INDEPENDENT REVIEW SOUGHT ON CUSHION TRACK SATISFACTION LEVEL

AN independent review has been called for to determine the satisfaction level among members of the Toowoomba Turf Club to the installation of a controversial cushion track at Clifford Park.

Gary Wells, who describes himself as a ‘long-term member of the TTC and one of the ‘rag-tag trainers who opposed the destruction of the grass racetrack’, suggests the wider racing public should be canvassed on the issue as well.

The Wells e-mail headlines the mail box offerings on the letsgohorseracing web-site this week and we believe there is plenty of merit in his proposal but doubt whether Queensland Racing will allow it to occur.

Wells wrote: “I was wondering if an independent review of TTC members could be undertaken to determine the level of satisfaction of the ‘new’ racing product, together with the alleged upgrading of facilities as promised by Honest Nev (Stewart, the former club chairman) and Bob The Builder (QR chairman Bentley).

“I am sure the current committee would welcome an independent review to determine the level of satisfaction or otherwise of its members. Also the wider racing public should be canvassed in the process.

“I was listening to ‘Singo’ (Magic Millions co-owner John Singleton) the other day and he commented that Bob the Builder was one of the bright lights in Australia’s racing administrators. In the same breath he stated the need to close more than half of the current race clubs in Australia.

“This may well be the strategy employed for Toowoomba. It is worth looking at, or should we let racing continue to go the way it is travelling?” Wells asked.

EDITOR’S NOTE: We are continually criticized by Stewart supporters but make no apologies for our stand against cushion tracks. Whilst we understand that water – or lack of it – created the problem in Toowoomba, there are other synthetic surfaces used throughout the world that have proved far more successful than cushion tracks.

Statistics show that punters generally detest betting on this sort of surface which throws up too many upset results. Forget the inflated betting figures being rolled off the propaganda assembly line. We support the Wells’ call for an independent review knowing full well it will fall on deaf ears in the Board room at Deagon.

 

TOOWOOMBA CAN BOOST TURNOVER BY LINKING WITH FRIDAY NIGHTS

IF Toowoomba wants to boost its betting turnover the club should strongly consider moving to Friday night racing to ensure a three state east coast hook-up with Sydney and Melbourne.

It is only a matter of time before Moonee Valley and Canterbury race on the same night. TTC officials should be aware of the added benefits for local turnover after last Saturday night when Clifford Park raced in conjunction with the Valley.

E-mails to this web-site suggest that punters would much prefer to see Sunshine Coast grass track racing coincide with Canterbury and Moonee Valley on the night circuit. But we so rarely see the lights turned on at the turf circuit at Corbould Park that it is hard to imagine that being allowed to happen on a regular basis.

If the Toowoomba swamp moved from Saturday to Friday night racing, it would get first crack at the limited horse pool available for cushion track racing.

It would overcome the situation where most punters have had enough betting by the time it gets to Saturday evening and the majority don’t want to wade through the dish-lickers and red hots just to watch an occasional race at Clifford Park.

On the subject of the ‘red-hots,’ we have had several e-mails describing the move to Monday morning harness racing at Redcliffe as laughable and asking how the TAB can justify operating on meetings with such tiny turnover.

 

SAME OLD WHINGE WEARING A BIT THIN AT MAGIC MILLIONS TIME

MAGIC Millions might be a major Gold Coast event, attracting the national racing spotlight next weekend, but e-mails suggest continued bleating from owners, Gerry Harvey and John Singleton over lack of Government funding, is wearing thin.

Here’s an example from Bob Rodgers of Hendra: “My mates and I were taking bets on what day of the week Harvey or Singleton would be crying poor or threatening to take the Millions away from the Gold Coast.

“It came earlier than expected this year when we had to endure the face of Harvey Norman, one of Australia’s richest men, complaining that the taxpayers of Queensland should be pouring more millions into the private enterprise cash-cow run by him and his mates.

“They can’t threaten to take the event away from the Gold Coast this time because the new Brisbane Racing Club has said it is not interested in entering negotiations with Magic Millions on any move.

“There are a couple of major issues that need raising about the relationship between Magic Millions, the Queensland Government and the racing industry in this state. For how many years has money directed through the Queensland Events Corporation gone to the MM Company rather than the Gold Coast Turf Club?

“Queensland Racing has allowed this race meeting to grow to the stage where to compete a horse must have been bought at a Magic Millions sale. Does that not restrict trade to those owners and trainers who have horses wanting to race for metropolitan prizemoney on the day but are unable to do so.

“There should be a secondary race meeting in Brisbane for metropolitan prizemoney, not some second rate event for pittance stakes at Ipswich. This smacks of total favoritism from Queensland Racing and the Queensland Government to Magic Millions, a private enterprise company.

“As for the great benefits that it brings to Queensland – most of the turnover from the sales goes out of the state as does a good deal of the prizemoney won on the day. Harvey reckons the Millions is worth $50 million a year to Queensland. I would like to see him justify that.”

 

MILLIONS OWNERS STAYING PUT – FOR NOW – BUT NOT HAPPY CHAPPIES

IN fairness to the Magic Millions, we run the following report, courtesy of the Gold Coast Bulletin, on concerns expressed by the owners on the future of the event in Queensland:

“It is staying on the Gold Coast – for now.”

