THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - SPARE A THOUGHT FOR RACING'S WET WEATHER WARRIORS

By Graham Potter | Sunday, January 25, 2015

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily.

It’s not hard to get that sinking feeling when the rain is pelting down from grey skies that have seemingly smothered the sun and smuggled it of out sight.

Some studies even purport to claim that the more sombre the conditions in any location, the darker the general mood of those living in that area. I’m not certain about that, but I do know the ‘big wet’ can take the spring out of your step and seriously dent your motivation to get things done.

And that’s me ... sitting behind a computer.

So imagine my respect for all of those people involved in stable work of any description who have to ensure that every racehorse remains properly cared for in adverse conditions created by a relentless downpour.

And while my admiration does extend to trainers and jockeys in this regard, what I’m really talking about here is the almost nondescript identities, the back room boys and girls without whom no reasonably sized stable could operate efficiently.

They will be out there in miserable conditions doing a job in which monetary reward will always finish a distant last behind job satisfaction.

The type of rain we have experienced since Thursday pours cold water that level of job satisfaction, yet, for the most part, the workers will be at their posts dealing, as best they can, with the latest hand that they have been dealt by the weather-gods.

This was meant to be a big ‘Australia Day weekend’ of racing. Ten meetings were scheduled to take place from Friday to Monday.

The Ipswich meeting never saw the light of day on Friday. It was abandoned before some people had even got out of bed. The Doomben and Gold Coast meetings clung to a Heavy 10 rating as long as they could on Friday but there was always going to be only one inevitable outcome.

The rain was never going to stop in time and those meetings too were lost.

At the time of writing the full list of meetings affected by the weather this weekend has not been finalised, but racing’s offering has already been severely compromised.

Trainers will be frustrated because they had a horse, or horses, ‘spot on’ for the day. Owners will lament lost earning opportunities, jockeys will say of course they wanted to ride and racing authorities will hold their head in their hands, watching revenue flow down the drain.

But most of them will find a warm, soft spot from which to espouse their views.

Which brings me back to those workers doing their thing back at the stable, mostly for the love of the game.

They will have been soaked to the skin (over and over again), cranky at times ... and, for sure, some colourful language will have flowed just as freely as the rivers of water around them, but, generally, they are there doing what is asked of them.

Sometimes a circumstance like the ‘big wet’ arrives to slow us down and allow us enough time away from racing’s regular relentless schedule to look around and see just what a good job is being done by racing personnel placed outside of the spotlight.

I take my hat off to them.

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