MY CALL: RACING FACING A POSSIBLE CALAMITY

By David Fowler | Tuesday, March 17, 2020

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.

The racing industry is staring stoically into the face of its greatest challenge in many decades.

While a public access ban has been universally adopted (although South Australia was slow to the table), that is not the end of the world.

To be frank, most punters don’t go to the races with evolving technology allowing them multiple options of betting away from the track.

This ban is seen as one of many steps to reduce the amount of gatherings which in turn can potentially slow the spread of Covid-19.

But racing, like other continuing mainstream sports, steps trepadaciously into each day, not totally certain of its short or long-term tenure.

It’s consistent with the story itself. Twists and turns every day with no clear end point.

A shut down would be devastating with jobs lost and racing’s revenue disappearing.

It presents considerably worse than the 2007 equine influenza crisis when only selected states and codes were sidelined.
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A shutdown scenario begs several questions.

Would an outbreak in one state force a national closure?

All states have been on a unity ticket so far. Would that bipartisanship continue? Would an outbreak in a certain code see the other two go out in sympathy?

These questions are hypothetical and let’s hope it stays in that realm of discussion.

But it’s the race clubs, their employees and their contractors that currently face the strongest dilemma.

Take the Brisbane Racing Club with their carnival poised to begin in late April and extend into mid June.

This is the precise time when food and beverage orders of a massive nature are made and infrastructure booked for the various major race days.

Many of these transactions can be non-refundable.

Do they or don’t they? It’s a decision of the trickiest proportions.

And looking further ahead, consider Ipswich Cup day and the Cairns Amateurs, events whose success relies heavily on major attendances.

Non-TAB country clubs also are confronted with the decision of proceeding with no attendance or scrapping the meeting entirely, for many their only fixture of the year.

And that’s only discussing Queensland.

And while one can sympathise with the various commercial plights of the clubs, the overarching grief extends to the casual workers who find themselves out of work with no public to cater for. Ditto for contractors whose product is unwanted in the present environment.

Challenging times is an understatement.

Make no mistake about it, a racing shutdown would be calamitous.

David Fowler