THE WEDNESDAY WHINGE has a new look but won’t be dispensing with the theme and focus on the THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY side of what is happening in racing. 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 and one of the most read on racing websites in the country. Our popularity continues to grow despite the bagging it cops from some high profile officials, especially in Queensland, who cannot cope with constructive criticism of any kind. We encourage supporters – and critics – to continue to contribute but plan to restrict the Whinge to less than 10 of the best items each week. Our message to those who continually bag us is simple: IF YOU DON’T LIKE WHAT YOU READ, THEN DON’T REVISIT THE WHINGE.

IT’S A BIT IRISH BUT THE WEDNESDAY WHINGE WILL BE OUT ON TUESDAY NEXT WEEK

PLEASE NOTE: BECAUSE of a planned TELSTRA interruption to the broadband network in the region we are based next week the WEDNESDAY WHINGE will be published on TUESDAY. With the prospect of our service being down for up to two days we have no option. Please get your contributions in EARLY. It’s a bit Irish running the Wednesday Whinge on a Tuesday but the choices were not running it at all or going a day early with what is by far the most popular feature on our website. Thank you for the positive feedback on the Godfrey Smith ‘Postcard from the Maldives’ last week. We will do our best to fulfill your requests and have his blog again become a regular feature on the site.

WALLER’S TESTICULAR TREATMENT FOR ADELAIDE PUT PUNTERS’ BALLS IN A VICE

MERV LARSON of MELBOURNE writes:

‘WHAT a pity ‘champion’ trainer Chris Waller didn’t apply the Adelaide ‘treatment’ to the poor old punters before they tackled the two days of The Championships at Randwick.

Instead of treating the punters’ testicles with baby oil – a practice used to help lubricate the galloping action of some gallopers – one could argue that the Waller stable put their balls in a vice.

Not one of his fancied runners saluted during The Championships. The stable highlight was more of what punters have come to expect from Waller all season – an upset win by a second string starter.

Grand Marshal was a nightmare result for punters in the Sydney Cup not only because he was a despised outsider at $41 but also because he beat the well fancied stablemate Who Shot Thebarman.

Of course the media didn’t focus on the massive upset and were keen to again pump up the comeback to big race success of an old favorite in Jim Cassidy who rode Grand Marshal. There was, as expected, the potshot at the ride of one of the world’s best, Joao Moreira on Grand Marshall at its previous start when beaten in weaker company – a convenient alibi for the improvement.

The Waller aspect aside, The Championships, like many of the big meetings, proved extremely tough for punters to negotiate. Only four outright favorites were successful on the two big days.

And there were some colossal flops – Hartnell and Protectionist in the Sydney Cup the biggest followed by Japanese invader To the World and Adelaide in the Queen Elizabeth. Were these the same horses we had seen race so well at their previous starts? The latter two in fact looked like they had lost a leg. Adelaide, making his debut for Waller, raced nothing like his Cox Plate success and Protectionist was not the same horse that won the Melbourne Cup (albeit the Kris Lees stable has found the horse to subsequently have a leg problem).

The Kiwis caught us again with our guard down. Mongolian Khan won the Derby after racing like a crippled crab the week before. Gust of Wind was a $17 winner of the Oaks beating another Waller fancy in Winx which one has to concede was unlucky.

Gail had only the one winner over the two days and that was Amanpour at $21 in the Queen of the Turf where First Seal suffered another defeat proving once and for all that she is the most overrated girl in Australian racing.

From a punters’ perspective The Championships were nothing short of an absolute disaster.’

EDITOR’S NOTE: MAX PRESNELL, writing for FAIRFAX MEDIA, explained the treatment applied to Cox Plate winner Adelaide before his flop in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. His story is reproduced below:

THE application of baby oil to the testicles, a practice used to help lubricate the galloping action, didn't help Adelaide in Saturday's Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick.

Old-timers used to apply grease or oil to the hooves, even more recently in the Melbourne Cup, to help horses get through the wet. But nothing less than a tow-truck would have helped Adelaide through the bog.

When stewards were told about the therapeutic massage, which was later described as a ‘common’ practice, officials went into overdrive, with Racing NSW vet Craig Suann sent to examine the situation.

