BROWNIE'S BLOG: REVAMPED SUMMER CARNIVAL AND COUNTRY HIGHWAY RACES ADD TO THE CONVERSATION

By Damian Browne | Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Brownie’s Blog is the weekly personal blog of multiple Group 1 winning jockey Damian Browne. This week Brownie welcomes the news that Eagle Farm will be back at its full race meeting capacity. He poses some questions with regard to the revamped Queensland Summer Carnival and he goes in to bat for the country trainers as we wait to see what the future holds for Country Highway races in Queensland. This is Brownie's Blog … exclusive to HRO

It is certainly good news that Eagle Farm has been given the all-clear to get back into full operation. With that announcement Eagle Farm will now be very much in play during the revamped Summer Carnival.

Obviously, the more Queensland Racing can depend on the Eagle Farm track … the better for everyone.

It presents advantages on several fronts. Doomben in particular, as well as some other tracks, will really appreciate any sort of letup they can have in terms of the workload that they had to deal with while Eagle Farm was, firstly, out of action and then slowly finding its way back to a healthy racing surface.

The Eagle Farm track also presents a very different option to runners than Doomben and I know there are a lot of trainers and connections, who have those types of horses who do better at Eagle Farm, who are very happy that the track is back … and we are, at last, ‘back to headquarters,’ as they say.

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The announcement of the Summer Carnival schedule incorporates several new features.

A new race … The Gateway, worth $250 000, will be contested on December 14. This is an interesting one for at least two reasons.

Firstly, the winner of the race will be exempt from the ballot for the 2020 Stradbroke which will still be all of six months away … and, secondly, the race is restricted to four-year-olds.

I would have to question both the six months in advance factor and the restriction to four-year-old criteria to be honest. Obviously, they have done that for a reason but I personally don’t see that the placing of the race and the conditions of the race are the right choices.

The $250 000 prize-money will be a tempting factor in its own right, so it should attract some southern trainers which, in part, I’m sure is the objective. They might still not bring the better type of horses though as these will probably make their own path naturally into the Stradbroke.

It must be realised that from the Summer Carnival to the Stradbroke, we are talking about two entirely different carnivals to the extent that with a Summer Carnival and a Winter Carnival, in general, the chances are you are probably looking at be two completely different types of horses.

The horse that wins The Gateway and is then aimed at the Stradbroke will have to go out for a spell … come back … whether it does come back … whether it can regain its form if it does come back … there are a lots of questions that are going to be asked and answered about it.

As everybody knows in this industry a day is a long time in racing … so how long is six months?

So, to me, with regard to getting into the Stradbroke this way it would be better suited to a race in the six weeks leading up to the Stradbroke itself … and as are as the for-year-old idea is concerned, the simple question would be … why the restriction?

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On a positive note, as far as I can tell, the first Queensland Country Highway race, which took place at Doomben last Saturday, was well received.

It should be noted, for example, that for the sake of that one race John Manzelmann had about seven runners on the day. Had that Highway race not been on he probably would not have brought any.

It’s a good thing to be able to get those trainers to come down here because they probably not going to bring just one horse that far.

I think it is a further to travel for them in Queensland than it is in New South Wales, who started the Country Highway concept and where it has proved a great success. The fact that it provides the country trainers with wider exposure and greater opportunity I think should be seen as a win situation for racing across the board.

You only have to look at how popular the race they had for the country trainers … the Battle Of The Bush Final … proved to be over the Carnival over the last couple of years to make a case for the Country Highway to continue.

It’s just been one Highway race here so far whereas in Sydney it is now almost a weekly occurrence. In truth, they were starting to put a couple of races on the Saturday program locally which you thought were probably Wednesday type races anyway … like those Class 3 Plates for lesser money.

There are Wednesday races for those horses so why not create something different. Surely creating something different should be part of any strategy used in promoting your product.

The only possible downside is that would make it one less opportunity for the Metropolitan trainers … but we are talking one race, at most, a week remember and I think there is enough opportunities in every other race for them.

Obviously, all of those country trainers and the connections of the horses involved enjoy coming down to the big smoke. Being happy to be here means they don’t just add to the numbers, they add to the atmosphere and they do that in a positive way with their attitude around the racetrack, so there is more upside than downside to having them come to town.

Add to that … and here Sydney is the perfect example … the fact that sometimes in Sydney when the fields are only six, seven or eight runners, the Highway field is usually a full field which means it should be a good betting race for the TAB, the club and the patrons.

So, you have got to take your hat off to Racing Queensland here.

They are being proactive, trying something different and not just sitting on their hands.

A review of turnover on the Country Highway will determine its future one way or the other but the hope has to be there that Queensland will be able to follow through on this concept and make it a regular feature in the racing schedule.

I can only see positive things coming from it.

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