Those were the words of Magic Millions co-owner Gerry Harvey, who has backed down after years of threats to move the iconic Gold Coast event to a better site.

“At the moment everything is bedded down here. It looks like that is the way it is going to be," Harvey told Lucy Ardern of the Gold Coast Bulletin.

GCTC chief executive officer, Grant Sheather, was delighted to hear the news and said he hoped to ‘hammer out a three to five-year deal’ with the Magic Millions organizers after this year's event.

“We would love it to stay here forever,” said Mr Sheather.

But the issues surrounding the state of the venue, which pushed Mr Harvey and co-owner John Singleton to want to relocate the race in the first place, have not been resolved – leaving the event’s long-term future in doubt.

Mr Sheather could not give any firm details on when the redevelopment of the club might move ahead. “We are hopeful things will progress this year but we need a major injection of funds to go ahead with any major changes,” he said.

No dates for meetings between the Turf Club and the State Government could be provided to The Bulletin and Mr Sheather was unable to go into specific plans for the redevelopment.

Mr Harvey said while he was committed for now to the local site, his opinion had not changed that a large-scale upgrade of the club's site was needed if there was a chance of building on the event's success.

“We are working on improving this event all the time – but we are doing it with our hands tied. The future of the event is constrained by the current facilities.”

He said organisezs had their ‘eyes open for future opportunity’ and would be assessing other locations in the future.

Plans to move the race meeting to Eagle Farm fell over when the Brisbane Racing Club said it would not enter negotiations with Magic Millions and believed the event would be better served on the Gold Coast.

Mr Harvey said boosting the prizemoney for Magic Millions race day in future years to $10 million was part of his plans.

MM managing director David Chester said the track needed to be ‘bigger and better’ for the interstate and international visitors Magic Millions attracted. “The Turf Club is past its used-by date. The whole precinct needs to be redesigned,” he said.

Both Harvey and Chester said the amount of money Magic Millions was worth to the Gold Coast was not reflected in the support received from the Government.

“When you think about the amount of money they give to Indy and the fact it is not worth anywhere near what Magic Millions is, it really needs to be reassessed,” said Mr Harvey.

AN INTERESTING FOOTNOTE from the First Lady of Australian Racing, Gai Waterhouse, who last week warned Messrs Harvey and Singleton that they would destroy the Magic Millions if they moved the event elsewhere.

 

THE ‘INVISIBLE’ SHADOW RACING MINISTER OVERLOOKED YET AGAIN

WE received an interesting e-mail about a humorous incident said to have occurred at an official function over the New Year Holiday weekend at the Magic Millions carnival.

The author asked that his name be with-held but it went like this: “I was a guest of the club at an official function on one of the opening days of the Millions carnival and witnessed something that made me laugh.

“It involved this portly official called Steve Hawkins, who apparently was left to make the welcome speech to guests when the chairman and deputy chairman decided to take a break in south-east Asia during the early days of the Millions carnival.

“From what I can gather Hawkins is a jack-of-all-trades. When he isn’t fulfilling his duties as a director of the club, he is calling the races, officiating on the public address at the track and on this particular day had to make the welcome speech to guests at the official luncheon.

“In his haste it would seem that Hawkins overlooked welcoming the Shadow Racing Minister and a former director of the club in Ray Stevens. This did not go over too well and an annoyed Stevens apparently made Hawkins aware of his faux pas, which was quickly corrected.

“My wife and I felt a bit sorry for the big fellow. He looked totally exhausted. We got the impression he had done everything bar stick a broom up his backside and clean the director’s room on the day.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: The fact that Hawkins overlooked the presence of Mr Stevens comes as no surprise. Members of the ‘goat riders’ party are quite forgettable in Queensland. In the eyes of the industry, so is the job that Mr Stevens has done as Opposition Racing Spokesman.

 

NEW YEAR’S DAY FORM IN THE COURIER-MAIL ‘AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE’

WE had a stack of e-mails from punters complaining about the form guide – or lack of it – in The Courier-Mail on New Year’s Day and agree that the coverage was an absolute disgrace.

Here’s an example: “I thought Queensland Newspapers was being paid big money by the TAB to provide form guide services for the punters. If the New Year’s Day service is an example then the TAB is certainly not getting value for money.

“Whilst there were obvious space issues involved with big race days on Friday and Saturday that does not excuse the fact that form was virtually non-existent for some races on the major cards on the Friday.

“Why not provide a form guide for New Year’s Day the previous morning? That would overcome the log-jam when the Saturday service has to provided the next day. Compared to form guides interstate, Queensland punters are being treated very poorly by The Courier-Mail.” – Sam Quirk, Nundah.

 

MORE TO COME FROM OUR ‘DEAR DANIEL’ MAIL BOX ITEMS

THE e-mail box was inundated with complaints concerning the ride of apprentice Daniel Ganderton on Deer Valley in the final race at the Gold Coast last Saturday.

Most e-mails were complimentary of new Queensland Racing chief steward Wade Birch for not only launching an inquiry but the forthright comments that he made concerning the handling of this favorite which blew like a gale in the betting.

Because this is the subject of an on-going inquiry (to be reconvened on Tuesday), we have decided not to run any e-mails at this stage. Many did however question whether an inquiry would even have been convened in the bad old days at Queensland Racing.