IN his popular column, ‘SILKS & SADDLES,’ published in the NORTH QUEENSLAND REGISTER, respected racing writer, TERRY BUTTS, succinctly sums up the sad situation that racing in Queensland has generated to.
And he poses the question – not only on the lips of those tens of thousands of stakeholders who rely on the industry for a living – but the punter, regular and casual racegoer – who are deserting racing in the sunshine state in droves.
Here is the Butts’ column:
HOW WAS RACING IN QUEENSLAND ALLOWED TO DEGENERATE TO THIS STAGE?
JUST how did it all happen?
It is the question that infuriated participants of racing in Queensland racing are asking after the drastic prognosis of the industry by acting CEO Ian Hall last week.
Hall’s words were not unexpected. The financial state of the industry has been known for some time.
It is the future – in fact the livelihood of many that is of grave concern.
And the cut backs are not over yet. Everything is subject to the performance of UBET (Tatts) in the coming months. The Queensland TAB is the recognised financial lifeblood of the industry.
It is no secret our TAB has been performing well below expectations in recent times and it is sheer folly to suggest that the rivers of gold will flow again when Eagle Farm re- opens.
The traditional punters have gone – sucked in by the corporate – or they have simply walked away from racing which has been beset by so many controversies in recent times highlighted of course by the Cobalt saga.
NATIONAL TOTE THE ONLY ANSWER WHEN RACING RELIES ON A JOKE LIKE UBET
WHEN comparisons are made of tote turnover of the three major Australian TABs, UBET is clearly shown to have lost its standing or reputation as a major player in off-course betting in this country and importantly in Queensland.
Many believe a takeover by NSW and Victorian TABs is imminent. It might be our only hope.
RQ’s Interim CEO talked about the losses and the dire need for austerity measures. He sliced prize-money that will implode on the incomes of jockeys, trainers – and with the announcement on the virtual eve of the Gold Coast yearling sales, will certainly inhibit the encouragement of local owners to buy racehorses.
But worse, apart from reducing prize-money, extra costs were added like the scratching fee of ($71 up from $44). It is bound to be counter-productive. Trainers simply won’t nominate unless they are certain to start.
While the stakeholders have copped it – there are no figures provided to suggest any tightening of the belt within the RQ hierarchy.
It is public knowledge that Hall is on something like a million dollar deal ($20 grand a week) to do the sums and dictate to stakeholders how much they will lose.
What about the weekly payroll figure at RQ?
Any changes there?
Not to mention recent court decisions involving unfair dismissals etc., that are said to have been in a word costly. And there are more court rulings yet to emerge from the greyhound racing scandal that are likely to have a very big bearing on RQ’s bottom line.
Will racing stakeholders be affected by those costs as well?
BOB WAS A BULLY BUT HE FINISHED ‘A FURLONG IN FRONT OF LITTLE KEV’
POLITICS, greed, egos and incompetence have been a toxic mix over the past decade or so and the tumour has ravaged the once proud body of Racing Queensland.
Bob Bentley was a bully, and surrounded himself with bullies. He was much maligned by many, but he still left a million in the bank, and left the industry financially viable when an election forced him from the chair.
His replacement was Kevin (the kingmaker) Dixon who will be remembered as the one who wantonly splashed that money on deals with breeders, certain race clubs, extravagant promotions, grants and haphazard prize-money increases.
He, too, was the man who factored the hitherto highly secret ‘U beaut UBET deal’ which was designed to keep Queensland ahead or abreast of the nation for the next 30 years.
“We will finish a furlong in front of the southern states,” one idiot (remember him – what was that of-so-forgettable Racing Minister’s name”) said so publicly and inappropriately at the time.
And here we have these new kids on the block at Racing Queensland, these self-styled experts (with no expertise), planning the future. And they are blaming the closure of Eagle Farm for the downturn in UBET turnover that has caused all these cutbacks from which racing – as we have known and cherished it – might never recover.
To borrow the words of my old mate George Doolan, the recently departed Cairns horse trainer and ex cop: ‘What these blokes know about racing could be written on the back of a postage stamp-with a crowbar’.
You betcha!
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..