OBE UNPLUGGED – PROBLEM SOLVING. IS THERE A GENIUS OUT THERE?

By Mark Oberhardt | Monday, November 5, 2012

Mark Oberhardt has been a racing and sports reporter for 40 years. He has written racing for the Courier Mail, Brisbane Telegraph, Sydney Sunday Telegraph, Sportsman, Australian Associated Press, etc. He has also written many sports columns including the Courier Mail’s The Ear. Mark has also been a regular on RadioTAB for 20 years. Mark’s personal blog, Obe Unplugged, will appear every Monday on HRO.

As is the case with most racing journalists I usually have a bright suggestion to solve problems. Of course, sometimes they are so expensive or unworkable they are ignored. Then again the odd suggestion here or there gets attention of the powers that be.

However, in the case of midweek, week-day race field sizes I am at a loss to come up with a solution to the current situation where half the program involves less than eight runners per race.

It means there is no third place dividend in those races. On a regular basis we have also had four horse or less races which involves no place dividends at all!

It is also regular at the country TAB meetings and it has to have a major impact on the TAB turnover which is the lifeblood of the industry in Queensland. The TAB does not officially release its turnover figures but four horse fields can't possibly help things.

It is very important with a new TAB deal to be negotiated next year.

I don't want to be living in the past but many moons ago I was heavily involved with midweek racing.

As a journalist on the old Sunday Sun newspaper we introduced the "Midweek Mail" (an idea which has been copied by many organizations in recent years).

The Sun was also a paper which ran regular reviews of trials. If you really want to feel nostalgic I have a copy of the final Sun which had 11 pages of racing, trots and greyhound stories.

But I am getting off the point.

It meant I went to just about all the midweeks and even the Friday circuit races. To say those meetings … 20 to 30 years ago … were far stronger than the current crop is an understatement.

For starters you had top class horses coming through the ranks on a Wednesday.

Just one example was the great Vo Rogue who won a Wednesday race at Doomben before setting off south on his first Melbourne campaign. The mighty Stylish Century also won his first race at a Doomben midweek. In other words I am in a position to comment on how things have changed.

There are some obvious problems … well, to my mind … and I would appreciate any feedback from punters.

For starters I wonder if there are too many race meetings?

Would we be better off with fewer race meetings and more prizemoney to allocated to the ones we have? Mind you, the Brisbane Race Club and Racing Queensland have done the right thing by increasing Wednesday prizemoney.

There also appears to be little criticism of the actual race day programs. But it has not seen an increase in race field sizes and, for that matter, it has not even meant race fields have held its ground.

Then again do we have the right courses racing on the right day?

The race clubs in southeast Queensland have got into a niche … Sunshine Coast (Sunday), Gold Coast (Saturday and the odd Thursday), Ipswich (Friday), Toowoomba (Saturday night), Eagle Farm and Doomben (Saturdays and Wednesdays).

Would it be better to put Ipswich back to some Wednesdays to ease the pressure on Doomben and Eagle Farm?

Could Ipswich also have some Sunday meetings?

Could Kilcoy, Beaudesert, Kilcoy and Dalby fill the Friday void?

Could Toowoomba have some Sunday and Friday night meetings?

Could the Sunshine Coast give up some Sundays but race Friday nights and perhaps even Saturday nights?

The obvious reason would be to access different horse pools on different days. It is well documented that increased prizemoney for northern rivers meetings is having an impact on the, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast and Ipswich meetings.

As of December 1 they will actually be racing for twice the prizemoney available on our Friday and Sunday meetings.

Those NSW meetings will have $20,000 as a minimum for prizemoney. You can't blame Queensland trainers for looking at the bigger prizemoney.

At this stage there is no money available to boost our prizemoney to anything like that. The overall problem is one which needs to be addressed in a sensible
way.

As I said I would like to hear from anyone who reckons they have the key. If they do it will be a boost not only for south east Queensland racing but racing statewide.

So it is over to readers and let’s hope there is a genius out there somewhere.

Contact Obe at: editor@horseracingonly.com.au