BROWNIE'S BLOG: THE RACING SURFACE AT EAGLE FARM IS STILL VERY MUCH A WORK IN PROGRESS
By Damian Browne | Wednesday, November 23, 2016
This week leading jockey Damian Browne discusses the progress of the Eagle Farm track, the decision options jockeys have when riding at that venue and the possible ramifications if they get it wrong. 'Brownie's Blog' appears exclusively on HRO.
How far has the Eagle Farm track progressed since it opened on Stradbroke day?
This is a question jockeys are constantly being asked and the answer is not as clear-cut as those posing the questions might have hoped it would be.
Obviously the more racing you have on a track the more of a form base you will have for that venue, in theory, making it easier for punters to assess things as it moves along.
We were saying at the start that some horses were not handling the new track. Now, I think, to say a horse isn’t handling it is probably is the wrong way to put it. More horses are getting used to the new track and I think that is just the way it had to unfold.
The track is certainly improving. There is no doubt about that, but there times when it surprises you, sometimes in a disappointing way.
On Saturday, for example, it didn’t race as well as we thought it would with the weather we have had. The previous two or three meetings there it was improving all the time to the stage where everybody was very happy we were on the right track.
On Saturday, especially around the bend, it was chopping out a little bit more towards the fence. Horses weren’t travelling as comfortably near the fence compared to horses racing away from the fence.
Generally the ones coming up the inside weren’t doing well. In every meeting one will do that and steal the race but, generally speaking, that is not seen by most jockeys as the place to go.
On Saturday everybody was talking about it and the consensus of opinion was that it was better five, six or seven off the fence.
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The hard thing from a jockey’s point of view is when the perception becomes that it is better to be out in the middle.
If you go along the fence on a favourite and it goes no good, firstly you are going to get crucified by punters ... and there is far more to it than that.
By losing in that manner you run the risk of losing the ride in future from the owner and the trainer ... and also losing future business with them as well so it is not just about that one ride.
Not only the owner and the trainer but the stewards will probably ask why you went back in there when nobody else was doing it.
So there is a multiple element of risk in adopting that strategy in isolation against the general trend. If you are on a horse that is a bit wider in the betting the risk decreases and maybe you can take your chances but otherwise it is a very difficult decision to make.
Once that perception becomes generally accepted, it is very difficult mentally to go against it because the ramifications if you get it wrong can be huge.
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If you are a good enough jockey and have a horse with sufficient talent you can certainly use the general jockey’s mindset to your advantage.
Jimmy Cassidy is probably the perfect example of how to do that. He would just hug the fence, save five lengths when the others shifted out and he would go from last to first in a moment having done nothing ... and he used to get away with it on a weekly basis when they were doing the same thing in Sydney.
If you have got the horse that is able to do that and you have the confidence to be able to attempt it things can work out that way, but it is never going to be the best option for everybody.
But the point remains that if you have got the option to get to the lane where all of the winners have been coming from and you don’t go there it can easily be viewed as pilot error.
The downside of that 'winning lane' of course is that if everyone is aiming to take the same line you could get there too late and suddenly have a line of horses in front of you with nowhere to go.
That becomes a problem as well.
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I’ve always been somebody who is not big on track bias as a rule because sometimes I think it has more to do with the pace of the race and the quality of the horses involved.
There are always a lot of variables which can come into play whether it is a new track or an old track but, I think the problem with assessing the new track at Eagle Farm at the moment is that people want answers to definitive questions where no definitive answer exists at this stage.
Jockeys are obliged to give their horses their best chance in races and do so according to what they believe to be the existing conditions at the time.
I can understand some impatience and some frustration on the part of punters but you also have to be realistic and need to remember that Eagle Farm... only six months along ... is still very much a work in progress and you would expect the track to improve with more racing.
For now though it is what it is and, even if conditions are not ideal at this stage, it is good to have it back on the schedule!
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