Thoroughbred and harness racing authorities will meet to see if a harness track could be added to the Adelaide Road facility.

The last-minute suggestion came from the state minister for Racing, Michael Wright, after last week’s community cabinet meeting in Gawler.

Jim Watters, chief executive of Thoroughbred Racing South Australia (TRSA) and David Aldred, chief executive of Harness Racing South Australia (HRSA), expressed surprise when contacted by the minister’s office last Tuesday.

“I understand members of the Gawler and Barossa Jockey Club and the Gawler Harness Racing Club discussed the option more than a year ago but couldn’t reach agreement,” Mr Watters said.

“Neither David nor myself were in our roles at that time.

“I think it is very late to be trying to fit harness racing into the complex but we will explore the possibility.”

Mr Watters said representatives of TRSA and the Gawler club would meet with officials from HRSA and the Gawler Harness club as soon as possible.

Mr Aldred said harness racing had been part of Gawler for about 70 years before being left without a venue when the Northern Expressway project began in 2008.

“There are a number of industry participants in the area and with the increasing population, it makes sense to have a racetrack in Gawler,” he said.

“I had thought the Gawler racetrack option had been explored and a decision reached it was not possible - but we will talk again.”

Mr Watters said he understood one concern would be the distance of the potential harness track from spectators.

“We have a grass racetrack, then inside it a grass training track, then inside that a sand track,” Mr Watters said. “The best we could look at would be to have the harness track where the sand track is going and that would be a fair way from the spectators.”