FROM THE SHERIFF'S DESK: WINX THE HIGHLIGHT OF 2016

By John Schreck | Wednesday, December 28, 2016

John Schreck, a former Chief Steward in both Sydney and Hong Kong, has seen both the colourful and the dark sides of racing. His wealth of experience and his deep knowledge of racing matters across the board is unquestioned and the reputation he built as a racing ‘lawman’ remains firmly entrenched in racing’s history. Shreck’s personal blog, ‘From the Sheriff’s Desk', appears exclusively on HRO.

Another calendar year is all but in the record books and this time of year is often used for some reflection on the past as well as turning the focus to the future.

The highlight of 2016 on the Australian racing scene has to be the achievements of Winx.

She has to be the standout.

She is obviously an outstanding racehorse, well cared for by the stable and she created enormous interest whenever she raced.

She has sustained some sort of injury and it is to be hoped that she comes back well in the autumn. She brings added value to the sport and with her presence you can imagine the interest she will create when she comes back during the autumn in Sydney.

Irrespective of the international horses they might attract at that time those stories won’t compare with the level of interest expected to be generated by Winx if she is back and racing well.

To have a local superstar to attract people to the sport is always very important to the industry and Winx certainly fills that role.

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One of the disappointments of 2016 is how little progress has been made to improve the on-going disappointment at the length of time it is taking for authorities to hear and decide appeals.

My general observation is that the procedures, as they stand now, just delay things too much to the point where it is not fair to the participants, to the stewards or to the sport generally.

Decisions so far as judicial matters are concerned, as I have said so many times, should be handled quickly.

It is a simple objective and if the reality is not meeting that standard it really is something that needs to be looked at, sooner rather than later.

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As far as 2017 is concerned, my hope is that there will be more national harmonisation.

Why there is a difference between states in terms of how certain rules are worded and applied is sometimes very difficult to explain by way of logical argument.

You can understand it to a certain extent in places like Europe where there are different countries, speaking different languages ... but within the one nation you would think we would be able to get together on things!

So my overriding hope for 2017 is that we do just that.

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One of my biggest concerns for 2017, and what I believe to be one of the biggest problems the sport will face as an on-going venture, is the continued competition for the gambling dollar.

Whether racing can meet that competition head on will be interesting to see.

Racing will undoubtedly enjoy more glorious moments and will face some more testing times in 2017.

The truth is nobody knows what stories we will be writing about over the next twelve months and there has got to be an element of excitement in that.

I hope the 2017 treats you well.

Happy New Year everybody.

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