SUNSHINE COAST IN THE CROSS-HAIRS OF A FIXTURES DILEMMA. DRAFT SCHEDULE OPEN TO MUCH DEBATE

By Graham Potter | Sunday, January 27, 2013

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily

Racing Queensland’s release of a proposed new draft fixture list has opened the door to much debate.

Should the draft be approved in its current form, it will certainly have an impact on racing at the Sunshine Coast and the clientele it serves.

The bottom line, as it stands, is that the Corbould Park will take over the Saturday twilight / night racing slot which will be vacated by Toowoomba while that track undergoes construction work which will see it revert to a turf racing service.

The need for that scenario, in itself, is semi controversial given the expense involved in effecting the change from the cushion track at Toowoomba.

The is no doubt grass is the preferred surface, but the millions spent in putting in the cushion track in the first place and now in terms of its replacement cost poses a logic that is difficult to justify given the fact that stake-holders are continually told that the financial cupboard is bare.

You just have to hope the latest decision somehow stems from a measured assessment of improving the racing lot in Toowoomba (and therefore the racing product in the state in general), rather than just trying to throw one back in the face of the previous regime who bulldozed the majority into submission when going forward a cushion track that few wanted.

The latter would be just plain foolishness.

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While there is no doubt that the Sunshine Coast is perfectly placed to pick up that slack, the fact they will be asked to forfeit their regular Sunday fixtures to accommodate that change, albeit for only a designated timeframe, will put some pressure on the club.

Racegoers for the most part are creatures of habit. If their routine is to take the family to the races on Sunday, their routine is to take the family to the races on Sunday.

Take that away and ask them to make Saturday night their outing instead of Sunday and you change the dynamics completely.

Firstly, the majority of those racegoers will already have a Saturday night routine. Secondly, Saturday night at the races, particularly in the winter months, is a vastly different experience to the Sunday afternoon outing.

On first view then, it seems the club would initially be faced with a difficult transition period.

While there will obviously be an overlap of punters at these different times, it seems certain that the Sunshine Coast will lose some of its hard-earned regular Sunday clientele … and they could be hard-pressed to replace them in the new racing slot, or to regain them when racing returns to Sundays.

To some extent it will almost be akin to having to create a new customer base.

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That said we have to stop and take a breath.

For ever, racegoers have been saying, ‘We cannot carry on this way. We have to try something different.’

So Racing Queensland is trying something different.

By the very definition of the word, ‘change’ means that things don’t stay the same. Again by simple logic, they either get better or they get worse.

If the proposed fixture list is ratified, the Sunday loss will be heartfelt by the Sunshine Coast and the Saturday night will be a challenge … but, in theory at least, it might well have a happy ending. It could even bring new people into racing.

It’s still a draft fixture list remember.

The Sunshine Coast, like all TAB clubs, have been given the right of reply and it can be taken as a given that serious representations will be made to Racing Queensland … although there are those in racing who believe a draft from a ruling body, in whatever era, is the same thing as the final approved document.

As I said in the opening, there are many sides of the story to debate.

Like everything else in racing, it is a gamble.

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