THE WEDNESDAY WHINGE has a new look but won’t be dispensing with the theme and focus on the THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY side of what is happening in racing. The Whinge will continue to provide an opportunity for The Cynics to Have Their Say. Thanks again for your support for the most read column on this website and one of the most read on racing websites in the country. Our popularity continues to grow despite the bagging it cops from some high profile officials, especially in Queensland, who cannot cope with constructive criticism of any kind. We encourage supporters – and critics – to continue to contribute but plan to restrict the Whinge to less than 10 of the best items each week. Our message to those who continually bag us is simple: IF YOU DON’T LIKE WHAT YOU READ, THEN DON’T REVISIT THE WHINGE.
IS PARTYING – NOT PUNTING – THE IMAGE TO PROMOTE ON BIG DAYS? 
ANDY TAYLOR of MELBOURNE sent this email:
‘IT’S that time of year throughout the country as the football seasons finish and we head toward the Melbourne Cup when there are arguably more drunks than punters at the races.
The end of season parties at the track and the Spring Carnival practice runs as we head to the big daddy of them all are convincing many regular racegoers to stay away.
What is the answer to this problem?
For many the partying is more important than the punt. Some of the younger brigade are almost oblivious to the fact that they are at a race meeting by mid afternoon.
The majority who are there to party don’t even remember leaving the track after the last. Some even have to be carried out. Melbourne Cup day at tracks throughout the country has degenerated into a disgrace – nothing more than excuse to get plastered and party rather than have a once-a-year punt on a race that is part of our culture.
Forget about promoting racing to the lost generation. They are lost in a haze of drunkenness and wouldn’t even be at the track if it weren’t for the party associated with these big days. In my mind – and that of many other regular racegoers – officials have got a lot to answer for.’
EDITOR’S NOTE: HERE’S an interesting story on the above topic by MATT STEWART in the HERALD SUN this week: 
IT’S dinner time, the last race of 10 has just been run on Caulfield Guineas day and the racegoers are hammered.
It’s a scene from a rave party, not a racetrack, at least not racetracks almost anywhere but here.
Drunks wobble about, ties are askew, high heels are flung over sunburnt shoulders, dresses that started the long day so nice and dainty are all crumpled and booze-stained.
A band belts on as hundreds start staggering to join a boisterous queue at the taxi rank out front.
You could transplant the scene to Caulfield next Saturday for the Cup meeting — but times everything times two — Moonee Valley the week later and for four delirious days at Flemington the week after that.
Here, it’s the way it’s always been; horse racing, at the only time of year when it invites the rest of the world in for a peek at its virtues, puts on a series of gigantic benders.
The racing, to so many who attend, is not much more than background noise.
But the benders are becoming bigger as the race days become longer.
The spring carnival is addicted to gluttony that does nothing to enhance the brand of a sport that desperately needs showcasing, not endless hazy days of drunkenness that leave no impression of the sport, just blurred recollections and sore heads.
In Australia we race every day — often now at night — bar Christmas Day and Good Friday; a public holiday many reckon is the perfect platform for the 364th day of racing for the year.
The spring should be a magnificent point of difference from the endless revenue-raising of everyday racing but instead the industry merely plants if foot more heavily to the floor.
They ran 10 races on Guineas day and it’s the modern template for all major spring race-days. They used to run eight, then nine. If the bean-counters keep calling the shots, they’ll find a way to squeeze in 11.
The argument for more races on big days is a bit like the argument for increasingly lowered speed limits around primary schools. You can argue that less speed is safer, just like more races rakes in more dough. But where do you stop?
Guineas day featured some fantastic races but they’d have been just as fantastic had there been eight — which there used to be — instead of 10.
Attending big spring race meetings is exhausting when it should be enhancing.
As a mate’s wise dad once said, the more races you run, the more likely you are to lose. What he didn’t add was “especially if you are smashed.’’
The MRC has leapt ahead of the other two city clubs in the way it presents its race meetings. The bars, decks, food and entertainment are fantastic. The track hums. But there is no avoiding the sort of unravelling you witness when you put on marathons.
The race-day experience should not be determined solely by the balance sheets of the club that owns the racetrack. The four endless, heaving days of Flemington have become intimidating. Races are run from the middle of the morning, just as the first corks are popped.
Times change and something has to give at Flemington; reinventing Oaks Day, the only day experiencing a crowd decline, would give the club — all three city clubs — an insight into how other jurisdictions present a day at the track.
At Royal Ascot they stage almost half as many races each day, and bounce the ball at about 2pm. Flemington should try it, just as the industry itself should start thinking about its message and whether bombardments of races and booze delivers it.
IS IT BETTER TO SPREAD THE STAKES OR PAY IT ALL TO THE BIG STABLES? 
