MATT NICHOLLS, whose short-lived stint as a columnist for LETSGOHORSERACING ends today, is so disenchanted with the state of play in the local industry heading forward that he has decided to move on. We thank him for his contribution and encourage RQ to head-hunt his talents.
THE definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Hence, this will be my last racing column for the foreseeable future.
Refreshed after a month-long journey around Europe, I write this from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris as I wait for my flight back to Brisbane.
It took about two weeks into the trip — driving through the Austrian mountains on the way to Croatia — for the penny to drop. I decided I would no longer invest my time and energy into horse racing.
Don’t get me wrong, my love for the sport still exists.
In fact, it was reinforced on July 14 when I was fortunate enough to attend a Group 1 meeting at Paris Longchamp. Thousands of young people turned out for a race meeting that began at 5.15pm and didn’t finish until around 10pm, thanks to the long summer daylight.
However, the time has come to direct my efforts towards something where positive outcomes are possible.
Under the current Racing Queensland regime, opinions like mine — and those of John Lingard, the owner of this website — are neither welcomed nor valued.
That, of course, is perfectly fine. We live in a free society.
But I refuse to devote so much energy to something that will only fall on deaf ears.
When it was announced, I completely disagreed with the decision to appoint Matt McGrath as Chairman of Racing Queensland.
Racing Minister Tim Mander made, in my view, a poor decision by handing the role to a Sydneysider with limited understanding of Australia’s most unique racing jurisdiction.
That said, I was prepared to see how the appointment unfolded. People who are given significant opportunities sometimes rise to the occasion.
So far, however, there has been little to suggest McGrath’s appointment will deliver meaningful benefits for Queensland participants, particularly those outside the south-east corner.
I write this column just hours after reading of Kim Kelly’s resignation from QRIC.
In my opinion, that is a terribly disappointing outcome for racing in this State.
Rather than allowing an experienced and highly respected steward to leave the organisation, Racing Queensland chairman Matt McGrath and acting CEO Lachlan Murray should have done everything possible to retain someone of Kelly’s calibre.
Unlike many cynical voices within the industry, I am not opposed to change.
In fact, I have repeatedly argued that racing must evolve. Instead, the industry appears stuck in limbo.
The good old days are gone, yet many of the outdated practices remain — and not necessarily the good ones.
The Australian racing industry needs to take a long, hard look at itself before it edges towards extinction.
The word “extinction” may sound inflammatory, but it is no longer unthinkable.
The sport we love relies on one thing to survive: wagering.
Without betting, there is no racing.
Australia is still a long way from banning gambling, but it is entirely foreseeable that betting on racing could decline significantly over the coming years.
Sports betting has already claimed a sizeable share of the wagering market, while the lack of meaningful oversight of corporate bookmakers has only accelerated the trend.
I will probably be long gone by the time historians write about the demise of Australian racing, but I suspect they will point to the unchecked rise of corporate bookmakers and the treatment of profitable punters as defining moments.
We’ve gone from the days when the TAB rolled out the red carpet for successful punters to an era where anyone who consistently wins is quickly shown the door.
Governments have hardly helped, either, by continually increasing taxes on an industry that has shown little genuine growth, aside from the COVID period when racing continued while much of the country was locked down.
In typical racing fashion, the industry once again failed to convert that temporary spike into lasting momentum.
Going forward, I remain open to contributing to racing in Queensland — but only if there is genuine interest from those making the decisions.
Parts of bush racing, particularly in Queensland’s north west, are approaching crisis point.
I’d love nothing more than to be part of the solution, but everything I’ve written over the years has seemingly fallen on deaf ears.
My greatest fear is that one day there will be little, if any, racing left across parts of Outback Queensland. That would be a tragedy for the state.
It is worth remembering that many of Australia’s greatest trainers began in the country.
Everyone has to start somewhere, yet I increasingly see young participants bypassing country racing altogether because the leap from country to provincial and metropolitan racing has become too great.
That’s why it’s pleasing to see the Townsville husband-and-wife training partnership of Aidan and Georgie Holt making the move to the Sunshine Coast to test themselves.
Unfortunately, those stories are becoming far too rare in Queensland.
I first started writing about racing as a cadet journalist in country Victoria, and I have been fortunate to cover bush racing for two decades across several platforms, including Phil Purser’s JustRacing websites and John Lingard’s Letsgogorseracing.
I’ll still follow the races and I’ll still have a punt on a Saturday, but there comes a point where spending hours every week writing about this industry no longer feels worthwhile.
To everyone who has published my work, read it, shared it or contributed to it over the years, thank you.
Who knows? Perhaps one day Racing Queensland will have a CEO, chairman and board determined to embrace positive change.
If that day comes, perhaps this column won’t be my last after all.
For now, though, it’s goodbye.
