THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - TRACK MANAGERS FACE REAL CHALLENGES ON A DAILY BASIS

By Graham Potter | Monday, June 19, 2017

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.

The on-going Eagle Farm track saga, now the subject of independent investigation, is an extreme case of a racing surface that has ‘gone wrong’ but for every race club out there track maintenance and management is a serious daily struggle.

It is no longer only the elements that test track manager’s skills as was once the case ... although the vagaries of the climate remain an obvious influence on proceedings ... but in today’s hectic race schedule the workload with its wave of runners has almost surpassed all else as the single most danger to smooth sailing.

The Sunshine Coast Turf Club’s track at Corbould Park is rated the best in South East Queensland by those who would know best ... the jockeys who race in the thick of the action ... and that has come about through the expertise of award winning track manager Murray Weeding and the sterling efforts of his staff.

Praise is certainly due there, but that rating does not make the track immune from the challenges faced everywhere else particularly when the club continues to pick up the slack when others tracks are given a ‘rest’.

While their helpfulness in accepting these extra meetings stands to their credit, there is also a downside to that equation with the greater workload effectively bringing the excessive ‘traffic’ problem into play.

The false rail position for the two meetings held at the track last week (the ‘add-on’ meeting on Wednesday and the scheduled meeting on Sunday) underline the delicate balance in managing the track to its best future advantage. On Wednesday the rail was out nine metres. On Sunday it was out a full eleven metres for the entire circuit.

While such decisions do complicate particular race day strategies for connections and often come up with a perceived track bias, track managers and racing authorities have little choice but to protect certain areas of the racing surface at different times ... as the Sunshine Coast is now doing in the lead-up to their Carnival meetings.

Yes the track does get a brief reprieve, being allowed a Sunday off before hosting Sunshine Coast's signature race-day on July 1, but the hard work behind the scenes will continue to prime the racing surface in that on-going search for the perfect track.

That is indeed a lofty ideal but, as we all know, whenever we start talking about producing a track which satisfies all trainers, jockeys and punters we are entering the realms of pure fantasy.