MY CALL - SUMMERTIME BLUES FOR CITY RACEGOERS
By David Fowler | Tuesday, March 25, 2014
David Fowler is the principal thoroughbred caller for Radio TAB. David, who is a keen form student and punter, has enjoyed a lifetime involvement in the racing media. His personal blog, ‘My Call’, appears exclusively on HRO.
If you are a Christmas/New Year city racegoer, you’re in for a shock.
This blog can reliably suggest Saturday metropolitan racing will be off the agenda for four Saturdays straight in December and January.
While the Gold Coast maintains their two Magic Million carnival Saturdays, they have also picked up one either side to make it four in a row.
The draft for 2014/15 race dates was thrown into a spin with Eagle Farm being taken out of the mix due to its track redevelopment.
That’s the redevelopment that should be announced by the Newman government in the next week or two. Hopefully.
Eagle Farm is poised to return to the racing timetable in early April.
Understandably, Doomben will host the lion’s share of Saturdays but will only run a couple of Wednesday fixtures, including the highly popular Exhibition Wednesday meet.
In a “back to the future” move, Ipswich will depart from its regular Friday timeslot to host the bulk of Wednesdays with other south-east Queensland provincial clubs earning one or two.
The country triumvirate of Beaudesert, Kilcoy and Gatton remain a force in the draft plan.
******************************************************************************************************
You can’t please some people.
With the knowledge that the Eagle Farm rail would be back to near true and that part of the track had been aerated, punters were well armed to realise the inside 10 metres would provide the best surface.
In other words, jockeys wouldn’t be taking a left hand turn like the previous week’s schmozzle.
Yet that didn’t stop one “twit” tweeting about a “fast lane” at Eagle Farm and a bias against run on horses.
He must have been asleep at the wheel when Tips And Tales and Buakaw zoomed home from near last down the centre of the track.
Honestly, you wonder if they’d know a bay from a grey!
This blog was highly critical of the Eagle Farm surface a week earlier but Saturday was a fair playing field.
****************************************************************************************************
The Weetwood distance should never have been changed from 1300m to 1200m.
The fact it will allow two extra runners is not a defence against a race that had been advertised for sometime as a 1300m event.
The question begs did RQ consult with trainers before the flip flop and who was the driving force behind the change?
Let’s face it, it’s been known since December that the 1300m start only accommodates 12 runners.
It should not have been changed but thrown open for discussion from a 2015 point of view.
*****************************************************************************************************
This blog was only recently hailing Fiorente as a star.
Yet he went like Humphrey the Camel in the Ranvet.
Gai Waterhouse’s excuse that he needs further was lame and that’s being kind.
It’s A Dundeel was also below par but I’ve never rated him as a champion as regular readers of this blog will attest to.
The Championships is opening up.
Until next week.
More articles
|