IN his widely-read column, ‘SILKS & SADDLES,’ published by the NORTH QUEENSLAND REGISTER, respected racing writer TERRY BUTTS explains why leading Brisbane trainer Robbie Heathcote has upset many in the country with a quote in a recent Racing Queensland Magazine article.
Butts also reports on the Rockhampton carnival and its special guest Hugh Bowman; top lady jockey and former steward Lacey Morrison still riding winners – this time on Mount Isa Cup day; and tells how punters are demanding change from corporate bookmaking agencies.
Here is the Butts column:
HEATHCOTE RAISES THE HACKLES OF MANY IN THE COUNTRY WITH MAGAZINE ‘CLANGER’
MANY in the racing industry in country Queensland are up in arms at leading Brisbane trainer Robert Heathcote over comments he made in the Racing Queensland Magazine.
In an interview in the latest edition of the monthly magazine – which licensed trainers are forced to subscribe to – Brisbane-based Heathcote dropped this clanger:
“I believe that under the former administration there was a lessening of importance of metropolitan racing that needs to be addressed.”
Most believe that was just a cheap shot – or another way of saying there was more emphasis on country racing when the Bentley Board ran the show.
If it was meant to raise the hackles of country battlers, it sure did.
Said one: “Tell him to get back into his double-decker bus and take a trip into the country to get a better understanding before he makes such statements. (A jibe at Heathcote’s previous occupation as a tour escort out of Britain).
“Or better still, bring a few horses to the bush. We will even find someone to help him put the saddles on,” said another old timer, and it wasn’t my old mate Muttaburra, who is just shaking his head and clenching his fist.
ROCKHAMPTON PLEASED WITH RESPONSE TO TATTERSALL’S CUP MEETING
THE visitor numbers might be down this year at Rockhampton but the club must be mighty pleased with the turnout of horses and patrons for the traditional first day of their annual – the Tattersall’s Cup Day meeting last Saturday.
It signaled a Big Day Out for the Cup day meeting on Saturday week.
Hugh Bowman will head a list of star attractions for the carnival which for more than a century has been one of the best in provincial Australia.
While there are still empty boxes, somewhat of a rarity for Rocky at this time of year, those who have made, or plan to make the trip to the Beef capital of Queensland are not short on quality.
Recent Scone Cup placegetter Prussian Knight made his debut at Callaghan Park on Saturday and lost no admirers from a cup viewpoint. He failed in the Tattersall’s Cup, won by outsider Gold Coast Girl, but the general feeling is that the will be improved come Cup day. And Peter Cullen who rode Townsville visitor Cash Attack said severe interference early in the race virtually put him out of business.
Undeterred, connections are continuing to push on with the Cup. The horse travelled back to Townsville on Sunday but will be headed back down the highway in a fortnight.
And the latest rumor is that Playaction third to the brilliant Solzhenitsyn on Saturday in a listed mile at Eagle Farm is also Rocky bound.
And no doubt there will be others that will take to the highway from north, south, and west. A fortnight after the Rocky carnival many will head up to Mackay and a week later the Townsville annuals begin.
It all happens in the north this time of year.
Of course it has nothing to do with the weather!
BOWMAN TO MISS CUP DAY BECAUSE OF RED TRACER BOOKING IN BRISBANE
UNFORTUNATELY Hugh Bowman will miss Cup day as he has a prior commitment for Red Tracer in Brisbane.
However, he will ride on Newmarket Day (Thursday June 21) and will be guest of honor at the Calcutta Lunch on the Friday.
Another absentee will be evergreen Robert Thompson. It will be the first Rockhampton carnival he has missed in several years.
LACEY ASSURES US SHE DIDN’T NAME DOOMED AFFAIR SHE ONLY RODE THE HORSE
ON another note we are assured that the lovely lady jockey Lacey Morrison didn’t name the horse Doomed Affair – she only rode it!
And it was a highly popular win in the opening race on Mt Isa Cup day on Saturday. And what a day – though sadly it didn’t end on a winning note for the likeable and much travelled rider.
Lacey had to be content with second placing on Just a Touch in the Cup, beaten by the ever consistent Sandalwood the mount of local pin- up Danny Ballard.
And it was a real day out for ‘dreamers’ in dreamtime country. Dreaming in Nepal and Jabiru Dreaming, both at odds-on, prevailed in their respective races and enhanced the latter’s reputation as the gun sprinter of the west.
Connections no doubt will be tempted to try for some of rich pickings on the coast over the next couple of months. He is unstoppable on the Isa dirt – unbeaten in seven starts out there.
PUNTERS DEMANDING CHANGE FROM ‘GUTLESS’ CORPORATE BOOKMAKERS
STANDBY for some radical changes said to be looming in the corporate bookies domain.
And the mooted changes coincide with a growing list of disgruntled punters complaining of their treatment by some of the leading operators.
Don’t believe all you see and hear about the big bets being wagered. It is fairytale stuff apparently.
Seems if you keep backing winners with the corporates you are suddenly ‘not wanted’ and you are unceremoniously ditched.
Such practice certainly didn’t happen in the day of Alan Tripp, the recognized forefather of off-course bookies in this country, the pioneer of the country’s leading corporate organization, sportsbet.
On course bookies are compelled to bet to a certain take-out figure. But the same rule apparently doesn’t apply to the corporates, or at least, it is not enforced.
Corporates simply please themselves who they bet and for how much.
Said one senior former employee of an overseas-owned operation: “They don’t want the big punters or the pros.
"They would sooner have thousands of hundred dollar punters – not hundreds of thousand dollar punters.”
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..
