THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - VANDYKE CHOOSES QUEENSLAND FOR THE NEXT PHASE OF HIS CAREER

By Graham Potter | Sunday, February 14, 2016

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.

David Vandyke’s announcement that he will relocate his training stables from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast by the start of the new season on August 1 comes as a surprising, but very welcome boost to racing in South East Queensland.

Vandyke currently has forty-five horses in work at Warwick Farm. For the initial move, Vandyke has been allocated thirty-two boxes at Corbould Park which he is has selected as his base from which to launch the next stage of his career.

Vandyke’s decision to change states is based on both professional and personal considerations.

With the Chris Waller and, to a lesser extent, Gai Waterhouse’s domination of Sydney only likely to become greater, Vandyke has not only recognised the limited returns you can get on general basis when competing against stables who outgun you, both in numbers and with their average class of runner, but he has done something about it by finding a new direction and trying to implement a fresh game-plan on which to build his stable’s future.

And he not about to ease himself into it lightly.

Vandyke has already set himself the goal of finishing in the top five in the Brisbane Trainer’s Premiership in his first season in Queensland.

It was also a lifestyle decision with Vandyke acknowledging the attraction of Queensland’s more laid back and warmer way of life was also a major influence in his decision making process.

Vandyke brings a wealth of experience and a solid reputation with him.

Apart from his time and success as a trainer in his own right, Vandyke has worked with and learnt from the likes of trainers Neville Begg, Les Bridge and Graeme Rogerson.

As a stud hand Vandyke worked as a horse-breaker at Segenhoe Stud and Roseneath Stud as well as carrying out those duties at Shaddai Farm in Japan in the early 1990s.

It is that all around experience which helped Vandyke make upward progress in the tough world of racehorse training.

While he has trained some star horses in their own right, such as multiple Group winner Arabian Gold, who many will remember winning the Doomben Roses in 2014, Vandyke is also renowned for improving tried horses as well as helping horses overcome injury setbacks.

All of that makes him a very welcome addition to the local training ranks.

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The jury is still out regarding the re-emergence of the cushion track as a racing option at the Sunshine Cast last weekend.

The large number of scratchings from the transferred meeting on Sunday would suggest that the long established anti-cushion sentiment is still very much in play amongst many participants but, in fairness, we will only know more when nominations and final fields are called for an actual, advertised cushion track meeting.

Given its history of being entwined in racing politics and that the cushion track rating is suffering from the prejudice that culture cultivated, the cushion track’s path to acceptance by a broader base of players is not likely to be a smooth ... that is unless everybody puts what has gone before to one side, looks at all of the practical issues involved and make a reasoned decision from there, whatever that is, so that racing can start to lengthen its stride.

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