CORBOULD PARK PULLS THROUGH AGAINST THE ODDS

By Graham Potter | Sunday, February 3, 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

The Sunshine Coast Turf Club might have emerged a bit battered and bruised from the treatment meted out to it by the weather gods at last week-end’s stand-along Saturday meeting, but the club can hold its head up high after taking a meeting that looked to be a possible non-starter all the way through to the sixth race of an eight race programme.

The resilience of the track, the determination of decision making officials and the wholehearted co-operation of the participants merged together to show what can be overcome, seemingly against the odds, when those who make up the core of racing pack down together and push the same scrum.

There has got to be a lesson for somebody in there somewhere!

As the effects of the cyclone Oswald slipped closer to the coast a late downpour finally put an end to the meeting washing out the chances of those involved in the last two races. That was the downside.

The whole day was, in a sense, a throw-back to a time when racing had no option but to fit in with weather patterns.

Then there could be no knee-jerk reaction to divert a meeting under threat to a cushion track. In the balance of things, this was nature merely giving the wet-trackers their time to shine … and why not?

If that was their advantage and the time came to use it … good luck to them. Chances are the preference of these runners could be found in their respective form-lines and that information would appeal to punters who could then make an informed choice … or as much as an informed choice as is possible in a game that is called gambling.

The wet-trackers have a right to their ‘day in the sun’, so to speak, as much as the runners who need a firm track to give of their best.

On Saturday, Caloundra was a wet-trackers delight.

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Talking of cushion tracks, as far as I can gather no consideration was given to switching the meeting to the cushion track on Saturday.

A year ago, that would not have been the case.

When the previous Board of Queensland Racing was in place, there was a procedure which dictated the course of events in wet weather circumstances, often to the chagrin of owners and trainers.

It went something like this. If the track was already rated as heavy the day before the meeting was scheduled to take place … and the weather forecast was for more rain, the meeting would then automatically be transferred to the cushion track.

That happened several times. Meetings were saved under that edict on occasions but, at other times, meetings were prematurely transferred with the grass track ultimately being good enough to have handled racing on race-day.

My understanding is that no such protocol currently exists under the new Racing Queensland board. Hence the reason why Saturday’s meeting went ahead, in the face of dire predictions, as scheduled on the turf on Saturday.

That obviously begs the question, where to now with the cushion track as an alternative racing surface option at the Sunshine Coast?

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Brisbane Jockey’s Premiership leader Michael Cahill, writing in his blog on horseracingonly.com.au praised the turf track for its ability to cope with such adverse conditions, but he also said that he had never ridden on a heavier track.

He also gave this qualification.

“It was a safe track though. Horses got into it, but there was no danger of anything slipping over.”

To turn the track out that well in the circumstances is a credit to all concerned.

Track manager Murray Weeding and his staff can take a bow.

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