MY CALL: THE GOLD COAST TURF CLUB AND AQUIS FARM FORM A SIGNIFICANT PARTNERSHIP
By David Fowler | Tuesday, June 6, 2017
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.
In a busy news week, I’d nominate the teaming up of the Gold Coast Turf Club and Aquis Farm as the most significant.
Many of the negative persuasion would put the Eagle Farm track dramas front and centre. More of that later.
Make no mistake, this partnership is more than a shingle out the front with Aquis Park emblazoned on it.
The renaming of the track to Aquis Park is small change in the overall scheme of things.
Aquis Farm continues to surge in its own right yet it’s craftily latched on to a valuable partner.
Similarly, the Gold Coast club know Aquis is no shrinking violet and an immediate financial windfall is the short term icing on the cake.
They are far from unwilling bed partners. Power and money are central to the partnership.
But so is vision and I’m sure the potential for night racing is high on their agendas.
Let’s hope Racing Queensland can provide a comfortable passage and not be a road block on this issue.
If night racing has any toehold in Queensland’s racing future, the Gold Coast is certainly the venue.
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The team at Ipswich must have woken up on Saturday morning and hoped it wasn’t a dream!
A significant club, long starved of finance and attention, finally got the green light… insert $13 million here….for facility upgrades and commercial development.
There have been so many false starts and broken promises, they don't bear repeating.
Let’s hope the Eagle Farm situation doesn’t slow down the implementation of the infrastructure upgrade.
Ipswich fully understand their niche is to provide bread and butter racing.
But such a model severely strains the club’s financial position so their Cup day HAS to be a bobby dazzler.
A commercial joint venture paves the way for an important outside revenue stream.
The green light is on. Let’s hope the gates aren’t too slow to open.
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The Eagle Farm story was done and dusted as soon as last Monday’s decision was made to transfer to Doomben.
But some media just kept trudging on, hoping to keep the flame alight.
It’s over boys.
That aside, the post-closure process has to be swift and decisive.
The appointment of Dale Monteith to chair the an independent review is the first step.
Every day that passes is a day lost to the health of Queensland racing.
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Burning Front’s presence in the Stradbroke really interests me.
His form is impeccable, albeit the other way of going.
But his on-pace style, tigerish spirit and handy weight brings him into a Stradbroke not overloaded in the silk shirt department.
I reckon he’s got a really good chance.
Put it this way, how he’s at $21 fixed and Bonnie Oreilly is shorter at $15 amazes me.
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