THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - WHAT WORKS? FINDING THE KEY TO A WINNING SCHEDULE

By Graham Potter | Sunday, July 21, 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

Regular Sunday afternoon Sunshine Coast racegoers will suffer some withdrawal symptoms today … that is unless they are willing to undertake a five-hundred-and-twenty kilometre round trip to Dalby.

Dalby was allocated this Sunday meeting after a reshuffling of fixtures by Racing Queensland due to the five month closure of the Toowoomba track.

To say that Dalby’s gain was Sunshine Coast’s loss is probably something of an understatement but credit the Western Downs based club for the response they have elicited from owners and trainers who will collectively send more than one hundred horses to the Dalby meeting where they will compete in nine races.

Meetings boasting such numbers are few and far between these days.

So Dalby already has one positive in place but, while field sizes are a big factor in betting turnover so too is the punters familiarity with the established form of horses, their confidence in the prowess of riders they like to follow and, of course, their comfort level with regard to the track ‘playing fair.’

This is where punters interest will be tested at Dalby.

The track will be something of an unknown to most investors. Form at the track is scant and there is no Damian Browne going around punching out his customary couple of winners from the saddle to help punters out as he does so often on Sunday’s at the Sunshine Coast.

Like those who would normally switch onto auto-pilot and navigate their way to Corbould Park on any regular Sunday, punters everywhere are creatures of habit and whether they will take up the challenge that this Dalby meetings offers or whether they will retreat and re-appear again when they are back in their comfort zone is a question that will only be answered when the final turnover figures for the meeting become known.

The hope, as it is for every meeting for racing’s sake … wherever it might be … is that this meeting does well enough on a financial level to complement the enthusiastic vibe that there is sure to be felt ‘live’ at the track on this unusual occasion.

I know it is just one meeting that we are talking about and that either way, unless something really untoward occurs, it will probably be largely be forgotten soon after the final result … but I also know that even the largest puzzle has small pieces and if you can’t get them to fit the puzzle will never be successfully completed.

Dalby might be a very small piece in racing’s puzzle but it has its place … as does the Sunshine Coast and the whole list of race-clubs that is too long to name here.

That is why it is so important that financial feedback on all meetings is strictly scrutinized so that we will know where we should be racing and when we should be racing at any particular venue or, if you want, as importantly, where and when we should not be racing.

It is a critical issue in terms of the future prosperity of the sport, not just when racing is scrambling to cover meetings when venues such as Toowoomba (currently) and Eagle Farm (in the near future) are out of action, but at all times.

It needs to be prioritised as such!

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