Questions need to be asked, writes Jonny Turner.
We are barely into 2018 and the start of the year has been a disastrous one for the South Island thoroughbred racing fraternity.
One meeting abandoned, one meeting abandoned and rescheduled.
Of course, questions need to be asked about how this happened. But I hope they are the right ones.
I hope they do not involve the crucifying of the volunteer committees of country racing clubs.
I hope the questioning starts at the top.
For instance, what training, guidelines about irrigation and support does New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing offer race clubs and their track managers? Surely there must be resources for them. I think the disastrous start to the season has not revealed flaws in the skills of local track managers nearly as much as it has shown the brittle nature of the industry.
Trainers and jockeys go to race meetings to put food on their tables and bring hundreds of thousands of dollars in horseflesh to run at races which are effectively fuelled by the good will of volunteer racing club committees.
The model is not sustainable, especially with dwindling memberships.
What needs to happen?
What about investing in some support for these volunteer clubs?
What about putting some money into providing expertise and advice for clubs to tap into leading into their meetings?
There are experts out there in the field of turf, pasture and track management. But you are unlikely to find them retired in rural Otago, looking for something to do. You actually have to seek them out and pay for their expertise.
Why not have a South Island track manager who has a strong background in track and turf management — someone who can work with clubs as their racedays approach to help ensure the best possible racing surface is provided.
At the very least, why aren’t the expert track managers the industry already has — the ones who look after our biggest tracks — being paid to help country clubs prepare their surfaces?
Perhaps the most ironic part of all of this — and, believe me, nothing about cancelled meetings is funny at all — is that experts are brought in after the meeting to figure out what went wrong. Reports will be written and blame will be attributed.
But I think blame should have been handed out as soon as the Waikouaiti meeting was abandoned.
For me, it was a clear failing of the structure of South Island racing and a lack of investment in people and the facilities that underpin the industry — the industry that so many livelihoods depend on.
Why take so many chances?
That is one of the many questions I am asking and I intend to find the answers.
Happy trails.