Trainer Chris Waller was sought but he was involved in the Sydney Cup presentation. Later, he convinced stewards no unfair advantage was gained.

Chief steward Ray Murrihy, however, will take the matter of the baby-oil treatment to the rule makers, with the possibility it will be barred in future.

Ice, the water variety, has long been applied to the vital areas of colts and stallions, especially ones feeling their oats before a race and subsequently showing more interest, extreme passion in some cases, in the opposite sex than to racing.

Perhaps baby oil has replaced Vaseline, the renowned moisturizer. Vaseline is outlawed on the turf because of a camphor component, relevant in human inhalers but which in some applications can trigger a go-fast equine performance.

With more imported entires arriving here from Europe, tricks of the trade regarding how to handle the ‘bulls’ are coming to the fore on a local scene that has long had many geldings. Such tricks are beneficial, not rule-breaking. 

No doubt some colts and geldings are more prone to the influence of what they have between their legs than others, and the gelding cut is the solution.

Still, considering the Coolmore Stud connection with Adelaide, this is unlikely. Obviously Adelaide and Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist, another stallion, now with Kris Lees, left their best form in Melbourne.

Like others on Saturday, Adelaide wasn't suited by the rain-affected ground while Protectionist flopped in the Sydney Cup.

Neither Waller nor Lees should be judged harshly because the Sydney races were the first Australian preparation for them after a very demanding Melbourne spring.

Waller was trying to get the best out of Adelaide first-up over 2000m, but obviously his magic wand had lost its power by the Queen Elizabeth, having worked overtime with Delectation (Arrowfield) and Grand Marshal (Sydney Cup).

Regarding Cassidy, I wrote on Friday that he had been "sadly overlooked by Chris Waller of late".

History will attribute an astute use of jockeys as one of Waller's strong points as he compiles his record-breaking figures. Waller doesn't play favourites but his dismissal of Cassidy from Grand Marshal in the Chairman's last Monday was placing faith more in voodoo than a master horseman.

Consider, too, Cassidy didn't have the benefit or riding last Monday yet was able to match the harnessed fury of Blake Shinn to get his mount home over Who Shot Thebarman by a nose over a most demanding 3200 metres.

Like a good vintage, seasoned not sapped, Cassidy defied aerodynamics, a track bias that favored horses up front near the rail, to pump down the outside on Grand Marshal, a gelding, like only he can. And no baby oil was required.

CAN THE OVER-RATED CHAMPIONSHIPS SURVIVE IN THEIR CURRENT FORMAT?

JIM CLARK of MELBOURNE sent this email:

‘PAROCHIALISM aside, one has to question just how long The Championships will survive in its current format.

If an absurd amount of almost $20 million in prizemoney – much of it thrown in by the NSW taxpayers – can be justified, then decisions are being made on a political rather than common sense basis.

Robbie Waterhouse – writing a column in the Sydney Morning Herald – described Saturday’s climax of The Championships as ‘an unequivocal success’.

Matt Stewart – in a feature story in the Melbourne Herald Sun – suggested that Sydney was the city ‘that had forgot racing’.

Despite the fact that I am a Victorian, I love my racing wherever it is run, especially the big days and the carnivals. But no comparison can be made between the Spring and the Autumn. Sydney runs a distant last.

Racing NSW officials need to accept that you cannot buy success. No amount of money is going to assure The Championships of even being competitive with the Melbourne Cup carnival which it certainly is not at this stage.

Despite the problems with the rain that forced the first day to be postponed to Easter Monday, one has to question whether this event – hailed by the Sydney racing media as the best thing since sliced bread – can survive in its current format.

Politics play too big a part in it. Anyone with any knowledge of Sydney racing can instantly realize that the merger of the two major clubs has been more a takeover by the AJC of the ATC with the former STC shunted into the background or what some might call oblivion.

How the Golden Slipper – the world’s richest two-year-old race – cannot be part of The Championships remains a mystery. It would bolster the event and deserves to be there. But that’s Rosehill not Randwick which Messrs Messara, V’landys and company seem hellbent on promoting at the expense of each other.

One has to accept that the fields – in the main – were of high quality but still did not justify the stakes pool of almost $20 million over two days. What an absurd waste of money when one could argue virtually the same fields would have gone around for half or a third of that amount.

