MY CALL - THE ANNUAL ARGUMENT ABOUT FIRM TRACKS AND FORCED PUBLIC TRIALLING OF 2-YEAR-OLDS

By David Fowler | Tuesday, October 14, 2014

David Fowler is the principal thoroughbred caller for Radio TAB. David, who is a keen form student and punter, has enjoyed a lifetime involvement in the racing media. His personal blog, ‘My Call’, appears exclusively on HRO.

There's no one quicker to a soap box than me when the argument of publicly trialling two-year-olds arises.

In fact, you could pen a blog, park it away, then dust it off around the same time every year because it's always a hot topic when the juvenile racing begins.

And just as the yes/no argument is an annual event, fortunately the end-result is as well. No controlling body in their right mind will ever demand a public trialling rule.

I rally against the public trialling argument so strongly, hoping that every year I can convince at least one misguided soul to see the error of their ways.

It also gets up the noses of those who continue to bang a drum to say it's a punter's ‘right’ to have every youngster with a trialling CV attached.

‘Right’ ... what utter rubbish!

Let me explain some ‘rights’.

It is the ‘right’ of the owner to say how much he or she pays for a particular thoroughbred.

Once that's done, the owner and trainer are engaged in a contract with the owner obliged to pay for the training services.

Then it's the ‘right’ of both parties to decide what path to map for their acquisition.

I repeat, it's THEIR ‘right’. They pay the bills, not the punter.

The part of the argument of the pro-triallers which is really laughable is that they believe they are denied necessary information for their betting pursuits.

Who says you have to bet on every race?

Grab some lunch, down a beer, smell the roses. Do something.

But stop the bleating that it's your "right".

A product is there for you to invest in but I still haven't found a rule where you're contracted to bet on every race and have the ‘right’ to every snippet of information.

Now where's that one person I've converted?

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And the firmness of tracks is another chestnut that arrives around this time of year.

I'm not as bullish on this one.

I'm not for manufactured tracks to suit the personal agendas of a few but I'm not for bone hard surfaces that can inflict injury on a horse.

Irrigation and rainfall are carefully mixed into a program to provide an ideal racing surface, but it's not a perfect science.

In the general score of things I think we get it more right than wrong.

But surely the strongest aim is to prepare a track to be a good 3.

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The Brisbane Racing Club's AGM will be held tomorrow.

It was also unveil the result of the election of directors.

A push to upset the incumbents seems doomed to failure although as any racing person knows, long-shots can arrive.

Expect members' questions about how the redevelopment of the Eagle Farm track is progressing.

There is now no betting on whether Eagle Farm will play a role at next year's Winter Carnival.

It won't!

Until next week.

David Fowler