THE WEDNESDAY WHINGE has a new look but won’t be dispensing with some of our old favorites and will continue to focus on THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY side of what has happened in racing over the past week. The Whinge will continue to provide an opportunity for The Cynics to Have Their Say. Thanks again for your support for the most read column on this website. Our popularity continues to grow despite the bagging it is copping from some officials who cannot cope with constructive criticism and insist that no-one reads it. We encourage readers to continue to contribute but plan to restrict the Whinge to only eight or at the most 10 items as well as stories you may have missed in the mainstream media. That is what you seem to want. Feedback suggests that unless there is a major issue that the column at times is too long.
HOW CAN ‘SMART’ PEOPLE ‘STUFF UP’ THIS DEBACLE OVER LIVE RACE BROADCASTING? 
EDITOR’S NOTE: THIS has to be one of the best written and thought-provoking emails the Wednesday Whinge has ever received. And that’s not because I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments expressed. The parties involved from Racing Victoria, to the VRC, TVN, Channel 7, Telstra and Tabcorp should be forwarded a copy and take the time to read what it has to say. They won’t like it but often the truth hurts. The message is loud and clear – and makes terrific sense – here’s hoping someone who matters is listening.
STEFAN MEIER of PASCOE VALE SOUTH writes:
‘I follow with interest the ongoing debacle that is the broadcast of live racing.
My Lord, it is just staggering how something so, so simple can get so stuffed up.
Whilst I can acknowledge that the benchmarks in this field, Hong Kong and Singapore for starters, only do thoroughbreds and only have to deal with a couple of meetings a week, nonetheless after a decade of protracted negotiations, a fractured and deeply self absorbed racing administration has failed miserably in delivering a product we could even come close to calling acceptable.
How hard is this to figure out?
Punters are the industry’s lifeblood. Without them we can close the gates and all go home to bed. Be it sitting at home on the couch, on their phones, at their computers, or at the local pub, punters are interested in only one thing, watching their money go round.
Yes, there is a very, very small group of people who enjoy watching the associated stuff like mounting yard, in depth analysis and post race interviews, but these are overwhelmingly outnumbered by people who just want to bet and watch.
Lose the rank and file punters and no one will be watching anything in the future because there will be nothing to watch.
We need a ‘one stop’ product that delivers all vision and an archive to punters, without all the hoo ha of changing channels, switching websites, logging on, logging off, entering stupid passwords, or being subscribers to some special club or service.
Is this so hard to understand?
And so we find ourselves lurching towards the next hair brained scheme to emerge.
If one were to try and picture the most unlikely to succeed corporate ‘unholy alliance’, you'd be hard pressed to nominate more fitting candidates than Racing Victoria, TVN, the VRC, Channel Seven, Telstra and Tabcorp.
At the core of each of these entities lies the cornerstones of what each one to a man are made of. Self interest, greed, self importance and an inherent desire to knife each other in the back with plots and sub plots not even the great J R Ewing could have ever dreamed up, to keep their pockets full.
To even begin to think that these entities could ever come to any arrangement, even down to what biscuits they should be serving at the meetings, would take an imagination I don't think even exists.
Whatever the ensuing months of meetings, ‘deals in principle’, arrangements, contracts, plots and sub plots of free to air, Pay TV, internet and mobile, will bring, I'm dead sure of only one thing, and that is that whatever happens it won't be punters that are coming out in front.
The most likely and most diabolical result will no doubt be dished up yet again, a whirling dervish of subscriptions to this or that, races spread across multiple channels, websites and platforms, ‘exclusive’ access to Big Pond customers, vision blackouts due to ‘contractual arrangements’ and boy oh boy, just don't ever expect to watch a replay of a barrier trial, a Wangaratta 3YO maiden two weeks ago, or check the breeding record of a horse without having to fork out half a week’s pay for an annual membership to some exclusive ‘club’.
Oh and look out if you're not a Telstra customer, because to watch anything on a mobile device or computer when you're with another carrier, you'll need to be winning Lotto several times over to pay for the data usage or even better banned all together.
