FROM THE SHERIFF'S DESK: LEARNING FROM THE PAST WILL HELP CLEAR THE WAY MOVING FORWARD

By John Schreck | Wednesday, August 9, 2017

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. Schreck’s personal blog, ‘From the Sheriff’s Desk', appears exclusively on HRO.

The recently released Independent Report on the Eagle Farm track does two things. It shows the way forward and it references a catalogue of past errors which, over time, ultimately brought the track to its knees.

So there are two sides to this equation.

In the first instance there has to be enormous relief amongst stakeholders and enthusiasts in South East Queensland at the fact that the matter has now been addressed and that something has been done to sort it out. So, maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel and everybody certainly hopes that is the case.

On the other side of the coin, those stakeholders and enthusiasts are entitled to be very upset at having been let down by somebody ... or many people ... somewhere, to the extent that that they have been.

Nobody enjoys playing the blame game but in this case, as in all walks of life, senior executives ultimately have to accept responsibility for a poor outcome. They are the ones charged with running the organisation and overseeing strategy.

In the case of Eagle Farm, the amount of money spent there would not have been spent without specific approval. That approval would have come after examining the details of the work that was proposed and would have been signed off on the formal acceptance of the completed product.

There are plenty of red flags that should be acknowledged in terms of what occurred during that process so that, at very least, it can be ensured that an all mighty balls up of such proportions cannot happen again.

Of course we all prefer to move on to a brighter future than dwell in this dark place in which racing in Queensland has found itself in the recent years with the Eagle Farm track situation, but it would be wise to dwell just long enough to learn from the many lessons that this sorry episode has to offer.

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In theory though, racing in South East Queensland can now move forward with some relief, a dose of welcome optimism ... but also with a touch of trepidation.

Racegoers want specifics and stakeholders want certainty so I can understand the rush by Racing Queensland to set a date for when racing will resume at Eagle Farm, but announcing April 2018 as the month where Eagle Farm will be back on the racing schedule is a worry.

The timeframe between the proposed return to Eagle Farm and the stresses and strains from big fields that the track will be asked to cope with during the Winter Carnival is certainly not ideal. It is not going to give the track a lot of time to consolidate and when you throw in the unknown, possibly unsettled, weather conditions ... well, I think it is a bit like playing Russian roulette, isn’t it?

I would think that they would have to have everything go their way to be able to complete the work that is planned and then resume racing in April and then continue through the winter when the big races are on.

It really is a massive ask.

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Again, I can understand that they want to be getting back to Eagle Farm as quick as possible for all sorts of reasons, both practical and commercial.

It is headquarters and people like to bet there and, of course, there is the income from corporate boxes and the like.

It is to be hoped though that those considerations don’t outweigh the focus on getting the track right first and foremost because it doesn’t matter how good corporate boxes are, they are useless unless any races are being run at the track.

The track is a long term thing so if Racing Queensland and the Brisbane Racing Club have to put up with a little bit of pain for long term gain ... so be it.

If that is what is best, let that happen.

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As far as the budget for the proposed remedial work is concerned ... well Racing Queensland has reportedly estimated the work will come in at around about $1.2 million.

I’d be prepared to bet a $10 casket ticket that they can’t do it for $1.2 million. I believe that is just absolutely not possible and that figure will be shown to be a very, very optimistic one.

I’d bet long odds-on against that sort of budget being achieved.

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All of the above serves to show just how carefully the next steps need to be handled with regard to Eagle Farm in terms of the material used in the laying of the track, its maintenance strategy, its racing program and the budget.

The original work in all of these categories came in for criticism in the independent report.

The bottom line is there is just no more room for error.

Racing Queensland will be the Project Manager of the Eagle Farm project moving forward.

I sincerely wish them the best outcome.