Turf club president left gobsmacked

Aerial Picture of Allman park Prior to Saturday's abandoned race meeting (Pic courtesy Warwick Turf club)

By Casey OÇonnor

The decision by Racing Queensland stewards to call off the eight-race Warwick Turf Club program on Saturday due to unsafe conditions has left Club President Barry Burgess disappointed, frustrated and angry.

“I was left gobsmacked,” Burgess said after the decision, which saw the event postponed until this Sunday.

“They (the Stewards) simply would not listen to anyone, citing a couple of patches on the track that appeared damp underneath and might become slippery after a couple of races.”

Burgess said at the time of the decision on Saturday, that there was no-one more concerned with the safety of horses and jockeys than those closely however he questioned the action of racing Queensland.

He said racing Queensland was well aware that the Allman Park track suffered damage in the recent flooding event and while the surface may not look pretty after being inundated and several recent frosts the track surface has been well managed by full time track manager Trevor Woodham. Woodham has 30 years industry experience working on various tracks in Queensland including a stint as manager of the Clifford Park track in Toowoomba.

Burgess said Woodham was confident in rating the track a very raceable soft six on Saturday.

Several locally trained horses galloped on the course proper on Wednesday and Woodham had taken Penetrometer readings of the surface from Wednesday onwards.

He said when Stewards arrived on course at 10.30am on Saturday, they inspected the track arbitrarily declaring it unfit or racing.

According to the president the two Stewards, one part time and one junior steward, recently transferred to Toowoomba, refused a request to allow a horse to gallop on the track and paid no attention to the penetrometer readings that had been taken.

He said local track knowledge seemed to count for naught and the opinions or voices of some very experienced local racing people on the committee were ignored.

With around 1000 patrons already on course and owners, trainers, horses, jockeys and bookmakers already travelling to Warwick, the President, Secretary and committee members were left to try and explain the situation to the general public on one of the club’s biggest meetings of the year.

While some of the Picnic Race Day festivities went ahead Mr Burgess estimates the cancellation has cost the club around $60,000.

With the meeting called off after the official scratching time 7.45am, trainers were reimbursed $400 and jockeys a losing ride fee by Racing Queensland.

The damage to the club’s standing in the racing community not so easy to measure according to Burgess.

Allman Park has been raised to a Tier Two racetrack, or Provincial course by Racing Queensland.

“All we want is a fair go and as a club to be treated with respect by Racing Queensland not a country outpost,” Burgess said.

On Sunday morning nine horses galloped on the track without incident.

Following an inspection of the track on Monday morning, the group of senior stewards rated the course a soft six giving Saturday’s abandoned race meeting the green light to proceed this Sunday. Fresh nominations have been called for the meeting. It will be interesting to see how many of last Saturday’s runners are among the new nominations.

Burgess confirmed he had made calls to Cameron Partington of the Trainers Association, Pam O’Neill from the Jockeys Association and 4TAB to explain what had happened so their members and the racing public could be informed.

Caroline Allardyce, a Lockyer Valley trainer, strongly voiced her disapproval in a letter to the Club. “My message from Racing Queensland arrived at 10.14am when I was 15 minutes into my journey,” the letter read.

“Racing Queensland published the last track rating update at 8am. This debacle is just another example of the alarming and poor state our industry is currently in. Barriers continually falling apart, lights going out, ambulances not booked, vets arriving without equipment, races cancelled at the last minute, tie up boxes falling apart or insufficient for number of acceptors, the list goes on and on. I sympathize with the committee.”

Burgess said the comments were not directed at problems at Allman Park rather racing in general.

Head to the Warwick Turf club’s Facebook page to read Allardyce’s full response to the club’s apology.

The president said members of the public who voiced their disappointment directly and on social media platforms must understand the decisions made on Saturday were beyond the control of the Warwick Turf club and are not a reflection on the club’s professionalism.

Racing Queensland were not available for a comment.