ANOTHER ‘DRAFT’ FIXTURE LIST RELEASED BY RQ

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Racing Queensland (RQ) has unveiled eight additional night meetings in the latest racing schedule for the 2015-16 thoroughbred season released yesterday.

The media release states that the (now) ‘thirteen meeting night racing program in 2015-16 was closely aligned to that of Victoria to maximise wagering interest and provide Queensland clubs (the Sunshine Coast and Caloundra) with a chance to capitalise on the night trade during the summer.’

While RQ’s latest decision could go some way towards improving Queensland’s racing product, only if marketed correctly, this latest racing schedule came with an immediate waver with RQ CEO Darren Condon stating, "the dates released today would almost certainly change pending timeframes on key infrastructure projects; however the decision had been made to release the dates as is to ensure consistency for participants.

Condon continued: "There are a number of critical infrastructure projects either under way or scheduled for the next year, including Eagle Farm, Townsville, Ipswich and the Gold Coast, which may need to be factored in.”

“We do not have a concrete date for the completion and commencement of some of these projects and as such, we have allocated dates based on a normal schedule and will update participants and amend it as the situation becomes clearer. There are a number of factors that can affect large-scale projects and their timelines.”

Unfortunately racing stakeholders are no strangers to receiving fixture lists, revised fixture lists and having to adjust to fixtures that are changed at very short notice so RQ should not be affronted if this latest race schedule release is taking with a pinch of salt by many within the industry.

It is what it is though and racing participants, including the decision makers at RQ, can only move forward as best they can in circumstances which are far from ideal.

*In the latest racing schedule there are 428 TAB meetings in total scheduled for the season and 288 non-TAB meetings.