THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN: CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO. PULLING NO PUNCHES

By Graham Potter | Friday, May 29, 2020

All of the people who genuinely care about the future of racing, particularly in terms of the profile it presents to the greater general public and how the managing of internal integrity issues is perceived, are currently applauding certain Queensland trainers who have come out pulling no punches in their explosive expose of the state of the going in the Sunshine State.

While he has huge support from some named and many unnamed trainers and owners, it is no surprise that trainer Rob Heathcote has emerged at the main spokesman for the movement seeking change.

It is a role Heathcote has carried out with some aplomb when he has represented stakeholders on other important issues in the past as he brings a real passion for improving the industry to the role and his bona fides as far as being in a position to fully understand the complexities of the matters he is discussing cannot be faulted.

That last point already puts Heathcote and co. one up on the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission (QRIC) … one of Heathcote’s targets … as the Commissioner, Ross Barnett, has, in his own words, already stated on numerous occasions that he knows little about racing. Many of the staff Barnett has brought in from another profession suffer the same disadvantage.

Barnett’s organisation, a government created entity, operates independently from the racing division of Racing Queensland and apparently comes at an exorbitant cost for which many stakeholders can’t find any reasonable justification.

In essence though, whatever racing’s broader discontent at QRIC’s structure, its role and ultimately its performance might be, QRIC is not answerable to racing, which in theory it is there to serve, and is currently very much a protected species under the authority of the Queensland State government … where Racing Minister Sterling Hinchliff’s own grasp of the importance of racing in general and its need for a streamlined, effective, good governance protocol (ie doing what is best for the industry) leaves much to be desired.

One of the most meaningless sayings often referred to by various Racing Ministers over time is that they ‘have consulted’ with stakeholders.

At best, what that usually means is that they have had a closed meeting with a very selective group of invited participants, thanked them for their input and then disappeared into the sunset hoping to allow enough time to pass for the matters raised to be forgotten.

At worst, they never listened to a word.

This week we didn’t have one of those meetings. Instead, some high-profile racing’s stakeholders just reached the end of their tether and gave their opinion anyway, not behind closed doors, but in a public forum … and their message was as loud and clear as it was scathing.

Questioning the current all-inclusive code business model structure and touting a return to a separate three code policy, the important matter of pre-race testing, the publishing of TCO2 results, the flawed judicial process with long drawn out cases sometimes taken years to be resolved, were just a few of the points to come out on the back of the comments of Heathcote and company.

You would think, if ever there was a time for government to ‘consult’ and to listen to the racing industry … it is now!

Will the government’s strategy of ‘if I close my eyes they can’t see me’ again be brought into play and, if so, can the stakeholders movement initiated this week keep the ball alive long enough for the government to blink and maybe finally see the light of day and the reality that brings?

The outcome of that battle of wills will give you the answer as to where the future of racing actually lies.

Clearly many racing participants have reached a tipping point.

More of the same just won’t cut it!