MY CALL - A SIREN CALL TO THE INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE
By David Fowler | Tuesday, July 12, 2016
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.
Not much surprises me.
In fact, I've only been really shocked twice in my life by events out of my control.
The first was the closing of the Brisbane Telegraph, the afternoon newspaper I worked at for nearly a decade until "the death" in February 1988.
And the other was the decision made last Thursday to close greyhound racing in New South Wales.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I should not have been shocked by either.
"The Tele" was losing money hand over fist, weakening the profit of its stablemate The Courier Mail.
It's financial plight dIdn't worry me or most of my colleagues. Newspapers were staples of our society. One in the morning, one in the afternoon. Night follows day routine.
Newspapers didn't close.
But society was changing around this bubble I was living and working in.
Electronic media was beefing up their news services. Television and radio bulletins were appearing and being heard more regularly, weakening the Telegraph's once strong edge.
We were informed of the inevitable a few weeks before the actual demise.
There were protests mainly personal that paled against the financial bottom line.
It closed.
And nearly 30 years later, I've fallen for the three card trick again.
Living in the racing bubble, looking inwards.
What makes it worse is that it's a sin I've accused the racing industry of for sometime while I've practiced the same philosophy.
Denying some truths. Not thinking these truths would ever catch up.
But like a malignant cancer, they did.
Society of today is not prepared to turn a blind eye but instead grab the scruff of the throat and run with it.
The live baiting exposure of 18 months ago was the game changer. The inquiries began and it became a slow burn.
And so the industry learned of the unthinkable last Thursday like the sombre gathering of Brisbane Telegraph staff at Queensland Newspapers in the late eighties.
And now there are the protests but, unlike the beloved Tele, there is a glimmer of hope for New South Wales greyhound racing.
They might be longshots but the decision could be overturned legally or politically.
For that to happen, the greyhound industry needs to exert muscle and sing from the same hymnsheet.
Two qualities that haven't been in strong supply in their DNA previously but these are desperate times.
Living in denial is over. Forget the racing bubble has been invaded and fight hard for the industry's survival.
What happened last Thursday is a siren call to the racing industry as a whole.
Arrogantly living in the past and not embracing the changing culture is a shortcut to the outhouse.
Ask any redundant journo!
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Some of my fiercest on-air radio battles have been with the Gold Coast Bulletin's Brad Davidson.
Track bias, whip rules, length of the Winter Carnival to name a few.
I've loved every one of them because Brad demonstrated passion based on fact.
Well, some fact.
As hinted in last week’s My Call, Brad takes up an appointment at Sydney's Daily Telegraph next month, working alongside Ray Thomas.
An excellent promotion.
We've had some off air stoushes as well but it all ends well.
Good luck Brad. Success is assured.
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Sad to hear of the passing of Beaudesert trainer Ted Ainsworth.
Ted, father of apprentice Brooke, always had a handy horse in his yard over many years.
His funeral will be held in Beaudesert on Thursday.
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Memo Racing Queensland.
If you want the iconic two mile Queensland Cup to wither on the vine, leave it positioned where it is.
It just doesn't resonate among a glut of staying races in the city and at the major provincial centres at this time of year.
Move it back to the former November timeslot in 2017.
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