Robbie Waterhouse can do his bit to promote The Championships all he likes, the fact reminas that the majority of the racing public – from the punters to the participants – agree with Matt Stewart’s sentiments when he wrote:

There was no sense that a big sporting event, our greatest international race meet outside the Melbourne Cup, was on, let alone an attraction.

The bean counters at the ATC would be bemoaning the disappearance of the sardine-tin crowds of the 1980s, and there is that gnarling sense that an ‘event’ really does require a big crowd or it’s not really an event at all. Imagine Augusta without big galleries.

There was no crowd roar when the field jumped for the $4 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes — but the groovers kept grooving out the back, merely shifting last night’s all-nighter to a new venue. Music pumped throughout the day.

The races were on various TV’s but the sound was down or drowned out. Beautiful women shimmied and gyrated throughout the bars, as if employed for effect. If Criterion had galloped right through them, I doubt they’d have noticed.

The bean counters may not have felt the desire to dance, but there were no long queues for toilets (though some cubicles seemed strangely busy), ATMs or booze.

No punch-ons, push and shove or bursting bladders. It was a love-in.

They’re building a new light rail that will link Randwick to the city and in three years will solve one of Randwick’s great annoyances — getting out.

But Sydney feels different now. Bar a few thousand who might rave on at Randwick in early April, the city has shimmied away from the racetrack.

That I’m afraid says it all. Once again racing in NSW has tried and failed to outshine Victoria. Some blinkered administrators with too much money and far too little foresight will never learn that running a distant second is not all that bad in racing.’

IT’S BECOMING HARDER TO BACK A WINNER IN BIG RACES ON BIG DAYS

BARRY ACTON of BRISBANE writes:

‘IT is becoming increasingly difficult to back a winner of big races on big days in Australian racing.

One might ask: Why is that so?

Perhaps it is because the racing is more competitive. Whatever the case even those who subscribe to ratings and tipping services are doing it tough.

The moral of the story is: Steer clear of having too many bets on big days – if you can. It’s easier to back a winner on a normal day or even a Sunday but most of us like to have our fun and try to select those that salute in the big races. That’s the punt.

Just to finish off this little whinge I thought I would reproduce this piece from Ken Callander, a respected Sydney racing scribe and tipster, who also got it wrong last weekend.

Ken wrote:

IF Hartnell doesn’t win the Sydney Cup at Randwick on Saturday, you can tear up the form guides, throw out the weight charts and pick your future winners with a pin.

The imported stayer, to be ridden by big-race jockey Tommy Berry, has brilliantly won his past two starts in Australia and he is already a winner over the Cup distance of 3200m in England.

At his previous run, he comfortably won The BMW at Rosehill at weight-for-age with 57.5kg and drops to 52kg on Saturday which gives him a huge advantage over Melbourne Cup placegetters Protectionist and Who Shot Thebarman, who ran in the BMW, and drop 1kg and 4.5kg respectively.

PERHAPS we should follow your advice Ken and tear up the form guides after Hartnell, at odds-on struggled to finish fourth. As you can see even the best of judges get it wrong – most of the time.’

SYDNEY SCRIBES ARE NOW BAGGING MOREIRA BUT TURN BLIND EYE TO OWN ‘SKELETONS’

DARYL JOHNSTON of GOLD COAST sent this email:

‘THESE Sydney scribes never cease to amaze me.

They turn a blind eye to questionable rides by some of their hometown favorites but the moment a superstar visitor has a bad day it’s time to bag the crap out of him.

‘Who says Joao Moreira is the best jockey in the world?’, roared Kenny Callander in his Telegraph column this week. ‘The Magic Man’s riding over the two days of the Randwick Championships was D grade and his ride on the Oaks favourite Winx was such a shocker it would have left a 4kg-claiming apprentice blushing.’

We all have our bad days Ken - you included – and Moreira most meetings of the year will leave you with egg on your face. Ask the punters of Hong Kong who have won a small fortune following his favored mounts this season.

He doesn’t sit hot fancies wide and without cover or get boxed up and clear too late giving them a sore back after they drift alarmingly in price like some of your favorite jockeys in Sydney. That, of course, is bad luck not bad riding in your book. 

