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By Craig Kerry
September 19, 2025 — 4.02pm
Racing NSW sensationally issued the embattled Australian Turf Club a show-cause notice on Friday over concerns the club is broke, owes $175 million and has poor corporate governance.
The governing body gave the club a fortnight to respond to the notice, threatening to appoint an administrator to replace the board.
Then Australian Turf Club chairman Peter McGauran at a press conference at Royal Randwick following vote on the proposed sale of Rosehill Gardens on May 27.Credit: Edwina Pickles
The move came at the end of a week in which the ATC, which operates Sydney’s four thoroughbred racetracks, sacked its CEO and had two directors resign.
The club owes Racing NSW, run by sports powerbroker Peter V’Landys, $145 million in the form of a non-interest loan which is only repayable if it sells a major asset. It also owes the Commonwealth Bank $30 million, which is due in October 2026.
Racing NSW believes the club does not have the capacity to service the CBA loan.
An ATC spokesman said the club would issue a statement this afternoon.
The ATC sacked its chief executive Matt Galanos, who was on sick leave, on Monday. Steve McMahon, the ATC’s head of corporate affairs and government relations, moved into the interim role the following day.
Directors Ben Bayot and Natalie Hewson resigned on Thursday over the axing of Galanos and the board’s direction. Bayot said the board “has shown poor corporate governance and faces significant financial strain”.
“I don’t see a positive future for the club under this board,” he said. “Unfortunately, it was untenable to continue working with a dysfunctional board.”
Bayot was voted onto the board in May 2021, while Hewson was a government-appointed director from February 2023. The departures left the board with just four directors.
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Peter McGauran resigned as ATC chairman in July after the club’s failed bid in May to convince members to accept a $5 billion deal to sell Rosehill Gardens Racecourse to the NSW Government, a move designed to future-proof the club and Sydney racing against declining revenues and betting turnover.
McGauran, also a government-appointed director, has not been replaced. The ATC’s next annual general meeting is set down for November.
The show-cause notice was issued on a day the ATC faced the threat of public protests from trainers if a proposed increase in rent, track, acceptance and barrier trials fees is not abandoned.
The ATC was set to increase its on-course stable rents by 10 per cent on August 1 before a backlash from trainers forced a postponement.
However, it was revealed on Thursday night in an email from the NSW Trainers’ Association to its Sydney members that track fees were also set to rise by 10 per cent, acceptance fees by about 20 per cent and barrier trials fees from $260 to $421, all from October 1.
The trainers’ body is confident it can find a way forward with interim ATC CEO McMahon, a former NSWTA boss. It also does not want to the dispute to overshadow the Everest carnival, which begins on Saturday at Randwick. It hopes to have any changes abandoned or at least delayed until all parties can have further discussions after the carnival.
The association, though, has proposed to members that, if the hikes are implemented and genuine consultation is not established, trainers should read prepared statements denouncing the increases in all media interviews before discussing their horses.
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