If you're into a healthy dose of ads and X Factor promos served up between races, Channel Seven is your hero! Oh, and one more thing, if you have Foxtel, Seven will probably be putting this stuff on 7 Mate, so make sure you're ready to fork out that extra 10 bucks a month for HD access, even though hardly anything is actually broadcast in HD.
See what I mean, the whole thing is just a circus, without a ringmaster!
Good grief, am I Einstein? Do I have the answers?
Of course not, but fair dinkum, if no one can see that without a national approach, not a mish mash of splintered self interest groups always looking after number one, nothing is ever going to change.
The HKJC runs Hong Kong racing and the Singapore Turf Club runs Singapore racing, not a multitude of self serving quangos.
We need to change. It’s 2014, not 1964, and the sooner a new broom sweeps clean the better off we'll be.’
INDUSTRY NEEDS TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON WITH EAGLE FARM TRACK UPGRADE 
BRETT WINTEC of BRISBANE poses this question:
‘CAN anyone let me know what is happening with the Eagle Farm track upgrade?
We have constantly been advised by (RQ All Codes Board Chairman) Kevin Dixon and (CEO) Darren Condon that Eagle Farm is the Queensland racing industry’s greatest asset.
Listed below are extracts from a Racing Queensland Media Release on 7 June 2014.
Mr Dixon said the course-proper at Eagle Farm is the centre piece of racing in the state and the Government’s decision to upgrade the track would be welcomed by the state’s racing fraternity.
“Eagle Farm is the most important asset in racing in the state and this project will give the industry confidence that our flagship racecourse has the best racing surface in Queensland,” Mr Dixon said.
“The upgrade of the track coincides with an important period for the racing industry and there is no doubt all eyes will be on Eagle Farm come the start of next year’s Winter Racing Carnival.”
Racing Queensland CEO Darren Condon said the course-proper at Eagle Farm was the lifeblood of Queensland’s racing industry and the upgrade would ensure it remains the critical element in the industry’s future.
Based on the above, can someone please tell me why the redevelopment of Eagle Farm isn’t being treated with the priority it deserves?
In the 7 June 2014 Media Release it was stated that work would commence in early August 2014.
Why does it appear that no work has been undertaken to date on the course proper, and why is there increasing rumor that the track will not be available for the 2015 Queensland Winter Racing Carnival?
Surely, based on the importance of this track to the Queensland racing industry, Racing Queensland would have had this project scoped and ready to proceed immediately after the 2014 Queensland Winter Racing Carnival.
Can someone please explain how it could possibly occur that Eagle Farm won’t be available for the 2015 Carnival?
From memory I think this is the 150th anniversary and there is the potential that there will be no racing at the venue.
Since taking control Kevin Dixon’s mob haven’t had much success with their track refurbishments, just look at the Toowoomba debacle.
This is looming as a major disaster as there is no way that Doomben can sustain its allocated racing schedule and facilitate the Eagle Farm meetings in April, May and June.
Based on the revised dates released by Racing Queensland in July 2014, Eagle Farm is scheduled to conduct five race meetings in April, prior to the conduct of three Group 1 race meetings on 30 May and 6 and 20 June 2015.
The ramifications of Eagle Farm being unavailable are huge!
How can Kevin Dixon and Darren Condon let this occur?
Racing Queensland needs to come clean with their contingency plans so that stakeholders can assess the impact on feature races (i.e. distance and venue changes), and to consider the likely track conditions prior to mapping out our horses’ preparations.
This will at least provide us with an opportunity to participate at the Sydney Carnival in preference to Queensland if we feel our horses will be adversely affected by programming changes.
There is little doubt that the conduct of the Stradbroke and other feature races at Doomben would deliver significantly different outcomes and would see some horses disadvantaged by this decision.
It is only fair that we know this in advance to enable alternate programs to be planned well in advance.
Let’s hope that Racing Queensland advise stakeholders of the current position and likely consequences, in the very near future, as preparations are already being planned for May and June next year.
