Kendall raised the topic at Wagga City Council's meeting on Monday night and believes the majority of councillors are in favour of supporting Wagga Harness Racing Club’s (WHRC) bid to become the venue for an all-new Riverina supercentre.

Currently Wagga is up against bids from Albury, Coolamon, Temora and Narrandera to become the new home of harness racing.

But Kendall yesterday called upon Wagga City Council and Member for Wagga Daryl Maguire to work with WHRC to ensure the city of good sports is the chosen location.

Kendall even suggested it may be time to look at the potential of redeveloping Wagga Showground or possibly selling up and moving to an all-new location.

Kendall said harness racing held a far too important place in Wagga to let it go.

“My thoughts are that harness racing has been in Wagga for a very long time and it has formed an integral part of Wagga's social fabric,” Kendall said.

“The new supercentre has the potential to generate significant income for Wagga and I think it has to be based in Wagga.

“We need to be proactive to make sure it gets here and Wagga City Council, the harness racing club and Daryl Maguire all need to come together and make it happen.

“Otherwise if we’re not proactive, someone’s going to come in and steal Wagga’s thunder.”

One option Kendall said needs to be explored is a possible link up with the veterinary science facility being built at Charles Sturt University.

WHRC has approached CSU to see if it is interested but the university wants to discuss the idea further before beginning talks.

Kendall also raised the prospect of moving harness racing and the showground to a different location, subject to the Show Society’s approval.

“There also may be an opportunity to either revamp the showground or build a totally new showground with the potential to have the supercentre there as well,” Kendall said.

“That’s if the showground committee agreed.

“You could sell the showground for development and use part of the funds to build the new supercentre. But everything that is looked at, should include the showground.

“Everything should be in the fire…all options need to be considered.”

Kendall asked council what it is doing to support harness racing and said if he is not satisfied with the answer, he would raise it as a matter for discussion at the next council meeting.