IN his popular column, ‘SILKS & SADDLES,’ published in the NORTH QUEENSLAND REGISTER, respected racing writer, TERRY BUTTS, reports how Townsville Cup day was an enormous success without the support of UBET, SKY Channel and sections of the racing media.
He also reveals how the new Queensland Trainers’ Association – unlike the Brisbane branch of the Australian Trainers’ Association – has asked some tough questions about the ‘start’ that harness racing is getting from Racing Queensland.
Here is his column:
TOWNSVILL CUP DAY SUCCESS DESPITE ‘COLD SHOULER’ TREATMENT
IN spite of being dealt the ultimate and unforgiveable insult by the Press, SKY and UBET, Saturday’s Townsville Cup Day on the brand new Evergreen track was an enormous success.
Racing Minister Bill Byrne cut the ribbon, surrounded by TTC committee and members of the local racing fraternity. And the band played on as 13 white doves were released and flew gracefully over the bright emerald-green turf to herald a new era of racing in the north.
Heavily-backed favourite Honey Toast, all the way from Toowoomba, then dutifully came out and won the Cup – a result that helped magnify the mood of the punters and the many party-goers in the stands, the marquees and the many bars around the course.
But the day belonged to the locals. There are not so many horses in work these days at Cluden but local stables provided a remarkable eight of the 10 winners, including the Cleveland Bay won in a thrilling finish by Ladrotto which must rank as the best horse to grace the Cluden track in recent times.
His trainer, Kerry Baumann, went within a lip of bringing off the feature double with outsider Rock Vantage in the Cup.
GRAND DADDY OF NQ TRAINERS STOLE THE SHOW WITH PARRY NQ WIN
BUT the grand daddy of the local trainers, Errol Sewell, stole the day with a winning double – the Parry NQ with ex-Sydneysider Valley Rose – and the last race of the day with Mountain View, a son of High Chaparral.
Both horses were ridden by evergreen Robert Thompson in the famous black and white colours of Tom Sheehan, renowned as the man who penned the words of Slim Dusty’s famous Pub with No Beer.
Trainer Sewell, the doyen of local mentors, will not forget the presentation ceremony during which Club Secretary Michael Charge planted a kiss on his cheek. Poor old Errol didn’t know what to do and Charge exclaimed to him: “That’s the first time I’ve ever kissed a man”.
Then Errol, embarrassed enough, had to put up with the jibes of Club Chairman Kevin O’Keefe who made reference to an incident regarding Errol and a pair of red jocks… but we won’t expand on that!
‘WHO’S KIDDING WHO’ ABOUT THEM DOING IT TOUGH AT RACING QLD?
WHO says they are doing it tough at Racing Queensland?
Since the acting CEO Ian Hall (aka ‘short haul’ – he’s not there for the long term) has been in charge of the cheque book, RQ has shown no signs of financial stress.
Far from it!
Apparently there have been several appointments in recent weeks, including a lawyer and we all know they don’t come cheaply.
Now this!
RQ has advertised for TWO Workplace Educators – each to earn $56,000 a year (plus super) that presumably comes from the pool that also provides prizemoney etc., to the three codes.
Well it certainly won’t be coming from profits of harness racing which last year LOST $7 million.
The successful, ‘suitably experienced Workplace Educators, will join the Education and Welfare team at RQ and be responsible for developing and delivering training and assessment of accredited and non-accredited programs for the racing industry,’ claimed the ad.
Such a vital need, you might agree, at a time when the industry is on the ropes and the accountant-in-charge threatens prizemoney and race date cut-backs for the bush.
That’s the same bloke who reckons the gallops and the dogs should prop up harness racing.
Give us a break!
QLD TRAINERS’ ASSOCIATION PULLS NO PUNCHES ABOUT HARNESS DEBT
ON that subject, the following is an excerpt from the latest release by the Queensland Trainers’ Association (not to be confused with Australian Trainers’ Association – Brisbane branch) on our comments last week about the so-called cross subsidisation to keep the trots alive. It reads:
THE media has been awash with shock, horror news articles describing the perilous financial state of the Queensland racing industry and Racing Queensland's new acting CEO, Ian Hall, has been given the task of facilitating a pathway back to prosperity.