For once why doesn’t Racing Queensland announce this itself, instead of us reading it (with the normal slant) in The Courier-Mail?’
IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG FOR THE ‘EXPERTS’ TO WRITE OFF LANKAN RUPEE 
CYRIL JONES of MELBOURNE writes:
‘IT hasn’t taken long for the ‘experts’ to write off Lankan Rupee as the ‘best sprinter in the world’.
Have his defeats been all that bad?
Race tactics and more importantly, the tricky Moonee Valley track, may arguably have conspired to his downfall in two starts since a spell.
It’s not as though he has been beaten that far either time. And poor Craig Newitt has been a victim of circumstances on both occasions.
According to the experts he rode too aggressively first-up and then too conservatively when beaten by Buffering last Friday night. It would seem Craig is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.
Personally, I think Lankan Rupee is not handling the Valley and the moment he steps away to a bigger track we will see him win. If that happens it will be interesting to see if the doubters jump back aboard.’
EDITOR’S NOTE: THE above email no doubt was referring, in part, to this column item by KEN CALLANDER in the DAILY TELEGRAPH this week:
LANKAN Rupee is not the best sprinter in the world, not by a long shot.
Make all the excuses you want for his flop at Moonee Valley on Friday night, blame the jockey, the tempo, the track, whatever you like but he was still disappointing.
He was no better getting beaten by Buffering as a $1.55 favorite than he was first-up when bowled over by Angelic Light at $1.22. I don’t know what happened to the horse who won the Oakleigh Plate, the Newmarket and the T.J. Smith Stakes earlier in the year, that’s just a memory on current form.
Give him another chance if you want, the bookies would love you to.’
‘WHERE WERE THE ‘CONCERNED MEMBERS’ WHEN THE AGM WAS HELD AT TOOWOOMBA? 
THIS email was received from a MEMBER of the TOOWOOMBA TURF CLUB who asked not to be identified:
‘BARELY a week goes by on this website without some criticism of The Toowoomba Turf Club.
This is usually in the form of an email allegedly from a ‘group of concerned members’.
This criticism is directed at the Chairman of the Club and his committee and at the same time praises the work of the previous Chairman Mr Stewart.
Last Thursday, the Annual Meeting of the Toowoomba Turf Club members was held and not one of this so-called ‘group of concerned members’ had anything to say or were even present.
I also note that Mr Stewart has not attended the last two annual meetings. Mr Stewart did, however, send formal apologies.
If this ‘group of concerned members’ actually exists, why did they not raise their concerns at the annual meeting, instead of taking cheap shots, whist hiding online?
If they had attended the meeting they would have received a very detailed presentation regarding the problems that arose earlier in the year with the new grass track and what is being done to address the issues.
After hearing the presentation, I have every confidence that the track will soon be at least the equal of any track in Queensland.’
EDITOR’S NOTE: THANKS for the contribution but I am a bit disappointed that after criticizing ‘concerned members’ for ‘hiding on-line,’ you were full of praise for the current committee but requested that you not be identified. That didn’t make much sense. And as for the back-hander ‘if this group of concerned members actually exists’ I can assure you that there are plenty of supporters of racing in Toowoomba who are gravely concerned for the future of the industry there – as are the auditors, according to their report – which you failed to mention in your glowing praise of the current committee. Nevertheless, we were happy to run your point of view. I did contact a couple of those ‘concerned members’ and asked why they didn’t use the obvious platform to voice their criticisms of the club at the AGM. Their response was that it would have fallen on deaf ears and that the turn-out for the AGM was, according to their feedback, pretty dismal – the majority of just the usual ‘coat-tuggers’ and ‘yes men’, of which they said you would be one. They claimed the only positive was the news that Chairman Bob Frappell plans to stand down after the next 12 months. They did question however ‘how the future would look for racing in Toowoomba in that time’ – their words not mine. Letsgohorseracing just provides a platform for the views of others then sits back and watches the industry in Toowoomba - and Queensland for that matter - self-destruct.
