Article By Venue Magazine
There is no bigger name in Australian thoroughbred sales than William Inglis. The Riverside Stables is a huge new $110m Inglis development that includes the The William Inglis hotel.
Celebrating racing history and the thoroughbred, The William Inglis is a boutique equine-themed, M Gallery by Sofitel, five-star hotel.
The new hotel, adjacent to the Warwick Farm racecourse, has a wide variety of function and conferencing facilities, along with 144 hotel rooms.
HORSING AROUND
Each of the 144 hotel rooms – including 22 large suites – has its own name and theme, based on one of the many champion racehorses sold through an Inglis sale ring. There’s a paddock to plate-style restaurant and gardens named Newmarket Room, a ring-side bar and the Heroic Café in the lobby. Upstairs guests can laze by the pool and enjoy the rooftop bar, known as the Chiltern Pool Deck & Bar, overlooking the racecourse and stable precinct, with sweeping views of the Georges River and Chipping Norton Lake.
Alongside the pool is a wellness centre and day spa, plus a fully equipped gym overlooking the grounds. The conferencing facilities include The Grand Armee Meeting Room and the Gallery as well as the Inglis Sales Arena which adjoins the hotel.
Overlooking the sales arena, on The Gallery, are nine corporate suites for VIPs to dine and bid in private with access to a mezzanine bar, the 1867 Lounge.
140 NETWORKED SCREENS
The entire AV package was designed, integrated and installed by The P.A. People. Headlining the AV package is the Bose ShowMatch line array system in the Sales Arena, an Exterity IPTV system that pushes content to all 140 screens around precinct and the VuePix hi-res LED screens.
“The Exterity IPTV system gives us a huge amount of flexibility in being able to control devices — scheduling IPTV devices to change channels before an auction starts and to show other channels after the auction, such as auction results and advertising.” The Exterity system also runs the hotel room LG Smart TV network.
UNDER THE HAMMER
The Sales Arena is a as much a performance venue as it is an auction room. The full-spec Bose Professional ShowMatch PA system provides all the intelligibility and excitement required on auction day, while happily performs concert PA duties for occasional gigs and festivals.
The P.A. People’s Managing Director, Chris Dodds explains the decision: “The original brief nominated a headline European loudspeaker for the job. But 36 the same brief hadn’t considered stage lighting and video, so we thought we’d help balance the budget and spec a performance AV system that included all those elements without breaking the bank.”
SCREENS ON THE TROT
The showstopping LED screens in the Sales Arena provide all the clarity and brightness the auctions need. In the adrenalin charged excitement of a sale, clearly conveyed and accurate information is crucial, and the QE series VuePix LED displays provide it in spades.
The two large-format VuePix screens (each 4.5m wide and 2.5m high) are positioned next to the entrances of the parade ring on each side, with an additional 2.5m wide and 1.5m high screen installed in the middle of the ring above the speaker’s desk.
WEST IS BEST
The Riverside Stables precinct is a unique equine playground that positively seethes with activity on the big auction days. The William Inglis challenge is to maintain a healthy level of activity at other times. Thanks to worldclass function facilities that have quickly put the complex on the radar of wedding and corporate function buyers, that challenge is being met. The William Inglis Hotel is a welcome upscale addition to the western Sydney hotel, hospitality and conferencing scene.
