MY CALL: PUNTERS NEED TO BE SHOWN MORE RESPECT
By David Fowler | Tuesday, July 11, 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.
I was bemused when I read an extract from the Ipswich stewards' report last Friday.
A similar statement also was listed on the Racing Queensland website "industry news" section.
And, by the way, I was there broadcasting the meeting.
In essence it said QRIC (stewards panel ) has consulted with Racing Queensland to change the distance of the last race from 1680m to 1350m because a section of the track between the 1600m and 1400m was unsafe.
Well that's just dandy. Did they consult with the punters who had bet on the race with the understanding it was 1680m not 1350m?
This is not a minor distance shift of, say, 100 metres. This is approaching 400 metres.
The race was also a leg of the QUADRELLA, treble and double.
And, in fairness, should wagering providers have instructed fresh betting on the race with the significant distance change?
Stewards can't control the weather so when a track surface deteriorates and the betting landscape changes it's an act of nature.
But this was a change of the betting landscape that was arbitrarily made with no respect to those investing their own monies on the race.
The race should have been abandoned and the stakemoney shared evenly with the participants.
This should never be allowed to happen again.
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A similar situation used to happen at the trots years ago.
When the mobile barrier was unsafe for racing, starts were switched to either "standing" or "moving" starts.
This totally altered the betting landscape. Sensibly, it was swiftly consigned to the dustbin.
Such overreach displayed last Friday should end up in the same space.
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The word "overreach" could be applied to the heading "Greedy Cash Grab" in the Sunday Mail racing section last weekend.
The short piece was critical of the BRC charging $5 admission for children to the Teddy Bears Picnic raceday.
What it failed to say was a large section of the admission collection was donated to the children's charity "Variety" and all the kids' entertainment was provided free of charge.
And the same page also said most trainers were disappointed with a $30,000 race being added to the Saturday program.
Am I to assume they would have been "more disappointed" if a $30,000 race had not been added to the Saturday schedule?
The concept includes an increase of prizemoney and an opportunity to increase turnover which ultimately yields a better result for potential stakemoney hikes.
Whether it's the best way to go is a debate for another place and time.
I note 27 nominations for the $30,000 race at the Sunshine Coast this Saturday.
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Sky Racing's Anthony Collins is a good caller but resilient as well.
Take this schedule for example.
Based at Warwick, he travelled to Grafton races last Thursday, headed to Tamworth trots last Friday before going back to Toowoomba for the Saturday twilight meet and then it was back to Grafton on Sunday.
Not bad!
And now it's Grafton tomorrow, Thursday and next Sunday !
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I'm looking forward to being at the Bundaberg Cup meet this Saturday.
Bundaberg was where I broadcast my first race publicly in November 1974 and I also called their first TAB meeting over a decade ago.
And Darren Weir will be the special guest at their Sportsmans' lunch on Friday.
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