Gallop South's future remains unclear following a meeting of Southland's thoroughbred racing clubs last week.
The province's clubs are all members of the Racing Southland organisation, which had Gallop South on its agenda at a meeting on Thursday.
The clubs firstly needed to appoint a new board member to Gallop South after Southland Racing Club president Sean Bellew stepped down earlier this month.
Howard Clarke, of the Winton Jockey Club, was selected by the clubs as his replacement.
Just how long his tenure on the board will be is unknown as the future of Gallop South continues to be a point of contention and uncertainty in southern thoroughbred circles.
After last Thursday's meeting, its clubs agreed to send a letter to the Gallop South board requesting ''structural changes'', Racing Southland chairman Peter Grant said.
''The general consensus was there needed to be restructuring, perhaps some constitutional changes - the constitution has not been touched since it was set up.''
Grant, who is also the chairman of Gallop South, said that he felt all of the clubs at the Racing Southland meeting were committed to the future of Gallop South, apart from the Southland RC which could have gone either way.
Bellew asked for fellow Southland clubs to back a request for the liquidation of Gallop South at the meeting.
The Southland club did not get that support. According to Bellew, that was because the other southern clubs were ''scared of change''.
Instead, the clubs agreed to support constitutional and board changes to Gallop South.
However, Bellew yesterday notified Grant of his club's intention to withdraw its membership of Gallop South.
Despite the official withdrawal, Bellew described the Southland RC as having separated from, rather than being divorced from, Gallop South.
''We have just got to count to 10 and see what the next Gallop South board meeting brings and what the outcomes are there and how they redefine or reshape their business.''
The Southland club, which according to Bellew withdrew because it did not agree with the direction in which the Gallop South board is heading, will be largely unrewarded for choosing to leave the organisation because of its constitutional rules.
Remaining with the Gallop South, if it was to implement change was a possibility, Bellew said.
''If they can clean house and tidy things up and can give themselves a better working model, the industry is small and we talk to each other and see each other all the time, a new direction would be healthy.''
The Gallop South board will meet in Dunedin on Monday to discuss those changes and the feasibility of continuing without its biggest member club, Grant said.
Gallop South's administrative services to racing clubs are funded by its member clubs paying a per race meeting fee and the Southland RC is the largest contributor to Gallop South's coffers with its five annual race days.
Without that income Gallop South, which is coming off a deficit of more than $35,000 from its last full financial year, could become unviable.
If that is the case and Gallop South is dissolved, Bellew said the Southland RC could take on some of Gallop South's staff if it made good business sense for them to do so.
''If there are any fallouts with staff we are not opposed to catching them before they hit the ground.''