About the only thing I will agree you on is that Moreira should have done his homework on how the track would play at Randwick considering the heavy rain and the rail placements.

It was your opinion that on Easter Monday, when it was smart to go to the outside he hunted the rails and last Saturday when the rail was the fast lane he wanted to get to the outside. On that I take your point.

But most days of the week I would prefer to be backing Moreira than guys like Jim Cassidy who you again went into overdrive about after his Sydney Cup win on Grand Marshal. Just because he’s not from Sydney doesn’t mean he isn’t a good jockey.’

ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER DRAMA IN QUEENSLAND RACING – NOTHING CHANGES

GLEN FORSYTH of BRISBANE writes:

‘DOES a week ever pass when there isn’t a drama in Queensland racing?

More track disasters from the deep south to the far north – Ipswich is now not up to scratch and Cairns has to abandon a meeting after the track was rated good that morning.

Worse still RQ has two highly paid track ‘experts’ and the story goes they are about to employ yet another – Sunshine Coast-based Peter Semos – who is used as a consultant by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

It is any wonder finances are strapped at RQ despite all the propaganda about how well the place has been running since little King Kev took the reins?

The start of two more race meetings had to be delayed during the week because the ambulance didn’t arrive for the first – one was Beaudesert and the other the basket case of racing in Queensland at Toowoomba.

The sooner the new Racing Minister puts a broom through the entire joint at RQ the better for all concerned in the industry in the north.’

THINGS HAVE GOT WORSE – AS ANTICIPATED – SINCE SKY SECURED A MONOPOLY

MALCOLM SHARP of MELBOURNE writes:

‘HAVE things got any better in the broadcast coverage of racing in Australia since the heavies at NSW drove a fatal dagger through the heart of TVN?

No way, in fact in the opinion of many who follow racing on the box, the situation was worsened since SKY got a monopoly and launched its non-event SKY CENTRAL.

But don’t count on things getting any better. The all powerful SKY continues to call the shots in racing and until that ends the crap will continue.

As an example just take a look at the situation in the far north when the Cairns meeting had to be abandoned after a sparrow farted on the track. SKY torpedoed any hope of a transfer.

RQ heavies were keen for the Cairns meeting to be postponed or even transferred to a nearby venue. But, as Terry Butts revealed in his Silks & Saddles column SKY – the abominable showman of racing in this country – vetoed two viable alternatives.

WHY, you might ask?  Apparently 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.

As Butts so rightly suggested if you ever wondered or doubted who controls racing…...now you know. It’s one hell of a bad joke!’

EDITOR’S NOTE: DON’T expect the broadcast situation to be rectified sooner rather than later as this report by PATRICK BARTLEY in Tuesday’s THE AGE suggests:

RACING officials are becoming deeply concerned at the now floundering negotiations between the Victorian principal clubs and Tabcorp over media rights in the state.

It appears that both parties continue to struggle to secure a deal that would see vision rights return to Sky Channel.

Fairfax Media understand that there has been a significant ‘anti’ Tabcorp build-up amongst the principal clubs, with negotiations struggling despite NSW brokering a deal in January this year.

Racing Victoria have little say in these dealings as the rights are held by the VRC, Melbourne Racing Club, Moonee Valley Racing Club and country racing.

Former Betfair executive Andrew Twaits represents RVL in the talks. However it is understood that significant pressure to include Channel Seven in the negotiations continues to stifle discussions.

In fact, a build-up of such ill-feeling against Australia's largest wagering giant continues to be a major stumbling block to securing a deal.

Industry sources describe a report claiming Tabcorp was going to charge a huge penalty fee if Channel Seven exceed their number of racing meetings in this state as ‘nonsense and designed to push the parties further apart’.

The fee is tens of millions of dollars less than was reported.

The continued stubbornness of at least one negotiator from a metropolitan racing club is believed to be the difference of a deal being achieved and not.

Fairfax Media also understand that significant pressure is growing from Government circles and worried race club executives wanting at least one of the negotiating panel from a metropolitan club removed.

Racing Victoria is the only sporting outfit that has its sole vision rights held by individual race clubs.

