IN his popular column, ‘SILKS & SADDLES,’ published in the NORTH QUEENSLAND REGISTER, respected racing writer, TERRY BUTTS, reports that the new Racing Minister is well aware of the problems confronting the industry, especially in the country.
He also reveals how the new Mackay CEO has got off to a rocky start instructing stakeholders in the region not go to the media with any gripes but to come to him. Now if that doesn’t sound like an RQ edict, what does?
Here is his column:
NEW RACING MINISTER ‘IS WELL AWARE OF THE PROBLEMS’ IN THE INDUSTRY
NEWLY-formed Queensland Trainers’ Association president, Jim Rundle, had a ‘long and meaningful discussion’ on Friday in Rockhampton with the Racing Minister, Bill Byrne.
Mr Rundle raised and discussed several issues with the Minister who, he said, is well aware of the problems within the racing industry and also in country racing.
“From race dates, prize-money to the overall administration of racing”
And, it seems, our Minister is well aware of the discontent that seems to be wafting across the State.
Don’t be surprised to see some radical changes to the way racing is conducted after the MacSporran Commission of Inquiry is completed.
Musical chairs at Deagon, perhaps?
Mr Rundle sought the meeting in a move he labelled as a ‘last-ditch bid to regenerate the Far North industry’.
He told the Minister there had been a downturn in racing in the Far North, brought about by the lack of prize-money and shortage of races.
“There's no doubt the number of horses in the North has certainly decreased. It's getting to the stage that it's hard to make it viable," said Mr Rundle.
That is unlike Rockhampton where racing is booming according to Mr Rundle, himself a trainer.
Mr Byrne has a long association with racing and is a member of the Rockhampton Jockey Club.
‘BRISBANE THINKS IT’S THE NERVE CENTRE’ – QTA OUT TO PROTECT REST OF STATE
“BRISBANE seems to think they are the nerve centre and we have to make sure the rest of the State is also looked after,” Mr Rundle said in an interview with the Cairns Post last week.
“The big difference is that we have a Minister who wants to talk about change.
“I'd be surprised if there aren't some changes”, he said.
Mr Rundle, whose QTA is already making waves in the right places, warned: “If we don't have a win now and get some changes made there will be a dire future for racing.
“We could end up like the trots and die all the way down the State.”
FORMER COURSE CURATOR TIPS BUCKET ON CAIRNS JOCKEY CLUB
THE FORMER curator of the much-maligned Cairns racecourse has tipped the bucket on his former employers who, he claims, ignored his advice two years ago.
Stephen Clarke has told Rhys O’Neill of the Cairns Post that he gave the same advice to the CJC as the Hong Kong track guru who was flown to Cairns two weeks ago and declared the trouble spot on the track was in urgent need of work.
But Mr Clarke, the course ranger for 15 years, says his advice and recommendations fell on deaf ears.
He said he was part of the crew assigned the $2 million task of revamping Cannon Park in 2012.
But he walked away before the work was completed.
It was an acrimonious and somewhat public split, according to insiders.
LEADING SOUTHERN JOCKEY HAS DESCRIBED CANNON PARK AS A ‘GOAT TRACK’
“THE upgrade was planned to curtail concerns over a slippery stretch of turf and to elevate the track to ‘all weather’ classification,” Mr Clarke said in the interview that was published last Saturday.
According to the report, a leading southern jockey has described Cannon Park as a ‘goat track’ and vowed never to return.
“Despite howls of protest from State and National Jockey Associations, other hoops from the Far North insist they don't have a choice,” the report said.
Mr Clarke said: “Under the project overseen by RQ project manager, Warren Williams, Cannon Park had 150mm of top soil removed. Nothing bigger than 7mm was meant to pass via the soil-testing once the new turf had been applied.
“But plenty did.
“Underneath it was rock-hard. They didn't screen it and we kept finding big rocks.
“Those rocks will eventually work their way to the surface.”
He said the track looked good when it was finished – but when it rained all the rubbish came to the top.
