MY CALL - WEETWOOD SUCCESS STORY LEAVES CRITICS REELING. STRATHAYR TRACK SHOWS ITS TRUE WORTH
By David Fowler | Tuesday, May 5, 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.
The Toowoomba critics must now shut up and forever hold their peace.
Weetwood day proved conclusively it deserved its spot on the revamped carnival roster.
Those who wished for it to fail so dearly were put right back in their box by the one issue they've complained about so bitterly for so long, the track.
To many, it was the sweetest of justice delivered to a small group of embittered individuals.
Yes, Toowoomba has been a problem child but after going back to square one, the Strathayr track proved beyond doubt it is now an invaluable asset.
So much rain, yet within 24 hours they were running records. It was astonishing.
And, ironically, if Toowoomba hadn't been slotted into that date, we may have faced a raceless Saturday.
To some who are still doggedly beating the detractor's drum, face the facts. Weetwood day was an outstanding success and that's no spin.
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Sometimes you can go too far.
Your bandwagon can tread a fine line that sometimes tips over into the nonsense range.
There was a school of thought criticising paying for Gai and Robbie Waterhouse to fly to the Clifford Park’s feature day.
It was reported angry stakeholders demanded an explanation on who was footing the bill.
What rubbish!
Even many of the Toowoomba critics shook their heads.
Paying for an airfare! The Toowoomba Turf Club or Racing Queensland got out cheap!
Gai is a promoter's dream and the fact Pornichet won as the popular favourite was icing on the cake.
And it was a hometown trifecta in the Weetwood which had the locals cheering.
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One swallow doesn't make a summer and the Toowoomba club can't afford to rest on its laurels.
Yet it can afford to sit back and reflect on a job well done where the decision to embrace the community in "all things Weetwood" was a primary reason for the day's success.
The club is now in an enviable position of being able to run day or night on an outstanding wet weather surface.
Granted there are a few hurdles ahead for the industry but Racing Queensland can sign off on Toowoomba being out of the too hard basket.
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Racing Victoria's chief handicapper Greg Carpenter was an entertaining guest at the Bernborough Club last Friday.
I often viewed him as being solely focused on attracting overseas horses for the Melbourne Cup, his most important handicapping assignment.
And while that is true, he is also hell-bent on promoting local staying talent.
He gets most bang for his buck in his home state of Victoria but has sent a signal to other states to follow suit.
In fact he threw out the challenge directly to RQ chairman Kevin Dixon who also attended the function to develop more staying race concepts
"Rather than simply saying the European stayers are better, let's at least try to give our local stock a chance with more exempt races available for the Cup for example" Carpenter pointed out.
It's a challenge well worth taking up.
Carpenter took up the chief handicapping gig in Melbourne about a decade ago after stints in Western Australia and Singapore.
His first Melbourne Cup handicapping job was when Makybe Diva attempted the threepeat in 2005.
He wouldn't be drawn into the long standing argument that she was thrown in light.
Interestingly, only nine people have handicapped the Melbourne Cup since it was first run in 1861.
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