A high-level meeting between Queensland racing industry movers and shakers on the Gold Coast on Thursday will determine the fate of the Eagle Farm track.
Racenet understands Brisbane Racing Club chief executive Dave Whimpey and chairman Neville Bell will drive to the coast today to meet Queensland Racing minister Grace Grace and Eagle Farm report author Dale Monteith.
Top Racing Queensland bosses, including chief executive Dr Eliot Forbes, are also likely to be at the meeting which will thrash out the best way to fix the controversial Eagle Farm track.
The meeting will be on the Gold Coast as it is where the Racing minister and the Queensland Government cabinet have spent this week.
Racenet reported last week that Monteith's report was leaning towards simply replacing the sand base and portions of turf in a quick-fix solution which could have had the Eagle Farm track back in play by March next year.
But heavy lobbying from the BRC and other industry participants has put other possible solutions on the agenda, such as the track being rebuilt on a sand-loam base.
A measure to simply replace the sand could create more controversy given industry reservations about pure sand-based tracks.
The Doomben track, which has performed admirably given its heavy workload, has a base which is a mixture of 65 percent sand and 35 percent soil.
However Eagle Farm remaining a pure sand-based track still seems the most likely scenario.
The recommendations from the final track report will be made public on Friday.
However some sections of the industry will likely push for a review of the report's findings when they are made public.
The $10 million track was widely panned during the recent winter carnival, with jockeys and training complaining horses were essentially just galloping into a sand track.
The carnival was then thrown into disarray when Eagle Farm was closed indefinitely after the Group I Kingsford Smith Cup meeting with the BRC Oaks, Stradbroke and Tatt's Tiara all transferred to Doomben.
The track has since been sitting dormant as industry participants anxiously wait for Monteith's report.