“So we had to try to dig it all up, which was a lost cause.
“Had I been still working there I would have been required to sign off stating I believed it was safe.
“No way,” he said.
The report caused a stir in the local racing community – but not one person has denied it.
A high profile local trainer, when asked to comment, summed it up succinctly: “It is the truth.”
WEHLOW REFUSES TO RACE IN CAIRNS AND HEDLEY ABOUT TO MAKE A COMEBACK
MEANWHILE, leading Tablelands trainer Greg Wehlow still refuses to race at Cannon Park after separate incidents involving his horses last year.
“It is just not safe,” said Wehlow who regularly carts his horses from Tolga to race at Mackay – a 20-hour return trip.
“It’s a long haul, but what do you do?”
Melbourne jockey Mark Pegus missed the entire spring carnival last year after coming off a Wehlow-trained horse at the Cairns Amateurs.
BETTER news for Cairns and the racing community is that high-flyer Tom Hedley is set to make a comeback.
He has been out of town a lot in recent years, but always maintained a string of horses with his Tablelands trainer Roy Chillemi.
He was for a long time the power force behind the CJC and responsible for a lot of change during his ‘heyday’.
Mail is he is ready to comeback and help sort out the rights and wrongs of the club.
And he is just the man.
MACKAY STRUGGLING TO SHED ‘JOKE STATUS’ UNDER ‘RULES’ OF NEW CEO
DOWN in Mackay, the new CEO Ross Prowd has made an attempt to get the local trainers ‘on side’ after a somewhat rocky initiation into the job.
He had raised the ire of licences in his very first media interview with his declaration that ‘more race dates were not high on his list of priorities’. Trainers, struggling for survival, reacted strongly with at least two announcing they would relocate.
Last week Mr Prowd, a journalist and regular contributor to the Racing Queensland Magazine made another astounding statement.
He told trainers they should not go to the media with any of their grievances against the club. They should consult him first!
Good one!
He also made the admission that he was employed by Racing Queensland – not, as many believed, the Mackay Turf Club, which obviously is still under orders from Deagon.
It has also been revealed that the club employs casual staff, including bar staff, from an employment agency, because ‘it’s easier’.
Of course!
It’s a bit rich coming from a club that is trying to recover from being more than $300,000 in the red?
And where will the Mackay Cup calcutta-luncheon be held this year?
Will it be in the spacious upmarket entertainment precinct on-course at Ooralea – or in a downtown girlie bar?
That’s the question.
Seriously!
It’s somewhat akin to the upcoming Trades and Ladies day at Cairns on May 30.
Ladies will be served champagne and canapes by ‘our buff topless tradies’ says the blurb in last Saturday’s racebook.
They will be entertained by an all-male revue and topless barmen – at the races. What’s next?
Don’t ask!
HOME HILL CUP ON TRACK THAT HAS UNDERGONE ‘A VIGOROUS REMAKE’
THE always popular Home Hill Cup day will be staged on Saturday on a track that has undergone a vigorous remake in recent weeks.
Townsville trainer, Jack Erichsen, took his Cup contender, Aldren, down for a gallop on the course proper during the week and gave it the ‘thumbs up’.
“They have obviously put a lot of water into it. The going was good and it (the track) has a thick cover of grass,” said Jack.
Cup day is always a big social event (though no kids unfortunately) and Saturday will be no exception.
It does however clash with a prize-money boosted Gordonvale meeting that will likely attract many of the far northern gallopers.
It is strange that RQ refuses Home Hill its traditional Anzac Day date this year because Mareeba was racing the same day.
Yet, it allows Gordonvale to clash.
TOWNSVILLE CUP DATE – NOT THE RACE – TRANSFERRED TO CAIRNS
AND finally, in answer to the question I was asked so frequently at the Cairns meeting on Sunday: No the Townsville Cup will NOT be run at Cannon Park this year!
The Townsville Cup DATE has been re-allocated NOT the meeting.
So now you know!
The Townsville Cup and carnival will be held sometime in August-September - hopefully.
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..
