IN his popular column, ‘SILKS & SADDLES,’ published in the NORTH QUEENSLAND REGISTER, respected racing writer, TERRY BUTTS, reports on the debacle that is the Cairns track at present where little rain forces meetings to be abandoned.
Butts also reveals how Racing Queensland has been forced to enlist the help of a Hong Kong Jockey Club track consultant who resides on the Sunshine Coast because the problems apparently cannot be rectified by their own supposed ‘experts’.
Here is the Butts’ column:
CAIRNS SHOULD CHANGE ITS NAME FROM CANNON PARK TO CALAMITY PARK
THEY should change the name of the Cairns racecourse from Cannon Park to Calamity Park – truly.
On Friday Cairns was yet again the centre of another uproar when the TAB meeting was abandoned 15 minutes before the first race.
The shock announcement was made just two hours after a track rating of ‘Good 4’ was posted nationwide on SKY and all betting agencies around the country.
After a mere 12mm of rain had fallen on race morning that followed an overnight fall of just 15mm.
Stewards and jockeys walked the track before the first and declared it unsafe. There was surface water all over and the big trouble spot was again in the area near 600m.
That was the same spot where two jockeys came to grief last year at the Amateurs and the same spot that has been the subject of a number of near misses before and since the $2 million track upgrade two years ago.
The upgrade, that when completed, encouraged the Cairns CEO Graham Thornton to declare: “We now have a new all-weather track”.
Really!
And he went on to predict an end to cancelled meetings due to rain at Cannon Park.
Many believed him – others just hoped.
But the super duper all-weather track obviously cannot withstand 30mm of rain. And there are many stakeholders far, far from happy.
BLAME GAME BEGINS OVER WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CAIRNS TRACK DEBACLE
THE blame game is well and truly on.
The problems of the Cairns track have been on-going for years. On separate occasions the track has been under the scrutiny and direction of RQs recognized ‘track experts’ Warren Williams and Bill Shuck.
This week RQ has called on the services of Peter Semos, the track advisor for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, who is currently on the Sunshine Coast and is expected to visit and inspect the Cannon Park track on Tuesday. Hopefully he will have the answers.
RQ CEO Darren Condon, deflecting responsibility for Friday’s fiasco, says the care and maintenance of the track is the club’s responsibility. Most should agree, but there is no blame attributed to the recent appointment of a new course curator. He inherited the problems – and according to the locals is doing an excellent job.
Condon defended the decision to abandon the meeting.
“I have seen race meetings abandoned after 30 or 40mm of rain. It is nothing new,” he said.
But Cairns trainer Fed Weiland disagreed. “They could have had 60mm of rain at Innisfail and still raced.”
Weiland, like many of his colleagues in the north, is ropable that the meeting had to be called off after just 30mm of rain.
“This is our livelihood. This mess at the 600m has been going on far too long.
“Where has all the money gone that was allocated to fix it?” he asked.
Other licensees said the new irrigation system was an ‘el cheapo’ and did not function efficiently.
And in another development, it seems that the cracker dust that was used on the problem site at the 700m is illegal.
It will be dug up on Monday and replaced with a special loam. “They might even find a ruptured irrigation pipe. You never know,” said one local who is convinced there is a permanent underground spring or a ruptured irrigation pipe.
“It has to be something like that. Because it is always wet at that point,” he said
Hopefully everything will be ready for the next meeting on April 26.
And hopefully the rain – even just 30mm of it – will stay away.
IF SOMEONE CAN STUFF SOMETHING UP IN RACE – YOU CAN RULY ON SKY
ADDING to the general confusion on Friday and the frustration of trainers who had dragged their horses all the way from Gympie, Mackay and Charters Towers were the rumours after the meeting was called off.
There were rumours that the meeting might be held on Sunday and if not Tuesday.
So the visitors decided to stay the extra night, in the hope that commonsense would prevail and the meeting would be run.
Apparently a senior committee member of RQ indicated, when contacted by a trainer, that it ‘should be sweet’. And no one doubts the committeeman (who has a very senior position on RQ) did his best.
But SKY – yes the abominable showman stepped in and vetoed both dates.
There was no room to schedule Cairns to the Sunday program on SKY and Tuesday was out of the question because…wait for it… the SKY truck was booked for Rockhampton races on Thursday.
SO if you ever wondered or doubted who controls racing…...now you know.
ACCEPTANCE FEE FOR TOWNSVILLE AND ROCKY CUPS IS ‘UNACCEPTABLE’
THE Townsville and Rockhampton Cups this year will carry $100,000 prize money.
But the acceptance fee for each race is $609 + GST which might seem steep when compared to the Wagga Cup to be run next week that carries $143,000 prize money, pays down to the 10th placing, and all runners get a rebate of $220. There is no acceptance fee.
In Darwin where the Cup carries prize-money of $200,000 all unplaced runners get a $420 starters’ subsidy. The acceptance fee is $220.
TOWNSVILLE OWNER BUYS UP BIG AT THE ROCKHAMPTON SALES
TOWNSVILLE-based Peter Malpass continued his buying spree at the Rockhampton sales on Sunday picking up four new youngsters including a Dash For Cash colt that topped the sale at $50,000.
And, surprisingly, it is not QTIS registered.
Malpass, who has a string in work at his Yabulu complex with trainer Errol Covell, bought 16 horses at the Patinack sale last year and another nine at the recent QTIS sales on the Gold Coast.
Apparently most of the horses are being trained by Gold Coast-based Stephen Jones,
Sales spokesman Jeff Leaver reported an average price of $8.658 for the 75 lots sold. There were seven withdrawals and 34 passed in.
A three-quarter brother to CQ superstar Our Boy Malarchi was knocked down to local trainer Brian Dixon for $10,000.
An interesting bidder was the former top Rocky trainer John Wiggington who has been off the scene for several years. He bought a Man of Illusion-Belle of the West filly for $13,000.
Others who were active at the sale included hotelier Bill Reid buying two for $76,000, Lyle Rowe (two for $36,000) and Hendra-based Kelly Schweida who took home two for $35,000.
COLUMN COURTESY OF TERRY BUTTS AND THE NORTH QUEENSLAND REGISTER, one of Australia's leading rural newspapers.
TERRY BUTTS can be contacted by e-mailing: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..