MY CALL: RACING IN QUEENSLAND HAS CAUSE FOR SATISFACTION. IT'S BEEN A GOOD THREE MONTHS

By David Fowler | Tuesday, July 17, 2018

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.

Racing in Queensland … note, not Racing Queensland … can feel well satisfied of results over the last three months.

And the play on words is not a hit on the controlling body as they have played a key role in some of the new concepts that have earmarked the respective Winter Carnivals.

But all stakeholders in all three codes can share in the success that has been Queensland racing this winter.

It can be argued that Queensland offers the best organised carnival package of any state.

A seamless transition from one code to the next at a time where there is no rival state to jostle for the national spotlight.

Carnival participation from those outside of the Queensland border was strong in all codes and that's a key yardstick in assessing the quality of the events.

And Racing Queensland backed winners such as the Battle Of The Bush in the thoroughbred code and the State Of Origin showdown at the greyhounds, simple but clever concepts that can only grow in stature next year.

And speaking of seamless transitions, the shift from south-East Queensland feature racing in May and June to the northern centres in July was also a step in the right direction.

While we're making serious inroads into the summer, Queensland racing owns the winter and that's right across the board.

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Some may have misunderstood the almost $5 million granted to South Australian racing as a result of their Point Of Comsumption tax.

That state has just completed its first year of the implementation of the 15% tax and the $5m was merely offsetting the losses the controlling body suffered because of its introduction.

This honoured a promise from the previous Labor Government that the industry would be no worse off because of the POC tax.

But, in effect, no new money goes to SA racing from the POC proceeds which was canvassed by all parties before it became a reality.

Just how much was raised from the POC tax hasn't been revealed but it wouldn't be earth shattering.

At the time of writing, there is still no news if the Queensland state government will extend any of the POC tax proceeds to the racing industry.

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Last week's column appraised the Four Corners program OFF TRACK relating to the Australian thoroughbred industry.

I outlined it as underwhelming but considered.

Many others in the media offered their thoughts and, fair to say, were a lot harsher in their assessment.

And that's their right, but some went further and were dismissive, even abusive, of Four Corners generally.

A long hard look in the mirror wouldn't go astray with some of them.

They'd be lucky to get a foot in the door of the Four Corners building.

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We wrote on June 19 that there might be another mountain to climb alongside The Everest on October 13.

The story broke on the weekend that a $1 million race named The Kosciuszko will be run and cater for country gallopers.

Details will be unveiled tomorrow but the other striking feature to be announced will be the public involvement in the ownership of the runners,

Mark my words, it's a great initiative.

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