THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - A SMALL WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY IS THERE FOR THE TAKING

By Graham Potter | Sunday, April 19, 2015

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.

While Queensland Racing’s bumpy year continues it has to be hoped that the state’s upcoming Winter Racing Carnival will at least allow a shift in the news feed, from racing politics, scandals and stand offs ... so that the focus can rightly go back onto the real star of the show, the thoroughbred racehorse.

That is the hope, but there is another shift that will have to take place for that to happen.

Only time will tell whether those with influence to create an impression can learn to use their positions to contribute towards the betterment of the industry.

At the moment, as there has been for some time, there is an unhealthy cut and thrust between those who constantly have axes to grind and those who are intent on defending and protecting their positions.

I say unhealthy because generally this is not a case where constructive criticism is offered and is taken on board by open minded administrators.

It is a far more volatile situation than that. It is often a faceoff of an extreme nature ... a sword fight where both parties stand their ground.

Neither will give an inch and both ‘know better’ than their opponent ... and as long as this ‘personal’ battle remains the focus of attention racing will suffer.

While that conflict will never go away there has to be a shift in this dynamic as well. It has to be managed better by both sides.

It is a forlorn hope I know (there is that ‘hope’ word again which we seem to running on more than any certainty at this stage) but the main protagonists need to realise that, while they both have an important roles to play in supporting and improving the racing industry, the ‘swordfight’ is not the way to go about it.

Both have to give a little to be able to reach what be an important, respectful level of exchange of views.

It’s not hard. Just take the ‘personal’ out of the argument for starters and we are halfway home to getting a desirable result ... and a return to a story where the horse is king.

And as the spotlight beam on racing in Australia begins to swing around to a position where it will fully focus on the Queensland Winter Racing Carnival does it make sense to have it any other way?

That doesn’t mean anyone is naïve about the problems facing the industry in this state. It would mean we recognise the arrival of what is really an all too small window of opportunity to promote the Queensland racing product to the rest of the country and abroad. ... and that racing in Queensland plans to make the most of it.

It will be interesting to see if racing can hold a straight line on this important objective in the next eight weeks or whether the ‘interference’ discussed above will again come to the fore to relegate the action on the track to that of an ‘also ran.’

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A note for the diary.

The Sunshine Coast leg of the Carnival, featuring the Sunshine Coast Guinea, the Caloundra Cup, the Glasshouse, the Hampton Stakes and the Bribie Handicap takes place on Saturday, May 16.

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