FORTUNE TELLERS ON TRACK – FULL MARKS TO BRC FOR INNOVATION
AN innovative service on Oaks Day at Eagle Farm – which we believe is a first on a major Australian race track – created much hilarity on Melbourne radio during the week. LGHR applauds the Brisbane Racing Club for allowing three Fortune Tellers to ply their trade trackside during the Group 1 meeting. By all […]
THIS SYNDICATION GROUP NEEDS AN ‘UPPER CUT’ FROM THE QRIC
NOT a week goes by when we don’t receive emails regarding the ‘gingerbread man’ of Queensland racing – Ben Currie, who certainly seems to have a target on his back. The latest involves a Syndication Company inviting investors to buy a share in a youngster ‘to be trained by Ben Currie’ which is somewhat difficult […]
RQ NEEDS TO STOP ‘PLAYING GAMES’ WITH TAB & NON-TAB MEETINGS
ONCE again questions are being raised whether Racing Queensland is ‘playing games’ with TAB and non-TAB race meetings. LGHR received another email from a concerned stakeholder on the Downs which reads: ‘Earlier this year I sent you a note regarding a list of Race Meetings posted by RQ that had their previous NON-TAB Status upgraded […]
TIME FOR RQ HEAVIES TO FOCUS ON WORK RATHER THAN SOCIALISING
‘WAS it too much to expect the rocket-scientists at RQ to have some innovative ideas when it came to producing the racing calendar for the 2026-27 season? Heaven forbid. They must have been too busy with their noses in the trough at Eagle Farm on Oaks day. As Matt Nicholls wrote in his wonderful new […]
WHY NOT RACE TO COINCIDE WITH KINGS BIRTHDAY CARDS IN SOUTH?
QUEENSLAND was the odd-State out with the Kings Birthday Holiday now celebrated later in the year. Most of the other major States holidayed on Monday which we did before then Premier Campbell Newman and his ousted Government decided to change Queensland to later in the year some time ago. Even without a Public Holiday shouldn’t […]
MARBURG TRIBUTE TO PHIL & DENISE PURSER WAS WELL DESERVED
IT was pleasing to see that harness racing minnow Marburg still remembers the services that Phil Purser once provided on his then wonderful website Just Racing. Phil was a pioneer of racing websites in this country and deserves some recognition for what he did – be it an Order of Australia for services to racing […]
SURELY WALLER HASN’T SECRETLY PROVIDED A STRADBROKE TIP
‘HAS the hard-to-follow man, Chris Waller, provided a ‘secret tip’ for punters betting on the Stradbroke? Unless I am mistaken he did not intend to run Fangirl, preferring to wait for the Tatt’s Tiara for her swansong before she heads to the breeding barn after a stellar career. She arguably should have beaten Stradbroke favourite […]
MY WISH FOR RACING NSW: APPOINT A CHIEF STIPE WHO HATES KIWIS
By guest columnist ‘GODFREY SMITH’ MY long-standing belief that it’s un-Australian not to have a punt on a public holiday has been tested – by of all people a high profile Kiwi. I went to bed last night wishing that I had spent the afternoon on the couch watching the Rugby League or Aussie Rules […]
WOULD JOHN O’SHEA RATE SYDNEY RACING A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD?
ONE wonders if disqualified trainer John O’Shea regards Sydney racing as a level playing field when it comes to integrity. According to this story by for Fairfax Media, O’Shea could be in more stripe: RACING NSW officials have launched an investigation into the conduct of Group 1-winning trainer John O’Shea while serving a four-month disqualification. […]
LACK OF JOCKEYS A RESULT OF ATROCIOUS SCHEDULING BY RQ
By our weekly columnist MATT NICHOLLS WHEN historians look back at the demise of racing in Queensland, they can dig up this column and say that administrators were well and truly warned. Much of the blame lies with the brains trust at Deagon and their unwillingness to make changes or take control of the calendar. […]