And Thorough VisioN Network (TVN), which was wound up by shareholders recently after enduring staggering financial losses, appeared to be the growing sticking point between NSW and Victoria over vision rights.

Racing NSW struck a deal in late January with Sky Channel to broadcast races via its pay television channel for the next 10 years.

NSW has also kept the option to sell digital vision to corporate bookmakers, with further talks to take place in the coming weeks.

While Victorian Racing struggle to achieve common ground with Tabcorp they are currently negotiating an agreement with Seven West Media for additional racing on free-to-air television, Seven currently telecast more than 20 NSW and Victorian meetings – mostly on Saturdays.

However it would be unlikely that the Seven network would take on the vision rights in this state as without the wagering license, which comes up for renewal in 2024, it would be a costly venture.

And if Seven was successful it would see racing in Victoria excluded from Sky Channel. 

In March, Racing Victoria agreed to a contract with Sportsbet for digital rights, with races to be streamed on the corporate bookmaker’s website. It is understood the contract will run for two years initially with a charge of 0.5 per cent of all turnover on races shown.

HEADS LOOK TO SET ROLE WHEN THE GREYHOUND INQUIRY REPORT IS HANDED DOWN

ALBERT WILLIAMS, a regular contributor from REDCLIFFE, writes:

‘IF you are to believe some of the stories doing the rounds in the industry in Queensland it’s ‘dog eat dog’ at the Commission of Inquiry into Greyhound Racing.

If the rumours are correct – and I qualify that with a big’IF’ – a couple of key figures haven’t been backward in throwing their supposed colleagues under the bus.

It will be interesting to see what comes out in the wash at the end of this hearing which has taken on a newlook since the Labor Government upgraded the Review to an Inquiry boosting the powers of highly respected QC Alan MacSporran.  

Reading between the lines in the story written by the well informed Peter Cameron in The Sunday Mail, you wouldn’t want shares in Kevin Dixon and Darren Condon continuing in their current roles at RQ. Unlike some of his colleagues at The Courier-Mail, Cameron doesn’t push the barrow of certain RQ heavies.

Whatever happens at the end of the day the Inquiry needs to claim some scalps to achieve respectability and let’s face it – the one ultimately responsible for the decision making process should be the first to go.’

LET’S CUT TO THE CHASE – HAS RQ DONE THEIR HOMEWORK ON TRIAL TRACKS?

‘BARRY BONES’ of CAPALABA sent this email:

‘YOU have to hand it to Racing Queensland. The powers that be really keep a hawk eye on proceedings especially when it comes to the much-maligned greyhounds.

RQ publishes a monthly industry magazine, The Chase, which is about the only communication between RQ and the greyhound owners and trainers since King Kevvy Dixon reportedly ‘gagged’ the Greyhound Board.

‘Through the Cracks’ Condon carefully goes through every edition to weed out anything that might put a dampener on King Kevvy’s shining image, albeit one could argue it’s still pretty well tarnished by now.

Apart from costing a six-figure sum to publish every year, The Chase is the only medium for people in the industry to advertise their wares to the owners and trainers.

One would then think that given King Kev and Through the Cracks go through each edition looking for disparaging remarks, if someone saw an advert for a trial track published in The Chase, obviously it would be fine to go there to trial your dog with the blessing of those running RQ and the greyhound industry in Queensland.

But, it would seem, that is not the case.

It appears the ever vigilant KK and TTCC forgot to get the Integrity Department to check the validity of the advertisers. The trial track advertised was none other than that of Tom Noble, a man currently being housed at the Queen’s lodgings and a key figure in the recent and current baiting scandal.

A check by the Integrity Department, which it seems suffers from an overdose of stillnox, would have found that Noble’s trial track wasn’t even registered yet Mr Noble was allowed to advertise the trial track in the Chase.

But that’s not so bad when you consider that RQ apparently has direct involvement in a trial track north of Brisbane which surprise, surprise wasn’t registered either.

Gee Mr MacSporran is going to have a fun time over the next few weeks!

EDITOR’S NOTE: AS this email arrived too late yesterday for us to secure a response from RQ, they are welcome to an unedited right of reply in next week’s Whinge – which don’t forget will run a day earlier due to a TELSTRA decision to cut off the INTERNET in our area for a couple of days.

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.