IN his popular column Silks and Saddles in the North Queensland Register, TERRY BUTTS reports that the only certainty about the future of racing in Townsville is that it will continue. What is not certain is who will be in charge.

It’s doubtful if anyone outside the committee, and obviously Queensland Racing, knows just how much financial strife the century-old Townsville Turf Club is in.

Rumors were rife last week that the club couldn’t pay wages. It was, the story went, insolvent.

And technically it is.

The club has debts reputed to be in the range of half a million dollars, no cash and nothing to sell. No way forward.

Under the constitution, the club is not permitted to sell any of the racecourse land transferred to it from trustees by government decree a few years back – not even the slice of real estate TTC ‘sold’ to a developer for a potential hospital site.

It was a sale that would have netted the club $10 million and, in their belief, might have solved their financial problems. Didn’t happen, can’t happen, and won’t happen.

There was a crisis meeting last Monday after the club was issued with a show cause notice.

On the same day, QRL chairman Bob Bentley gave welcomed reassurance that racing would continue in Townsville irrespective of the outcome of the show cause notice.

Evidently, there are conditions.

On Wednesday, the club’s treasurer, Townsville accountant and prominent owner Daryn Mitchell resigned.

The next step will be to address the 500-odd members of the TTC to explain the financial predicament of their club and the options, of which there are few.

While most of the licensees in the district believe the future operation of racing is safe in the hands of QRL, and that the days of race club committees are over, not all members are convinced their club should forfeit its reign over Cluden.

Older members, particularly, believe it is the role of QRL to prop up the club, pay the debts and allow it to operate as it has done for 100 years or more.

But QRL is no longer the bearer of gifts (albeit government or TAB money). The grants, as they were once known, are now repayable loans to clubs that eventually might transfer into equity.

Already, Rockhampton, Mackay and Cairns have been part of this ‘new deal’ or arrangement with QRL.

The stark difference with Townsville is that the club is insolvent and, quite frankly, not in a very strong position to argue.

Horses will continue to thunder down the Cluden straight as they have done for decades, but one wonders how long the white and blue flag of the TTC will flutter freely from the mast on top of the old grandstand – the one that stands majestically above the once lively, but now lifeless, public bar.

Sad, really! You might wonder how a club with a tradition to boast such as Townsville’s can be half a ‘mill’ in the red, while just down the road at Mackay, always considered a ‘lesser’ club, it has much more than that in the bank.

Then that brain-dead ruling by Queensland Liquor Licensing to ban under 18- year-olds (toddlers in prams included) from Cup day hasn’t helped. It is a ruling that simply keeps whole families away.

If the jackboots of licensing want to ban something, ban from the ground all those alcopops and mixed drinks that send the kids ‘blotto pronto’.

I am told it costs clubs $110 an hour for every police officer required on the big days. Add to that the fees for other security and the hire of very expensive security fencing. It’s a staggering figure that comes straight off the top.

And now for the most senseless aspect – the Minister in charge of licensing, who enforces the stupid rules is the same Peter Lawlor who is Minister for Racing. What do you say?

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NO DOUBT heartened by the deeds of the Ray Long-trained Star Dragon, who won all before him in Townsville and acquitted so well at the Gold Coast on Saturday, buyers from the region were in strong attendance at the QTIS 600 sale on Monday.

Star Dragon has been a great advertisement for QTIS 600. It truly is a great concept.

It’s just a shame that the babies are forced to endure the worst weather of the year to prepare for their races in the north.

But then again there’s nothing to stop owners having their purchases prepared in the south and brought north for the big-money races.

And like all yearling sales, those that bring the most don’t always earn the most.

Just look, for instance, at last week’s racing.

In the second last at Rosehill, the $1.7m purchase, The Comedian, beat only three home. He finished sixth just ahead of Sigma which fetched $1.1m as a yearling, and Middlemount, a mere $660,000 purchase, finished eighth in the same race.

Point Pain in the second race started 100/1 and finished eighth of 11. He went for $730,000, while the $440,000 purchase, Renewed Vitality, finished stone last in the fourth.

In Brisbane, the $600,000 buy, Top Brass, could manage only fourth, and Drivel ($600,000) couldn’t get among the placegetters in a lowly race at Newcastle.

Buyers might look to the Scone yearling sales for better value.

Hot Danish was knocked down there for just $32,000 and last Saturday’s SA Oaks winner, Small Minds, went for a mere $42,000.

That’s racing!

SILKS AND SADDLES COLUMN RUN COURTESY OF TERRY BUTTS AND THE NORTH QUEENSLAND REGISTER.