‘AREN’T BETTING SUPERVISORS SUPPOSED TO BE PROTECTING THE PUNTERS’? 
CHARLIE J, a battling punter of Brisbane, writes:
‘JUST when you thought the Betting Supervisors were there to protect the battling punters, stories are emerging that this is not the case, especially with racing in Queensland.
I can provide first hand information that when a complaint was made to the Betting Supervisor at RQ about a bookmaker not paying 25 per cent of the win price for the place on an each-way bet (and there were eight runners in the race), he got little sympathy or support.
If it isn’t bad enough that bookies are being allowed to ‘cost’ punters money when they manage to back a placed horse, then you have officialdom apparently not prepared to implement the Rules of Racing.
Can I ask what experience you need to be a Betting Supervisor?
Surely it’s a bad situation when punters get the impression that this official is too close to the bookmakers he is supposed to be policing.
As if backing a winner isn’t hard enough, this is just another reason not to go to the races in Brisbane.’
FULL MARKS TO CHAD FOR PUTTING HIS HAND UP – PITY ABOUT THE APPEAL 
JIM GOLDING of MELBOURNE sent this email:
‘HERE’S hoping Chad Schofield is appealing to the RAD Board about the severity of his penalty and not against the charge of improper riding.
Even the best lawyer will struggle to defend Chad after he told Bruce Clark on RSN last weekend: “I definitely manoeuvred Michelle Payne off her rightful line of running. Obviously it went on for too long.”
Asked by Clark: “Do you think you persevered for too long”? Schofield replied: “Yes I do.”
Full marks to the young fellow for his honesty when he said: “Our case was that it happens often. The stewards’ case was that it went on for too long. The RAD Board agreed with the stewards.”
Listening to those comments about the best Chad can hope for is a reduction in penalty. Then again it is a RAD Board and they seem to come up with some hard to follow decisions at times in all states.
I would like to raise just one more thing in relation to the Schofield issue. A former Melbourne Cup winning jockey went into bat for him declaring he was badly done by in the stewards’ decision.
This particular jockey is hardly a role model for youngsters in the game. His performance at a bush race carnival when he embarrassed a former top Victorian trainer then got himself a smack in the mouth and thrown off the track by an older gentleman is pretty much par for the course for him these days.’
BOUQUETS FOR RACING JOURNO PREPARED TO QUESTION SUCCESS OF O’SHEA 
CRAIG JAMES of NEWCATLE writes:
‘AT last a racing journalist in Sydney who hasn’t been caught up in the ‘love affair’ with John O’Shea.
Ken Callander in his Telegraph column this week made mention of how much more successful the Snowden’s have been independently as trainers than O’Shea since he took over preparing the big Darley team.
Cut to the chase Ken and the O’Shea report card is a dismal one not to mention the loss of Kerrin McEvoy as No 1 stable jockey.
I am not an O’Shea fan and nor are a lot of others in and outside of Sydney racing. To say we are ‘death riding’ the Darley runners each week would not be an understatement.’
EDITOR’S NOTE: IT’S too early to condemn the job that John O’Shea is doing but come the end of the spring carnival and one would expect to see some better results.
Here’s the column piece by KEN CALLANDER that the above email refers to:
IT is now over four months since the big switch when John O’Shea took over from Peter Snowden as Godolphin’s private trainer and Snowden teamed up with his son Paul to take over O’Shea’s Randwick stables and many of his horses.
The report card at the moment shows the Snowdens as a fabulous success with wins in just the past few weeks in races like the Theo Marks Stakes, the Newcastle Cup and the Stan Fox Stakes.
The jury is still out on O’Shea. Seynesse and a few others aside, O’Shea has not come out of the blocks running. I am still backing him in. He signed a contract for three years, not for four months, and he was told when he started it would take 12 months for him to get a handle on the complex operation.
CRITICISM OF RISA CAME BACK TO HAUNT TERRY BUTTS IN HIS OTHER ROLE 
HOW prophetic were the words of Terry Butts in his Silks & Saddles column last week.
