PREDICTION: A legend of the track, horse trainer Jim Atkins. Source: The Courier-Mail
NEVER doubt the benefits of wisdom.
In early 2009, then doyen of Queensland horse trainers Jim Atkins said this about the Toowoomba Turf Club's decision to replace its grass track with a costly synthetic track: "It would be an absolute disaster if we lost this grass track. Racing here would be ruined."
Atkins said that six weeks short of his 93rd birthday. He didn't live to see his warning play out as Toowoomba Turf Club members voted this week - 200 to one - to return to grass racing.
In between has been a colossal waste of money and another episode of the failures of the previous state Labor government to pay attention to what was happening in Queensland. Taxpayers may not know the full story of the Toowoomba cushion track experiment but they should know the details and be alarmed at how millions of dollars can be squandered without sufficient oversight.
Taxpayers now effectively subside Toowoomba racing with millions of dollars each year because punters have walked away from betting on the club's events, destroying betting turnover returns, yet the costs have remained the same. At the same time, the much-heralded cushion track has become a maintenance problem. Unpopular former Racing Queensland Ltd chairman Bob Bentley insisted cushion tracks would save money compared to the upkeep of grass tracks. This has proven untrue because the cushion track faced being ripped up in two years after its lifespan of 15 years trimmed to six because of the heavy workload.
But, perhaps worst of all, a proud racing community was seriously affected by the loss of the grass track. Mr Atkins was right - some trainers and therefore owners, jockeys and stable staff left Toowoomba for other fields. The link that Toowoomba provided between the glamour of metropolitan racing and the passion of country racing was lost. A generation of horse owners who lived west of Toowoomba yet sent horses to trainers there, with the hopes of greater success in the city, has been lost. If their children return to the business, racing will be better for it.
This has been a tale of wasted millions, narrow vision and a chapter in why Governments should retain oversight of an industry when there is so much taxpayer money at stake. On the bright side, Toowoomba racing should be back on an upward curve when the grass racing returns late next year, funded by a package which has been well scrutinised by the new State Government.
Queensland is a vibrant state for the input of the regions away from the coast. Toowoomba and the wider Darling Downs are among those most cherished areas.
----------
Responsibility for election comment is taken by David Fagan, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld, 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND. (ACN 009 661 778). A full list of our editors and journalists, with contact details, is available at couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/ourstaff .
No comments:
Post a Comment