MAX ATHERTON of MELBOURNE writes:
‘MUCH has been made of the domination of Sydney racing in recent times by the big stables and whether that is good or bad for the industry.
We saw the recent Super Saturday at Randwick where John O’Shea and the massive Godolphin operation won five races. Chris Waller and Gai Waterhouse won one each.
That meant that the only trainer outside the major ones to land a winner on the day and that was Joe Pride – hardly a ringing endorsement for those lambasting the critics of big stable domination in Sydney.
Then we take a look at Flemington the day after Randwick – when they raced on the Sunday for the Underwood Stakes meeting. Each of the nine races was won by a different trainer.
Even last Saturday – Caulfield Guineas day – there were seven individual stables successful with Chris Waller and the David Hayes-Tom Dabernig training partnership each enjoying doubles.
That’s why punters prefer to bet in Melbourne. It is more competitive and not dominated by the major stables. They feel they are getting more bang for their buck or value for their punting dollar. And not so many stable second strings – a la Waller – winning and making the form hard to follow.
We had a situation on Saturday where Waller maintained his winning run at Sydney meetings. This was the 22nd consecutive Sydney race day since the start of the season on August 1 that Waller had trained at least one winner. It would be interesting to know how many of them were second-string stable runners.
A great training performance – which has him on target for 200 winners this season – but is it good for Sydney racing? I don’t think so and many agree with me.’
DOES THE ENTHUSIASM OF SYMONS AT TIMES OUTWEIGH COMMONSENSE? 
DANNY JACK of MELBOURNE sent this email:
‘THERE was a time when my friends and I viewed Melbourne Racing Club chairman Mike Symons as a young, enthusiastic decision-maker that the industry desperately needed in Victoria.
Our confidence in Mike has now mellowed to the stage where we wonder whether he should survive in that position considering the direction the club is heading under his leadership.
Not only has the MRC been inundated with complaints over the terribly hard surface that was served up for Saturday’s Guineas meeting at Caulfield but the decision to run the final race at 6.15 was indeed a controversial one.
As has been written the race meeting that signaled the start to the serious side of the Spring Carnival was a public relations disaster in more ways than one. Not only are those connected with the European stayers concerned but plenty of top local owners and trainers have also voiced their condemnation at the hardness of the Caulfield track.
Assurances have been given that things will be right for Saturday’s biggest meeting of the year at Caulfield. Another fiasco and it will be the final straw for members already talking about tossing Symons and his team out.
Turnover figures at Caulfield are a major concern especially if Caulfield Cup day proves another disaster and the club has to rely on a bail-out from Racing Victoria. That indeed will sound the death-knell for Symons.
Sometimes enthusiasm can outweigh commonsense and perhaps it would be wise for Mike to take a leaf out of a proven success story and follow a few leads from what happens at more conservative Flemington rather than head blindly into over-ambitious projects that continue to backfire.’
CAN THE SITUATION AT RACING QUEENSLAND DETERIORATE ANY FURTHER? 
GLEN JORDAN of BRISBANE sent this email:
‘CAN the situation at Racing Queensland get much worse?
The answer from those stakeholders close to the action is: You bet it can.
Ian Hall, the Interim CEO, continues to lose industry confidence – if he ever had it to start with. Those who are advising him are thought of and spoken of in even worse terms.
These are the people who are advising the Racing Minister (Bill Byrne), who, within the confines of his own office, seems to have staff that either don’t know much about racing or are leftovers from the LNP Government.
The whole situation is a total disaster and no-one seems to be doing anything about it.
Now we hear that more country race clubs – a massive amount if the rumor mill is right – are on the chopping block.
There is talk of a major across-the-board prizemoney cuts being announced before Christmas.
While the other states – even South Australia which has been a basket case – are full steam ahead, Queensland is in reverse gear.
No-one seems to know what the actual losses confronting the industry are and the information coming out of RQ isn’t helping build industry confidence.
While key staff have been floating around the state attending feature meetings with their noses in the troughs, there are now stories of RQ having a representation at the Melbourne Cup carnival. Why is that necessary and what can it possibly achieve for our troubled State?
You would understand if there was a new Board in place and the new Chairman was making himself known. But hopefully the Interim CEO won’t be here much longer and nor will some of those surrounding and advising him at present.
Instead of making all these 'silly' appointments, what should be happening at RQ is waiting for the new Board and a new CEO to be selected, then requiring everyone in a senior role to reapply for their positions to ensure racing is served by the best possible people available. That way they can turf out some of the rubbish tha has settled in.’
THAT MAN DECLAN SHOVES HIS FOOT DOWN HIS THROAT YET AGAIN .gif)
FROM an ANGRY OWNER who prefers to remain nameless for obvious reasons:
‘IT came as no surprise to read the column item by Terry Butts that one of the teacher’s pets at RQ – Racing Manager Declan Martschinke – has reportedly again shoved his big foot down his big mouth.
