Racing NSW is enforcing the rule which states no one who is a committee member in NSW is allowed to own a racing licence, forcing people to choose to be involved in the racing or executive side of the sport.

Edwards is one who in the last few days chose to keep his stablehand licence in order to keep a hands-on role in the sport he loves but admits it pains him to leave the Dubbo Turf Club committee.

“I’m extremely disappointed, without a doubt, it wasn’t what I wanted to be doing but it got to the point where I had to choose being the chairman or president of a board or keep my stablehand licence,” he said.

“I’ve been debating with Racing NSW and they wouldn’t budge and I felt it was starting to impact the running of the club so it got to the point where I had to choose and I’ve gone with my heart rather than my head, I guess.”

Despite the changes, Racing NSW’s general manager - industry, Scott Kennedy, believes it will ensure the governance of the sport will be positive in the long term.

“It’s been in place since the start of 2012 with conditions of registration of clubs mean there is to be no licenced people on committees, it’s part of the broader process to make governance of clubs more robust,” Kennedy told the Daily Liberal yesterday.

“We’re in the process of having the policy implemented more rigorously and we want it done sooner rather than later and we’ve made progress, people have either left the committee or given up their licence.

“We need a long term view of it, people who have left a committee might have made a strong contribution and we’ve made sure to thank them for that and it’s not about individuals, in time it will strengthen the sport.”

Kennedy also stated the changes to club registration will make certain there is no perceived conflict of interest with independent people from communities set to be appointed to boards by Racing NSW on top of the elected members.

Edwards didn’t buy into that and felt it would be hard to find people interested in racing in smaller country communities who aren’t already somehow involved in the industry.

“Honestly, I think that analogy is flawed,” he said.

“We need to get people on committees and at Dubbo we had seven positions but could only fill six so there’s not an abundance of people out there.

“I question whether it will strengthen in the future or not, there’s people in the industry who are good people that are being excluded from wanting to make a contribution.”

Parkes’ Ben Smith, Mudgee’s Percy Thompson and Coonabarabran’s Mick Cox are all reportedly others who have recently stepped away from their respective committees in order to keep their licences.

Kennedy said he could understand the frustrations of smaller communities but said the sport will prosper with new, business and community minded people on committees.

“I can, but the policy is there for a good reason, you can look at an instance where an individual has made a strong contribution but in other smaller communities there’s clubs running well without a licenced person on the board,” he said.

While disappointed to walk away, Edwards, who became president in September last year, was delighted with how successful the Dubbo Turf Club had become in recent times.

“It was very challenging, we didn’t have a traditional handover, it was a brand new board which came in but we’ve achieved a lot in a very short space of time,” he said.

“We’re financially stable, and the future is bright. There’s a good general manager and the racing interest in Dubbo will continue to be well served long into the future.”