MY CALL - TWO DAY FORMAT NEEDS A RETHINK

By David Fowler | Tuesday, July 5, 2011

David Fowler is the principal thoroughbred caller for Radio TAB, taking the position upon Wayne Wilson's retirement last August. 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.

Did Caloundra need to race last Saturday … and Sunday? I doubt it.

First and foremost, Saturday was a credit to the club. Perfect weather and excellent racing are always two key ingredients for a successful day and that was delivered in spades.

And Corbould Park, only 26 years young, is a wonderful facility that caters well for patrons.

But why race Sunday as well?

Initially their two day event was run on a Wednesday and Thursday with both days catering for the feature races and this same type of format was tried to a degree when they went to the Saturday-Sunday format some years ago.

But, and sensibly I might add, all the big gun races now make a "Super Saturday" with Sunday being just a humdrum affair with last weekend's main event being a $25,000 Class 5!

Take a tip, racegoers don't back up two days in a row. They're even flat out backing up from Saturday to Saturday these days.

So unless you're going to make something special out of Sunday on or off the track, why not just run the one day and give the Sunday meeting to another south-east TAB club.

There is no doubt the turnover at an Eagle Farm or Doomben Sunday fixture would be higher than a run-of-the-mill Sunday Caloundra meet.

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The Sunshine Coast track itself can be difficult for punters in the winter months.

Basically situated in a rain belt, the grass circuit is often wetter than its other south-east counterparts and finds it difficult to dry out.

Most punters hit the panic button on Friday when the track was assessed as a "heavy 8" after less than an inch of rain in the past week and generally fine weather.

It was sent out a "slow 7" on both Saturday and Sunday but, like leading bookmaker Lindsay Gallagher suggested, I'm certain it was in the "dead 5" to "slow 6" range.

And before anyone throws the race-times up at me, remember the track has never been conducive to fast times even when they are racing on a razor sharp surface.

In fact, a general rule of thumb is that the Sunshine Coast track records are on average a second slower than most other tracks.

And there is little doubt that as we progressed through the two days, it became apparent the "fast lane" was out in the centre of the track or conversely near the rail was slower.

It's worth keeping these points in mind when assessing form from the two days, particularly Sunday.

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Woorim's Glasshouse win was the weekend standout and, for mine, the number one ticket item that Queensland could produce during the two month Carnival.

It's refreshing when the best horse wins and wins clearly and that was the case in his Glasshouse triumph. The effort was dynamic considering he was not comfortable on the slow going and has to lump 58.5kg.

I have little doubt he would have gone close to collecting the Stradbroke if he hadn't been the victim of an abnormally slow pace by Stradbroke standards and then encountering home straight traffic problems.

His win in the BTC Sprint was one of the best peformances of the Winter Carnival.

His finishing sectionals are electric and the clock doesn't lie. Wherever Rob Heathcote heads, he will be competitive.

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Usually you'll find one "after the race expert" who'll vow and declare that the winner had to be chance for some weird reason.

But I couldn't find one after Spechenka won the Caloundra Cup.

I'm sure he was only a $12 chance on reputation.

Good luck to Ben Ahrens and the owners but, honestly, his Ipswich Cup run was pathetic. He went for 200 metres and was beaten almost 12 lengths.

But, in his defence, we know when he's on song he is one of the best stayers in the state and you only have to cast your mind back to his sparkling spring and summer form.

But I keep pulling that Ipswich Cup DVD out to see if I should have put him my quaddie.

He's still not in there!

Until next week.

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