nail on the head with what they did it and it has served us really well and it will serve us really well into the future.”

Miller says one of his greatest achievements in his time at the club has been upgrading facilities for members.