You might say they came back to haunt him in his other field – former trainer – standing in for his son who is in Egypt at present.
Butts highlighted the fact that RISA (Racing Information Services Australia) had been launched as the greatest thing since sliced bread for licensees but was already renowned for its shortcomings and mistakes.
He questioned whether it would become more efficient under the planned Australian Racing Board merger into a body to be known as ‘Racing Australia’.
Butts had reason to deal with RISA this week and it ended in more frustration which prompted him to send the following email to that organization:
‘My name is TERRY BUTTS and I am in charge of horses trained by my son BRENDAN who is currently in Egypt and incommunicado. I have tried at least a dozen times (using Brendan's log in) to declare Mathew McGuren on the horse Don't Think Do in the Class 2 at Townsville on Thursday.
So I rang RISA this morning to do it by telephone. I was told by ‘Nicole’ I couldn't and that I must contact my son in Egypt to do it. Well, just how ridiculous is that? He simply can't be contacted.
It gets worse. I also told her I wanted to put a tongue tie back on MAGIC COUNTRY also racing on Thursday.
No, I couldn't do that either.
As a journalist (www.letsgohorseracing.com.au) I mentioned only last week (when writing about the upcoming merger of ARB, Studbook and RISA) that RISA had a lot of shortcomings and hadn't measured up to the expectation of it.
After today I can assure you my opinion hasn’t changed. I had to call on the chief steward of this region (Sam Woolaston) to sort out this mess.
Frankly RISA is a hindrance – not a help.’
THE matter was finally sorted out by the North Queensland stewards and RISA responded to Butts with the following email:
Dear Terry
Thank you for email and feedback.
Earlier today when you contacted the RISA Service Centre (RSC) agents we were unable to assist as you did not have the full security information to transact over the phone.
As discussed with the RSC Team Leader (Tony) following your initial enquiry, we were able to confirm with you that with the security information you did have you were able to log onto Stable Assist to lodge the rider and stable return.
While you were able to log on successfully to Stable Assist, we understood you were unable to complete the transaction so Tony called you to assist you with transacting through Stable Assist, however before we were able to assist further you advised you had contacted the local Steward who had transacted on your behalf.
We have contacted the local Steward (Sam) who confirmed he did assist you.
We of course want to ensure next time you call the RSC we are able to assist, in order to do so we will require the following security information:
- Trainer ID and
- Code
Alternatively Stable Assist incorporates a user guide, our RSC agents would be more happy to assist you transacting online next time you use Stable Assist.
As you will be aware the phone and online security protocols are in place to ensure the integrity of the user accounts and to track usage for integrity monitoring purposes.
RISA recognises and understands that the Thoroughbred Racing Industry is a 365 day of the year 24 hours per day operation.
The RISA Service Centre standard hours of operation (1800 138 704) are:
- 7am - 5pm (AEST) Monday-Friday
- 6:30am - 10am (AEST) Saturday
- 6:30am - 10:30am (AEST) Sunday
- 6:30am - 5pm (AEST) Public Holidays
All other services are supported via racing and technical experts with a range of support services available 365 24/7.
Terry, I would like to extend an invitation to you when you are next in Melbourne to visit RISA so you can meet the team and we can provide you with an overview of RISA’s operations. Additionally and importantly we always welcome the opportunity to meet industry stakeholders to discuss feedback and suggestions in relation to the diverse services we provide to the Thoroughbred industry on a national basis.
I can arrange for someone to contact you at your convenience to assist with Stable Assist or to confirm with you with the security information required for future phone transactions.
I look forward to meeting with you when you are next in Melbourne.
Regards
Lesley Lindsay
Chief Operating Officer
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in the above e-mails should not be interpreted as those of JOHN LINGARD, the owner-editor of the letsgohorseracing web-site. That is why he has added an ‘EDITOR’S NOTE’. Every endeavor is made to verify the authenticity of contributors. We welcome any reasonable and constructive responses from parties or individuals.
