THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - PROVINCIAL CLUBS WORTHY PLAYERS IN THE CARNIVAL

By Graham Potter | Sunday, May 10, 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.

Provincial stand-alone, Saturday, Metropolitan meetings during the Queensland Racing Winter Carnival are worthy of their place in the carnival schedule ... and they will cement their place in the line-up moving forward if they heed some sound advice from a leading Metropolitan trainer.

Robert Heathcote, writing in his personal blog on horseracingonly.com.au, referred to Toowoomba’s stand-alone meeting last weekend and stated:

‘I thought the club catered well for their ‘metro race day’ and it is something other provincial tracks could learn from when holding feature race days. I don’t mind the provincial clubs getting their stand-alone days, but it is just as important they get their event management plans right and don’t just treat it as another ‘provincial race meet’ with a bigger crowd to make a fast and easy quid.’

There is arguably a touch of harshness in that sentiment, but there is also a more than equal dose of reality as well in the well-intended advice.

Not that any provincial club in this loop has ever contrived to come up short of the mark but it is just that their important change of status on these particular occasions needs a ‘think bigger’ approach which has not always been in play from the perspective of those attending these race-meetings in the past.

For provincial clubs to ‘get their event management plans right’ might read as an obvious point but it needs to remain in the forefront of any club’s thinking if standards are to be set and achieved for these particular days on a consistent basis.

Toowoomba was the point of focus last week as it was their first stand-alone, mid carnival, Saturday, metropolitan meeting

Even an extreme weather event in the days leading up to the race meeting failed to dampen their ‘debut’ success ... and any mention of that success has to include the way Toowoomba’s previously much maligned track’s racing surface held up so well in circumstances where other clubs might have been putting up the ‘Meeting Abandoned’ sign.

The Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast and Ipswich have had years of experience in hosting feature, Saturday, Metropolitan race-days, so why the fuss?

The answer is that Toowoomba’s arrival on the scene opened a new debate on the role of provincial clubs during the carnival which, in the end, only served to highlight the fact that provincial club’s contribution to the carnival is a significant one.

The Sunshine Coast (next Sunday) and Ipswich (on June 13) get their turn to come to the party and provide a repeat dose of the ‘getting it right’ strategy.

By so doing they can help to establish a trademark level of good service to racegoers who are happy to support a provincial venue hosting a metropolitan race-day.

More power to them.

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For the first time the featured Sunshine Coast meeting next Sunday splits the four weekend Brisbane Racing Carnival, falling in-between the first and second meetings hosted by the Brisbane Racing Club.

This rescheduling is part of an overall revamp of both the carnival race-dates and certain individual races.

The success of this new strategy can only be determined after the entire carnival has been completed but, for now, it is a case of ... so far, so good!

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