MY CALL - DEAGON FIXTURES SHOULD BE BROUGHT FORWARD AS TRACK SURFACE SITUATION WORSENS
By David Fowler | Tuesday, March 31, 2015
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.
Deagon must now be given the greenest of green lights to join south-east Queensland's racetrack roster.
This blog highlighted the "over protection" of Doomben a fortnight ago that, in turn, heaped pressure on other tracks, resulting in bias, wear and tear and worse.
And "worse" struck at Ipswich last Wednesday. Despite the rail being in an alarming 12 metre position between the 600 metres and 300 metres, the problem area near the home turn still existed.
So Doomben slots in for Ipswich tomorrow. Is it a week-to-week proposition or will be Ipswich be up and running in a fortnight?
So many questions but very few answers.
And then the news broke that Eagle Farm won't be in the loop until 2016 because the tunnel work won't happen until after the Winter Carnival.
The course proper revamp and tunnel placement was supposed to be a 10 month operation. It now looks like being at least 18!
I sympathise with the Brisbane Racing Club over Eagle Farm's prolonged absence. To be blunt, it's not their fault.
But delivering blame won't assist this pressure-cooker situation. Make no mistake, the entwined issues of non-performing tracks and a turnover slump are inextricably linked.
Deagon has been pencilled in as a venue in the 2015-2016 racing season but this has to be brought forward.
Surely administrators realise this is the only logical solution as the prospect of cooler and wetter months closing in means only worse news for our south-east Queensland tracks.
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I've been banging on for some time about prizemoney lost to the industry as a result of abandoned meetings.
There's been a bit of it this year to say the least.
So when Kilcoy was cancelled last Friday through no fault of its own, it seemed logical that it could slot in either yesterday or today when we are thoroughbred raceless.
No prizemoney or turnover lost for a meeting that essentially supports the "bread and butter" section of the industry.
Remember that only a week earlier, Gatton had got the chop.
Yet Racing Queensland issued a response only hours after the cancellation. No alternate date and no extra races programmed.
Only one word come to mind out of this scenario.
Why?
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Female racecaller Victoria Shaw's hit-run visit to Queensland was an excellent promotion.
But it delivered more than just novelty value.
As Victoria clearly demonstrated, women in racing are capable of mostly everything.
Once, race calling was considered a man's domain. Victoria knocked that out for six.
It reminds me of the line ... "that's womens' work"
Regardless of the merits of her broadcasting qualities, her appearance might just embolden a young girl to consider race calling as a career or even a role in the media.
It should be pointed out, this is not some "girly thing" for Victoria.
She is hell-bent on being part of the team, working everywhere and anywhere.
And if it's going to happen, that's the way it should be.
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I'll be reporting from Sydney next week on the first day of the Championships at Randwick.
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