Is there a single individual – or has there been in the past – who has attracted as much adverse comment from stakeholders as this bloke?
Some racing folk who have forgotten more than he will ever hope to learn complain of his arrogance and insistence that he knows best and adopts the attitude of ‘it’s my way or the highway.’
Mr Martschinke seems to think that RQ now revolves around him and that he is the boss. What are his credentials and what is his background anyway? The industry would like to know.
One wonders just how much leeway he is being given by the Interim CEO or whether that appointee simply doesn’t understand the damage that his Racing Manager is doing to stakeholder morale.
It’s just another example of the rudderless ship RQ that is sailing toward icebergs bigger than the Titanic ever encountered. And on the deck the band plays on led by Ian, Adam, Declan, Ross and Jamie while the poor old passengers head for the remaining life boats if they can find them.
And as for Declan's alleged comment to an industry meeting about prolonging the inevitable with horses heading to the knackery, well someone should remind him of the ‘mission statement’ of RQ relating to animal welfare.'
GUESS WHO’S CALLING THE SHOTS ON RETURN TO LONG CARNIVAL? 
THIS email was received from a COLLEAGUE of an OFFICIAL who attended a recent meeting at RQ:
‘AS the close friend of an official of a high profile club I send this Whinge to you as I know that your website will give it a run considering those who are involved.
South-east Queensland clubs were called to a meeting recently to discuss next year’s Winter Carnival. They were supposed to be seeking input.
My friend reports it was a waste of time but some of them knew that would be the case before they even attended.
Their feedback on how they feel the carnival should be programmed doesn’t really count. Most of them were happy with the reduced size of the carnival this year which was a super success.
But it didn’t suit one Bart Sinclair, the former Racing Editor of The Courier-Mail, who is now working as a consultant for the Brisbane Racing Club.
It seems that he, or some of those he represents, is on a mission to change things back to the drawn out carnival of the past that seemed to be never ending. That's racing in Queensland. Stick your head in the sand, live in the past and refuse to look to the future - it's Jurassic Park.
The problem for those who were invited to this meeting to discuss the carnival is that Mr Sinclair and one Mr Ross Gove (Racing Operations Manager) for RQ seem to have become joined at the hip and whatever ‘Bart wants, Bart now gets’.
As one official who attended the meeting said later: ‘What a waste of time. We might as well have not been there. Bart had already decided what was happening. And to think he isn't even a club official.’
Now without wanting to bring politics into the equation – what the hell is going on at RQ and with the Racing Minister?
The dislike that Bart Sinclair displayed over the years in his columns for any Government other than the LNP and the apparent work he did behind the scenes in racing on their behalf leading up to the last election (which by the way they didn’t win) has been well documented.
Here he is now, on a losing side, but calling the shots because another of these dunderheads at RQ regards him as a ‘love child’, thinks he is a mate and is listening to him and allowing him to call the carnival tune.
It could only happen in racing in Queensland.
Pity they didn’t take more notice of those of us at the actual coalface of clubs, not someone simply enjoying another junket in retirement after his use-by date in the racing newspaper world was up.’
IT SEEMS RQ AREN’T TOO CHOOSY WHEN IT COMES TO APPOINTING STEWARDS 
GLEN LOW of LANDSBOROUGH sent this email:
‘I thought I might go down to the Caloundra races last week and low and behold I ran into a greyhound bloke who lived not far from me in New South Wales.
I thought when I retired and shifted to Queensland I was far enough away from the problems in New South Wales.
I was amazed when he told me he went to a greyhound meeting at Ipswich just recently and ran across a steward from New South Wales who he remembered from harness racing in that state.
It appears this problem New South Wales steward has now been employed as a Greyhound Steward at Racing Queensland.
A quick check of the internet shows this steward had a serious claim lodged against him in 2008 and received a formal warning.
My question: Where does Racing Queensland find these types of people?
My friend also told me Racing Queensland has another Greyhound Steward with a problem background from New South Wales in their employ.
It would appear Queensland is becoming the dumping ground for unemployed stewards with questionable actions interstate.
I would have thought a corporate business such as Racing Queensland would have a Human Resources Department, staffed by professionals with ability to sort the wheat from the chaff.
Perhaps there are so few applicants that they have no choice. This answers why there are so many poor appointments followed by poor outcomes coming out of the Deagon Bunker.’
IS SINGAPORE FORM ALL IT IS ‘CRAPPED’ UP TO BE – OR ARE THEY KIDDING? 
DANNY WILSON of MELBOURNE sent this contribution:
‘THE jury is still out on whether the Singapore form is ‘crap’ compared to that in Australia – especially at carnival times.
