PETER de VRIES had the unlikeliest of entries into Illawarra Turf Club officialdom!
Now, having given a quarter of a century of loyal service to his beloved club, he is ready to step aside to enjoy a quieter life.
As a Board member, chairman, executive chairman and his current position of chief executive, de Vries can justifiably look back with pride on the ITC’s progress as a strong provincial club.
Dutch born, de Vries’ family moved to Australia when he was seven years of age – but surely he could not have envisaged then that he would later play such an important role guiding the fortunes of an historic Australian race club.
Records reveal that racing began under the auspices of the original Illawarra Turf Club way back in 1834 – 26 years before Royal Randwick got off the ground – on the site of the present Wollongong golf course.
Early in the 20th century, the Hon James Carruthers purchased the present site and designed a course almost identical in size and shape to NSW racing’s headquarters.
Various organisations conducted racing at Kembla Grange until the present ITC was officially formed, and conducted its first race meeting on December 18, 1976.
A chartered accountant, de Vries recalls being pole vaulted on to the ITC Board in early 1998 by the iconic late Kembla Grange racing official and character Keith “Shoulders’ Nolan.
“I had been working for several years in New Guinea for a leading firm, and was offered an extension to my contract,” he said.
“But I decided I wanted to return to Wollongong.
“Being an ITC member, I was at the races one day when Keith (then CEO) approached me and said: ‘I want you on the Board’.
“When I mentioned there had to be an election before that could happen, Keith had all the answers.
“He said there was a casual vacancy, and so I joined the Board straight away.”
Nolan, the founding chairman of the ITC, might not have been one for political correctness, but when he set his mind to do something, invariably got it done.
“I had been on the Board for only a couple of years when Keith took ill (he passed away in November 2005), and I became chairman and later executive chairman,” de Vries said.
“There was a change to governance around 2011-12, and I was advised I could do one of two things; stay as chief executive or remain as a Board member and forego the former.
“It was determined that I would be better placed as CEO.”
Understandably, de Vries is proud of a number of achievements during his lengthy term at the club.
“Events such as EI (equine influenza) and COVID might appear as negatives, but they proved real positives as we handled both so well,” he said.
“Kembla Grange was the only course to hold race meetings during the EI period in the latter half of 2007.
“Because we had stables on course, we were able to stage six-race meetings with local horses to fill the gap.
“The late great Gwenda Markwell won the program one day, but that wasn’t surprising as she supplied the majority of runners.
“I was also immensely proud of how we handled COVID in more recent times.
“We understood what we could do and what we couldn’t do, and ran our meetings with undue fuss.
“The Kembla Grange Classic (previously Keith Nolan Classic) has been a wonderful innovation, and will carry record prizemoney of $250,000 (up $50,000) next autumn in line with RacingNSW’s policy for Group 3 races.
“We ran the Brambles Classic for two-year-olds, but it got to a stage whereby a number of other ballot free races were introduced in Sydney as lead-ups to the Golden Slipper Stakes, and our race virtually became a non-event.
“Replacing it in 1999 with this new race for three-year-old fillies over 1600m at set weights plus penalties undoubtedly has been a great success.”
Kembla Grange’s new pinnacle race, the $1m The Gong, is also run at the same distance, and de Vries vividly remembers how it came about.
“I was leaving a Provincial Association meeting at RacingNSW offices in Sydney, and was walking along the corridor to the lift, and Peter V’Landys (CEO) was walking the other way.
“He said: ‘You’re getting a $1m race; you had better come and talk with me about it’.
“That was in 2019 and Newcastle got The Hunter at the same time. Who would have thought a provincial club would be running $1m races?”
de Vries says the club’s first edition of The Gong drew 6000 racegoers to the track, but the number was reduced to around 2500 the following year because of the limitations imposed because of COVID.
Though there have been numerous highlights, de Vries says he is disappointed to be signing off without finalisation of a major three-stage infrastructure project at the track.
“The first stage of a new Polytrack was completed and opened in October 2019,” he said. “The proof has been in the pudding as trainers have been able to continue working their horses in periods of sustained wet weather.
“Unfortunately, a new B grass track and overhaul of the course proper have been delayed.
“It will happen, but unfortunately I won’t be here to see the second and third stages finished.”
On a sad note, de Vries has also seen the passing of two of the track’s great trainers in Bede Murray and Gwenda Markwell.
“Both were wonderful ambassadors not only for our club, but for the racing industry in general, and are greatly missed,” he said.
Having served several times as chairman of the Provincial Association of NSW, de Vries is well qualified to comment on the future of the body, which embraces the five clubs (Illawarra, Newcastle, Hawkesbury, Gosford and Wyong).
“In my opinion, the present set-up of metropolitan, provincial and country jurisdictions in NSW is ideal,” he said.
“We know our place, and I don’t consider we should ever consider ourselves to be a metropolitan club.
“Provincial racing provides all trainers, no matter where they’re based, with the opportunity to place their horses to the best advantage.
“There is often criticism about running four or five Maidens at race meetings, but some people don’t fully appreciate their value.
“They give trainers the prospect to test their young horses to ascertain if they can take the next step to city grade. The big tracks at Kembla Grange and Newcastle in particular are an important lure to Sydney trainers, enabling them to find out the calibre of their up and coming horses as nine times out of 10 they get every chance.
“We started an honour board here about Kembla Grange maiden winners who went on to become Group 1 winners, but ran out of room.
“The recent Eagle Farm Group 1 JJ Atkins winner King Colorado, who won his maiden at Kembla Grange only three weeks earlier, is a perfect example.”
de Vries will end his ITC tenure at the end of July, with his successor Steve Keene starting a week earlier.
“I’ve got good staff here and Steve will be able to talk with them about the practicalities of the business,” he said. “I’ll go through all the politics, and how it is vitally important to maintain a strong relationship with RacingNSW (governing body).
de Vries says it is the right time to be pulling up stumps.
“I’Il be 77 in a few months, so you have to let go.
“Most likely I’ll have a bit of a spell, but look forward to attending some future race meetings as a spectator.
“Once racing is in your blood, you don’t get rid of it. I used to play golf, but was pretty ordinary and gave it away.”
*Words John Curtis, June 29, 2023 - Pics Anna Warr/Illawarra Mercury*
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