There has been lots of commentary about possible cuts to prizemoney, abolition of funding to country race clubs and breeders’ incentive schemes etc., with most media attention being focussed on the thoroughbred side of the industry.
This is not surprising as the thoroughbred industry generates 75% of Racing Queensland's revenue stream (2014-2015 annual report).
Certain members of the Australian Thoroughbred Trainers’ Association – Brisbane branch have been quick to back possible cuts to prizemoney at country thoroughbred race meetings as long as Metropolitan prizemoney isn't touched.
However, the media, Racing Queensland executive management team and ATA – Brisbane branch have all been very low key in their comments about how the performance of the different racing codes has contributed to the overall RQ net operating loss of $11.18 million for the last financial year.
It is true that the thoroughbred industry produced a net operating loss following depreciation of equipment of $2.86 million. This is not brilliant but considering the upheaval to betting revenue caused by major track refurbishment programs and closure of racing at Eagle Farm, Queensland's premier race track, and also Townsville for a large part of last financial year, it is not total gloom and doom.
The greyhound industry also generated a net operating loss following depreciation of $1.2 million and it is certainly prudent that a thorough analysis of cost savings for this code also be investigated.
However, the major financial problem becomes apparent when one looks at the harness racing industry result. Harness racing is haemorrhaging money and on life support. It generated a loss of $7 million dollars before depreciation of assets and after depreciation a net loss of $7.1 million.
This performance by harness racing is totally unsustainable and the industry requires radical surgery if it is to survive at all.
For anyone with even a passing interest in harness racing or the ‘trots’, as it was once affectionately known, this is a very sad situation.
However, harness racing has been a very sick and stagnant industry for well over a decade now with no real cure in sight.
The glory days for harness racing commenced in the early 1970's with the public flocking to the new spectacle of night racing often referred to as the ‘ribbon of light’.
Queensland developed regular night trotting at Albion Park, Gold Coast, Redcliffe, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns.
Saturday afternoon trotting at Rocklea, Toowoomba, Charters Towers and Innisfail, offered opportunity for battlers and beginners to either get a start or remain connected to the sport.
Crowds at the ‘trots’ on Saturday nights continued to grow and the betting rings were packed with bookmakers and punters. Townsville boasted a ring of in excess of 20 bookmakers during the heady days of the late 70's. The Rockhampton opening night for harness racing at Callaghan Park in May 1974 was huge with a crowd of thousands cramming the course facilities to the brim.
Harness racing continued to grow in popularity to such an extent that thoroughbred racing administrators in many locations were quite worried that there would be a drift away from the races on Saturday afternoons and consequent reduction in betting turnover.
The trots reached a peak in popularity in the late 80's and since then has been in decline mode.
One could speculate what went wrong and there are multiple reasons.
Harness racing was widely labelled as the ‘red hots’ with many industry participants up to their necks in shenanigans. The problem for harness racing was that the punting public were not completely gullible and decided to move their gambling investment to other avenues.
As the stagnation continued harness racing authorities over time closed all tracks across Queensland except two, Redcliffe and Albion Park in the South East corner. The state-wide support base withered and the industry has become very closed and insular. It has almost lost the support of mainstream media and for most Queenslanders they wouldn't even know a harness racing meeting was on. There is limited publicity and nil free to air coverage of races. Even the Interdominion barely gets a mention these days or even a few seconds replay of the final on TV news channels.
It's hard to say if harness racing is terminal but at present it continues to decline whilst requiring constant life support funded by revenue generated by other racing codes in Queensland.
Ian Hall was quoted in The Sunday Mail newspaper on 20th September 2015 as saying he thought that cross subsidisation of codes was acceptable and it was not likely that the various codes would be split to operate under individual umbrellas.
This might be OK in the short term. However, it is imperative that he and his management team at RQ enunciate a vision and strategy which will assist the harness racing industry to survive on its own revenue stream without additional support.
In order to find the answers, they really need to talk with the public and punters and find out why they have shunned the ‘trots’ – they alone will determine the harness racing industry's future survival.
Time will tell if the RQ team actually has the will or the intellectual and business skills to carry out such a comprehensive study and then has the intestinal fortitude to act on any findings.
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..
