MY CALL: RUN OF AVOIDABLE, EMBARRASSING ERRORS CONTINUES. IS ANYONE EVER HELD ACCOUNTABLE?
By David Fowler | Tuesday, May 14, 2019
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.
Avoidable errors are casting a pall over the Queensland racing product.
It was a double whammy on the weekend.
The racing presented at Doomben was brilliant on all fronts, the start of five Saturdays hosted by the Brisbane Racing Club.
Not a skerrick of bad publicity could mask a positive coverage of the day.
But it didn’t take long.
Only a few hours later a Toowoomba winner carried the wrong saddlecloth.
And around the same time, the brand new mobile starting barrier broke down at Albion Park.
That can happen but a back-up mobile supposed to be trackside wasn’t.
Social media’s presence ensured both episodes were given a strong airing and it’s no use complaining about it.
It’s the nature of the beast.
In the space of two months there has been a wrong horse run in Rockhampton, the wrong placings paid out on in Toowoomba, an incorrectly licenced jockey at Ipswich (winner) and a wrong saddlecloth at Toowoomba (winner).
These blunders can’t be excused.
How many sets of eyes either directly or indirectly responsible passed over these glaring errors.
The ultimate buck each time stops with the stewards’ panel.
We keep hearing inquiries are or will be opened to apportion blame but does anyone ever cop the cane?
And who is there to wield the cane?
Is anyone accountable?
Media are often accused of launching unfair broadsides … but not this time.
Racing in Queensland over the next two months in the three codes will see unprecedented participation from interstate and New Zealand.
It would be hoped these embarrassing administrative blunders have finally ground to a halt to allow the excitement of the racetrack to hold centre stage.
But don’t put money on it.
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