THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - TALKING ABOUT STAKES AND OTHER TENDER MATTERS

By Graham Potter | Sunday, March 23, 2014

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 hosted a meeting on Friday night and they are doubling up with another eight race card today.

The fact that these two meetings attracted one hundred and seventy eight final acceptances is a solid validation of the support that local trainers are showing the industry in spite of the on-going deficit that Queensland suffers under in terms of its stakes discrepancy with the southern states, but that doesn’t alter the fact that many of these trainers are in under sufferance.

The stakes argument will continue until some miracle occurs but, for now, the bottom line is all but set in concrete with Queensland travelling well behind its southern counterparts, leaving most trainers trying to make the best of a poor hand.

Trainers are in fact caught in a trap between two realities.

The lack of funds available to increase stakes remains reality number one. To put it another way, Racing Queensland could double all stakes overnight and the board members could be carried shoulder high down Queen Street Mall by grateful stakeholders … but then racing would be officially bankrupt in six months!

Clearly, there is far more on the line in this matter and any indiscriminate raising of stakes is not an option.

The second reality confronting trainers is that the myth that they could move to greener pastures down south for better returns has been exploded. A few have tried and some have returned to the fold, but there was never going to be the wholesale exodus that many preached.

There could never be.

Again to exaggerate a point, if a large number of trainers added there horses to the list of entries down south how many would get a run? The field sizes don’t change so with increased entries more horses would be balloted out which would bring its own frustration … and that is not the only reason why the colour of the grass down south begins to pale.

Competition, even in the likes of the Northern Rivers, is fierce. For those wanting to target bigger fish, the task is even more intimidating. For example in Sydney yesterday, Chris Waller had three or more runners in five separate races while both Gai Waterhouse and Peter Snowden also had multiple runners in several races.

It would be very difficult for somebody new to get ahead there.

Being caught between these two realities is a tough position from which to break free.

But having said that, it doesn’t mean we should call off the search for finding a better scenario for Queensland participants. Perhaps, instead of looking south with envy, we could look south in the hope of finding something of value that Queensland might be able to apply.

In New South Wales stakes are paid to eighth place. In Victoria it is down to tenth place. A $200 starter subsidy payment applies for non-place getters in New South Wales.

No money to do that here? Would a redistribution of current prize-money then not serve a greater purpose?

Either way, Racing Queensland should at least be working on some solution while they wait for that miracle to arrive, just in case it never makes an appearance.

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