We get all these ratings gurus – especially those with specific interests in Singapore racing – telling us not to underestimate the good horses from Singapore.
Their latest star to grace our shores was Super One – previously unbeaten – and he had his colors lowered last Sunday in the Apache Cat Classic by one-time Queensland rogue, General Jackson.
Now ‘the General’ is a handy sprinter on his day – and is now in the care of training wizard Pat Carey – but from five previous first-up attempts he had managed only a second and a third. He had failed at his only previous attempt at the track and distance.
He is no superstar like the Singapore invader was being hailed. And with all due respects he may well come out next start down the straight at Flemington and run them off their legs. This was the first time he had not led in a race and it was all a bit foreign to him but he’s not one out of the box as we were led to believe – or that is my opinion anyway.
Trainer Michael Freedman, while disappointed with the colt’s defeat – his first in five starts – described it as a ‘learning experience – which it was for those punters who plunged at the shorts as well.
In fact Cranbourne Cup day again proved a graveyard for punters. Darren Weir might be a champion trainer but I can’t catch him. When I back one of his favorites it goes like a dromedary and when I back something to beat one of his fancied horses it wins like Phar Lap.
Weir by the way had seven fancies in 10 races at Cranbourne. He won the first and didn’t strike another blow, including his Cup candidate, Taiyoo, which sat one-one and struggled when asked for an effort.’
STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED IN THE MAINSTREAM RACING MEDIA
THE MORAL OF THE PUNTING STORY – GREEDINESS IS A DISEASE! 
THIS interesting read appeared under the byline ‘THE DRIFTER’ in the MELBOURNE HERALD SUN:
BEFORE Glen Boss had even put his butt back into the saddle after his victory salute on Lucky Hussler the front door was swinging off its hinges.
By the time Sammy Hyland trotted up to interview him, the golf clubs were being pulled out of the back of the car at the driving range.
It’s an unusual choice of stress release given golf is the most frustrating sport on the planet but someone had to pay for what had happened and a little yellow ball was a good option.
After watching the video of the Rupert Clarke Stakes two weeks ago 100 times, the conclusion was reached that Lucky Hussler was a moral in the Toorak.
The problem with coming up with such clarity days out from the race is that it lends itself to dabbling with the devil — the multi.
On Friday there was some soccer dude on the radio who declared Melbourne Victory certainties in the season-opener against Adelaide that night at juicy odds of $2.60.
Perfect. Let’s whack that into Lucky Hussler.
Result — 0-0.
That was discarded as a lesson to not ever trust those round ball clowns as race morning hit. Lucky Hussler was the $5 second favorite which is nice odds for a moral but greediness is a disease.
In the Schillaci Stakes Lankan Rupee is resuming against what looks like a 0-58 field. The multiple Group 1 winner could win it on three legs so putting him in at $1.35 into the Hussler seems like sound punting.
The drift to $1.60 is alarming, not as much as Froggy Newitt sticking to the outside rail for the first 400m. I get the theory of keeping out of trouble but already this race has a smell about it.
Eventually Froggy finds the rail but at the top of the straight it’s obvious Mick Price has entered the wrong horse in the race. Where is Terry Bailey when you need him? Surely, they checked the brands in the mounting yard.
The horse pretending to be Lankan Rupee barely hangs on for third.
During the week we’d had the pleasure of attending the TAB Spring Carnival Launch where Bossy had been one of the guests. He’d been grilled about Sydney superstar Kermadec who he was riding in the Caulfield Stakes.
While he acknowledged it was his first try at 2000m, Bossy was in full sell mode and he had me at ‘Hello’.
Kermadec was the next superstar of racing so a genius idea was born — let’s put it into the Hussler (who he never talked about once at the lunch......hmmmmmm).
Given the swooping pattern of the day, Bossy sat cooly out the back and approaching the turn he was jogging alongside Michael Walker on Criterion.
Something happened around the bend which threw out an alarm bell, at the 200m that was a full-on typhoon warning siren as Criterion went ping and Kermadec went pong.
Fourth.
The right thing to do now would be to take a deep breath, refocus and dump everything on the Hussler.
Or we could load up the Hussler into a quaddie frenzy because this is what you do when you have a multi addiction.
The second leg is won by an $8 shot with the two favourites winning the last two legs. The paltry dividend sees you lose money on the whole exercise.
Adding to the shambolic situation, the dreaded slice with the driver is back.
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in the above e-mails should not be interpreted as those of JOHN LINGARD, the owner-editor of the letsgohorseracing web-site. That is why he has added an ‘EDITOR’S NOTE’. Every endeavor is made to verify the authenticity of contributors. We welcome any reasonable and constructive responses from parties or individuals.
