MY CALL - IS DOOMBEN AUSTRALIA'S BEST WET WEATHER SURFACE?

By David Fowler | Tuesday, January 31, 2012

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.

Bouquets and brickbats after the week of the big wet.

Bouquets to Bill Shuck and his merry band of workers for having Doomben in the position to race last Saturday after a truckload of rain.

I really believe we still don't have it in our heads that this track is an outstanding wet weather surface, possibly Australia's best.

In recent months we keep coming up with a heavy 8, 9 or 10 rating on race-morning, do the form accordingly, only to arrive at racetime and see it's a far superior surface to what we anticipated.

Most expected it to be a "bog" but those days are a thing of the past at Doomben. It's recuperative powers are remarkable.

Take the first two races on Saturday. The times they ran were consistent with a slow 6 surface before the drizzle began yet the track still played well after that with hardly any "chop up".

And, just as significantly, there wasn't a hint of bias. You could lead, come from behind, rail or sit wide. The results were conclusive on that front.

Conceded Doomben had the luxury of a makeover several years ago but the tracks don't look after themselves and that's why Bill and the team deserve a decent wrap.

Track management and care is an unenviable job. It's a bit like race-calling. You can be right ninety-nine percent of the time, but stuff up a track surface or a race call and they'll bellow from all quarters.

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Brickbats to Racing Queensland for not allowing Friday's Sunshine Coast meeting to be run on the cushion track.

The claim that it wasn't a suitable shift because the meeting had feature race status rings very hollow.

The primary reason a cushion track was installed at Sunshine Coast was to have an alternative track if wet weather ruled out the grass surface.

The grass surface was ruled out so the cushion track should have been used. Plain and simple.

And the "feature race status" argument doesn't wash when you consider the Weetwood and Toowoomba Cup are run on a cushion surface at Clifford Park!

For so long RQ have tried to champion the cause of the cushion track against a wall of dissent yet they themselves abandoned it because of the nonsensical feature meeting proposition.

To quote a well known professional gambler, "they whinge about the turnover, but this was a chance to put some decent horses on the track and see if the betting figures improved. They threw their chance away"

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I'm amazed that the question of whether Black Caviar will run 1400m pops up so frequently.

Despite seeing her in action on seventeen separate occasions, some still must
consider she is a speed machine because she hasn't run or won past 1200m.

Watch her racing action. She jumps on terms, travels off the speed, rounds them up and coasts clear.

I'd hate to see what she would do to her rivals if Luke Nolen sat down and got busy. It'd be embarrassing to her opposition.

Don't even consider the 1400m question because it's not in the equation.

She'll run it and she'll run a mile as well. On her ear.

I mentioned in this blog towards the end of her last campaign that maybe the novelty was wearing off because the fields were becoming smaller and lesser in quality.

I was wrong. One hundred and ten percent!

It doesn't even rate with the general public and to see their excitement on display, once again, at Moonee Valley on Friday was a sight to behold.

You mightn't see one like her ever again in your lifetime.

Just enjoy it while you can.

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RUMOUR FILE:

* Is a key witness in a forthcoming stewards' inquiry being asked to take a backward step by someone on their own team? Yes they are and no they won't!

*Is the "grass greener" on the other side? One club may answer that in a couple of months!

Until next week.

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