2015 - WEEK 3 HEADLINE STORIES: STALLED EAGLE FARM RACETRACK PROJECT AND ELEVATED COBALT READINGS

By Graham Potter | Thursday, January 22, 2015

2015 - WEEK 3 (JAN 15 - JAN 21):

Rome might not be burning but somebody is playing a fiddle that is seriously out of tune!

The Eagle Farm race-track makeover – which has gone from a too-long delayed undertaking to a stalled debacle – is currently in the process of having such a negative impact on racing in the state that the local industry’s long-term recovery is being significantly compromised.

Of course there are difficulties. Access to funding, making prudent scheduling decisions, balancing the fixtures at other tracks during Eagle Farm’s unavailability, maintaining a credible product in a competitive market in adverse times ... but the Eagle Farm ‘crawl’ has gone on for so long now that few believe the transition from old to new has been handled with any aplomb by anybody involved in the decision process who has the influence to move things along.

Politically correct terms, which are meaningless to an industry waiting for action, abound in ways determined to distract or deflect focus away from accountability.

In the delay before the full funding package for Eagle Farm was approved by government, the Racing Minister Steve Dickson stated he would make no apologies for the ‘checks and balances’ required before funding approval was granted.

Racing Queensland hierarchy, when discussing the tender process for contractors, which was only finalised well after Eagle Farm was prematurely closed down, spoke of ‘due diligence’ and ‘propriety’ in the process.

All neat and tidy enough messages. To the ordinary racing stake-holder though, those words, however true they might be in a particular place and time, have just become a smokescreen for non-achievement.

Even on Saturday, at the Racing Minister’s 2yo Classic at the Sunshine Coast, it was reported that the Minister ‘refused to be drawn on the Eagle Farm redevelopment.’ Kevin Dixon, the Chairman of Racing Queensland was happy to state that he expects work to begin on the tunnel phase at Eagle Farm within the next fortnight.

We have all heard such optimistic remarks before. It would be great if Dixon’s prediction is true but with the Racing Minister’s awkward silence on the subject hardly gives cause for confidence.

On that evidence, it does seem likely that the start of the tunnel phase, like so many previous scheduling promises, might just have to be taken with a pinch of salt.

On the same basis, the long-term assessment for completion of the project also no longer has any real credibility.

We have already gone from April to August, and now to October as an estimated completion date ... until the next call. 2016 might soon firm in the betting.

You have got to feel for Brisbane Racing Club caught in this cross-fire calamity.

Nine months ago, when the government was dragging its heels in the funding approval process, it was reported that Brisbane Racing Club Chairman Neville Bell ‘remained upbeat about the project going ahead in 2014.’

That optimism had clearly been dented by the lack progress early in 2015.

Speaking to the Courier-Mail, Bell made several pertinent points including the following:

“The BRC is extremely disappointed at the delays in the government's sign-off on the second stage of the redevelopment of Eagle Farm course proper to begin $12 million worth of tunnel and flood mitigation work on the track. Contractors were ‘sitting on their hands’ waiting for the green light.

"Eagle Farm racing generates the majority of wagering turnover in Queensland.

"Every week this project is delayed it is costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in turnover and therefore loss of income to the industry and government."

Important revenue lost ... and with these delaying tactics, the government is shooting itself in the foot in terms of its income from racing as much as it is compromising the racing industry itself.

Currently it can be documented as the sad case in which ‘nobody wins’ whereas, if somebody could just get their priorities right, the new track could well be a windfall for all!

If only ...

*Putting the cart before the horse. It is typical of racing to complicate its life so the fact that some already find it necessary to bring up the argument about when would be the right time to start racing at Eagle Farm after the new track has been completed should not surprise anyone.

Let’s us rather recognise that, at this time, while important in the end-game, that discussion has no value until we have an Eagle Farm track ready for inspection and evaluation. One thing at a time!

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The elevated cobalt returns posted by horses from three leading racing stables has pretty much been the story of the week.

The question now is whether racing authorities, under whose jurisdiction these alleged irregularities occurred, can unravel all of the procedure manuals and red tape to bring the respective matters to a conclusion before people forget what it was they were investigating in the first place ... such is the sorry time-lapse factor that so often plagues racing’s justice system.

Given past experience their chances of doing that are not good.

In the meantime everyone is suddenly a scientist. So many people can now tell you all about cobalt, its properties, its effect in a positive sense ... its downside.

People can now give educated, considered opinions about the fairness of the reading threshold that has been set while articulating examples of what other major racing precincts have done to alleviate the problem.

The trainers involved are naturally ‘shocked’ and ‘devastated’ that such a thing could happen to them. One, at least, was defiant.

For all that ... and it does make good reading ... in the end, only the ultimate findings in the various cases will count. If swiftness of decision is not an option, neither is any flaw in the decision making process.

While the presumption of innocence must be in play until solid evidence dictates otherwise, the rule related to this case is quite specific and roundly accepted as being generous in the leeway it gives trainers.

What racing doesn’t need right now is another bout of lawyers, loopholes and ‘old chestnuts’ ... like feed contamination ... to muddy the waters in an attempt to blur the path to an outcome consistent with the evidence weighed against the rule.

The bottom line is racing is under just as much scrutiny as the trainers in this case ... from the way authorities undertake their investigation to ascertain if any charges should be laid or not, to the particulars of handling any ‘prosecution’ should it come down to that ... and, of course, the setting of an appropriate penalty in the light of any ‘guilty’ verdict.

There is still a long road to travel and the destination is still out of sight, but one thing is clear.

There is a lot more on the line here for racing than just the findings against three trainers.

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