OBE UNPLUGGED - TIME FOR RACING TO GET ON THE FRONT FOOT. A CALL FOR A REVIEW OF RACE PROGRAMMING

By Mark Oberhardt | Monday, December 24, 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.

THERE is one large question to emerge out of the decision to change Toowoomba's racing surface back to grass.

It is a bit like the chicken and the egg - sorry, it is Christmas and I am having trouble getting away from bland examples - however, I hope someone has done research and found that the reason horse numbers and TAB turnover are down at Toowoomba was because of its current cushion track.

The problem is there could a downturn in those areas because of Saturday night racing.

There is so much racing of late there is a theory that punters want a rest on Saturday nights. After all there are as many as 35 race meetings on the gallops from Fridays to Sundays. It is wall to wall racing and even the most devoted of punters looks for some respite.

I can remember that in the months leading up to the decision to switch to a cushion track there were some small fields at Toowoomba on the then grass.

All of which leads to the idea that someone should be looking at race programming as a whole in Queensland.

I am not the only one who would like to see the Sunday circuit extended to more clubs than just Caloundra. But at the same time there is such an investment in Caloundra that we can't afford to let it slip off the map.

Caloundra and Toowoomba are the two night racing venues in Queensland and basically I would like to see them share the workload but on varying nights.

Perhaps, Toowoomba could have some Sunday meetings in the winter and early spring when only the hardy come out to attend night racing on the Downs.

Likewise, Caloundra could have some Saturday nights during the summer when the tourist resort has thousands of visitors. Caloundra has an expensive set of lights which are turned on about four times a year. It also has a cushion track which is hardly used these days.

Critics can blame the previous board for wasting money but that is useless as the facilities are there and should be used.

The TAB deal with Racing Queensland is coming up and I reckon we have to maximise our product to enable officials to do the best job possible.

Everyone in town will tell you Queensland will be lucky to hold its ground let alone get a better TAB deal.

It is one of several problems facing Queensland racing in the coming months not the least of which is the attack by northern NSW on our horse market.

The perfect example was last Friday when again many trainers and jockeys abandoned Ipswich to compete at Lismore. The previous week Murwillumbah attracted more than 50 horses from southern Queensland.

It all comes down to money and in particular prize-money.

Then again you don't need me to tell you that is the case. It is one time I would not like to be in charge of racing but someone has to bite the bullet and try something different.

Meanwhile, it never ceases to amaze the number of short priced favourites being rolled.

Pages and pages have been written about the lack of value with many horses who start in the tomato sauce.

But the thing that amazes me is that punters now just take it in their stride. Gone are the days of demonstrations which would go on for 30 minutes after a race.

The new breed of punter has been brought up to accept odds-on pops going under.

I'm afraid I am not one of them, but seeing I haven't taken odds on in over 45 years I really shouldn't comment. But I still adhere to the great Ken Howard's advice - odds on, look on, never run up stairs!

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

More articles