THE oldest race club in Australia, the Australian Jockey Club, may be forced to merge with its Rosehill rival, the Sydney Turf Club, and Canterbury racecourse redeveloped for housing under a radical plan to rescue the NSW racing industry, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.Its report adds: The merger proposal - and the sale of Canterbury, the largest remaining greenfield site within 10 kilometres of the city - was urged yesterday by an independent study of the industry by Ernst & Young.The re

THE oldest race club in Australia, the Australian Jockey Club, may be forced to merge with its Rosehill rival, the Sydney Turf Club, and Canterbury racecourse redeveloped for housing under a radical plan to rescue the NSW racing industry, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

Its report adds: The merger proposal - and the sale of Canterbury, the largest remaining greenfield site within 10 kilometres of the city - was urged yesterday by an independent study of the industry by Ernst & Young.

The report found annual savings of $10 million from a merger, backed by increased revenue opportunities of a further $11 million a year. Selling Canterbury, for an estimated $400 million, would add another $24 million to the industry's coffers each year.

But a merger would have to bridge the divide between east and west, between the history and old money of the AJC, founded in 1842, and the more raffish STC, founded 101 years later but custodian of the state's premier meeting, the Golden Slipper.

Asked if it would be a mix of water and oil, the AJC chairman, Ron Finemore, replied: "I can't say categorically that's the case."

STC members are expected to be unsympathetic to sacrificing Canterbury racecourse for the good of the industry.

The report was commissioned by the NSW Minister for Gaming and Racing, Kevin Greene, who pointedly refused yesterday to endorse the right of members to decide their own fate.

"If they [the clubs] wish to consult with their members obviously they're welcome to do so, if they wish to do their consultation among their committee and their executive that is their choice," Mr Greene said.

Nor did Mr Greene rule out the potential of legislation to create a racing superclub. The AJC (with 8078 members) and the STC (6320) both operate under acts of Parliament, neither of which specifically vests rights in the membership in the event of a merger proposal.

But Mr Finemore and the STC chairman, Bill Picken, both said whether to merge or not should be a members' decision.