Wentworth Park’s Final Run
After 94 years of racing, Glebe’s Wentworth Park prepares for its final night before becoming public parkland
By ALEC SMART
The renowned greyhound racing track at Wentworth Park Sporting Complex on Wentworth Park Rd, Glebe, is closing and is scheduled for demolition. The final race meeting will take place on October 16, 2026, ending 94 years of racing at the venue, ahead of its original 2027 lease expiry.
The 3.3-hectare sports complex – including grandstand, kiosks, race track, kennels - will be demolished and transformed into public parklands and community sporting fields. The land will be transferred to the management of the City of Sydney, which already oversees the adjacent 11-hectare estate, including the soccer fields to the north and the children’s playground to the south of the racetrack.
The entire parkland will remain in public hands.
In January 2026, City of Sydney Council published a Community Vision for Wentworth detailing plans that will “transform the park into 14 hectares of sports fields, nature trails and gathering places.” The Council revealed that the plans were “informed by the community’s ideas for the future of Wentworth Park.”
Population Increase Responsible
In December 2025, the NSW Government announced Wentworth Park greyhound precinct was to be converted into public green space when the existing greyhound racing lease expired in September 2027.
However, in July 2026, the NSW Government announced this closure would be brought forward to October 2026, allowing the NSW Government to fast-track their planned redevelopment of the area.
The NSW Government declared: “The site will be restored, racing infrastructure removed and prepared for transfer to the City of Sydney to deliver high-quality multipurpose sporting fields and public open space as part of an expanded 14-hectare Wentworth Park.”
Surprisingly, they also added: that it “...will support the growth of Ultimo-Pyrmont, helping deliver thousands of new homes alongside the parks, recreation facilities and community infrastructure…”
Surrounding land within the precinct will be rezoned to support up to 2,500 new homes as part of a wider inner-city renewal project led by Chris Minns’ NSW Labor Government.
Surprisingly, in July 2026, City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore revealed the NSW Government have actually planned a more concentrated population density around Wentworth Park area.
In an interview with ABC Radio Sydney she stated, "They're planning about 23,000 to 27,000 jobs and 4,500 to 4,800 homes; so it's an absolute necessity that Wentworth Park is available for essential open space for those people living in such high densities.
"The thinking is that it can handle more [housing], but it could only do that if it had areas like Wentworth Park for people to be able to get some healthy air."
Ultimo and Pyrmont are already two of Australia's most densely populated urban areas. Dominated by multi-story apartment complexes, high-rise towers and converted industrial renewal zones, they rank fourth and seventh, respectively, among Australian suburbs with the highest population density.
This currently equates to between 13,740 to 15,829 people per square kilometre, and set to increase.
Prior to the government closure announcement, the Greyhound Breeders Owners and Trainers Association (NSW GBOTA) had tried to negotiate an extension of their Wentworth Park lease beyond September 2027.
Attempts to Ban Dog Racing
This is not the first time that Wentworth Park greyhound track was mooted for closure. In July 2016, NSW Premier Mike Baird announced a ban on greyhound racing following an inquiry into live baiting – the use of live quarry to train greyhounds.
On 16 February 2015, ABC TV current affairs’ program Four Corners broadcast covertly-taken film footage by Animals Australia revealing live animals – native possums, piglets and rabbits - were being used as bait on NSW, Qld and Vic training tracks.
In the program, titled Making A Killing, Four Corners further alleged that this was common training practice in the greyhound racing industry and had been for years, despite regulations prohibiting the practice.
In August 2016 the NSW Parliament briefly passes the ban legislation slated for 1 July 2017. Wentworth Park was among the courses identified for closure.
However, in October 2016, facing intense industry and political pressure, the state government backflipped and reversed the ban to allow the sport to continue, albeit under tighter regulations. Premier Mike Baird went so far to say that he had “got it wrong,” despite polls indicating the majority of NSW residents supported prohibition on greyhound racing.
On 12 February 2025, Animal Justice Party MP Emma Hurst, Chair of the Animal Welfare Committee, introduced another Greyhound Racing Ban Bill to the Legislative Council of the NSW Parliament. The Bill sought to prohibit the breeding of greyhounds in NSW for racing, the destruction of registered greyhounds, and the transfer or export of greyhounds for racing.
Part 2 of the Act would make it an offence to hold a meeting for greyhound racing, keep a greyhound for racing and other restrictions on the transfer of dogs interstate to race.
However, without support from the major parties, the bill has stalled in the NSW Upper House, leaving commercial greyhound racing fully legal in New South Wales. Nevertheless, while the outright ban failed to pass, anti-racing advocacy and public and political pressure from the likes of the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds is ultimately what forced the scheduled closure of Sydney’s historic Wentworth Park Greyhounds track.
Wentworth Park Race Replacement
There are currently 26 greyhound racing tracks across New South Wales, though Greyhound Racing NSW is in the process of an industry restructure aimed at reducing the state's active racing footprint down to 15 tracks.
The first greyhound races took place on Wentworth Park in 1932 and became a frequent fixture. Following the closure of Harold Park greyhound racetrack and paceway in 1987, Wentworth Park was the only city track for watching dogs compete.
Sydney metropolitan race meetings will relocate to the Richmond Race Cub in Londonderry in the Hawkesbury district.
Greyhound Racing NSW is working with the NSW Government to establish a new Sydney dog racing site to replace Wentworth Park, that will be known as the Sydney Metropolitan Racing Precinct (SMRP). The NSW Govt has allocated $10 million to the transition.
