Byrne Suspended Again

Saturday, 06 August 2011 07:15

Jockey Jim Byrne fell foul of Racing Queensland stewards for the second time in four days when he was suspended at Doomben on Saturday.

Byrne was outed for seven meetings after being found guilty of allowing his winning mount Solzhenitsyn to shift in causing interference to Troopingthecolour in Saturday's Micropower Integrated Business Solutions Handicap (1350m).

Byrne, who ride a winning double on Saturday, was also suspended for seven meetings for careless riding at Eagle Farm on Wednesday.

He was found guilty on that occasion of allowing his mount Karma Force to shift in passing the 700 metres in the Cellarbrations Maiden Plate (1000m).

Byrne's suspensions will start on Thursday and conclude on September 1.

Hansen Guilty At Bicarb Inquiry

Thursday, 04 August 2011 07:45

Racing Queensland stewards will reconvene an inquiry next week to determine a penalty for Caloundra trainer Darryl Hansen after he was found guilty at an inquiry into a swab irregularity returned by Mackay Cup winner Hussonator.

Hussonator returned a pre-race sample positive to an elevated level of TCO2 (bicarb) prior to the mare's win in the Mackay Cup (1800m) on July 9.

Racing Queensland chief steward Wade Birch said Hussonator's TCO2 sample was above the normal threshold and Hansen was subsequently found guilty of presenting the mare at a race meeting with a high bicarb reading when stewards opened an inquiry on Thursday.

Hansen pleaded not guilty and the inquiry was adjourned until Monday to allow him time to make submissions in relation to any penalty.

Hussonator was disqualified from the Mackay Cup, making Shooting Scene the winner of the north Queensland feature with Old Mates Act second and Captain Biggles third.

Hansen is also due to front another inquiry next Thursday after his star sprinter Essington returned a positive swab following his win in the Newmarket Handicap at Rockhampton on June 23.

Fantastic Blue One Step Away From Cup

Saturday, 06 August 2011 05:15

Underrated stayer Fantastic Blue may have earned himself an interstate trip for the Group Three Newcastle Cup following his commanding win at Doomben.

Fantastic Blue, ridden by reigning champion Chris Munce, had too much class for his opposition, downing Warrior Within by two lengths in Saturday's Liftronic - Elevators & Escalators Handicap (2200m).

Drumshanbo was only a nose away third.

Veteran trainer Paul Nolan has never ventured further south than Lismore with a horse during his long career and is excited about Fantastic Blue's prospects for the Newcastle Cup (2350m) on September 15.

"The only horse I've taken interstate was Laurie's Folly who won the big $20,000 maiden (at Lismore in 2002)," he said.

"I'll give this bloke another run here in Brisbane in two weeks and if he wins that he'll go down for the Newcastle Cup."

Nolan was keen to talk with Munce immediately after the race to see if Fantastic Blue was worthy of a trip interstate.

"He'll need to take the next step but if he can improve a little the Newcastle Cup isn't beyond him," Munce said.

"It was a good effort to win like he did, especially when he had to break 34 seconds (for the last 600m) to do it.

"He relaxed so well during the race and I knew Glen Colless was following me on Work The Room at the 600 metres waiting to pounce.

"Mathematically he had to run a good final 600 metres to win and he did just that."

Fantastic Blue showed he was a stayer of above-average ability last campaign when he won twice at Doomben in February, giving Nolan hope he could emerge as a genuine winter carnival contender.

Nolan immediately pencilled in a Group Two Brisbane Cup for Fantastic Blue but the then four-year-old ended his autumn campaign with a disappointing seventh in the Listed Toowoomba Cup (2100m) in March.

"I made the mistake of running him on a heavy track at Eagle Farm before he failed in the Toowoomba Cup," Nolan said.

"It killed him andit meant he had to have longer out in the paddock."

Nolan hoped to have Fantastic Blue back in time for last month's Listed Grafton Cup (2300m) but time once again beat him.

Trainer Bruce Hill was delighted with the performance from Grafton Cup winner Warrior Within who will also chase the Newcastle Cup.

"I thought it was a terrific run considering it was his first run in three weeks," Hill said.

Hill is also considering the Group One Metropolitan (2400m) at Randwick on October 1 with Warrior Within.

The six-year-old will be accompanied to Sydney by stablemate Startsmeup who will be entered for the Group Two Warwick Stakes (1400m) at Warwick Farm on August 20.

Munce And Nolan Back Together

Thursday, 04 August 2011 04:15

Jockey Chris Munce will turn the clock back almost a decade when he reunites with veteran Toowoomba trainer Paul Nolan on Fantastic Blue at Doomben.

Munce, who claimed Brisbane's riding honours last season, hasn't ridden for Nolan since Mister Omega finished 12th in the Group Three BTC Sprint at Doomben in May 2002.

"Mister Omega had just smashed the course record at Doomben, which he held for five years, and I wanted Chris to ride him in the Lightning but he said the horse wasn't up to it," Nolan said.

Matthew Dracos replaced Munce on Mister Omega who finished seventh to Alpine Express in the Listed Lightning Handicap at Eagle Farm that year.

Nolan is confident Fantastic Blue can rediscover his best form in Saturday's Liftronic - Elevators & Escalators Handicap (2200m) after missing the Brisbane winter carnival.

"In my opinion only bad luck will beat him and he'll be very hard to beat," Nolan said.

"His work this morning was the best he's ever done and he did it in heavy shoes."

Nolan pencilled in a Group Two Brisbane Cup campaign for Fantastic Blue after the gelding won twice at Doomben in February before the five-year-old ended his autumn campaign with a disappointing seventh in the Listed Toowoomba Cup (2100m) in March.

"In hindsight I shouldn't have gone to the Toowoomba Cup but we're all generals after the event," Nolan said.

"I made the mistake of running him on a heavy track at Eagle Farm the previous start and it killed him.

"The races were called off after that race."

Nolan's Brisbane Cup plans were derailed when Fantastic Blue needed a longer spell to recover from his torrid Toowoomba Cup run.

"Had he not been set for the Toowoomba Cup I wouldn't have started him and would have given him a break earlier to get ready for the winter," he said.

"I also had visions of the Grafton Cup with him but he wasn't ready to run 2300 metres at the time."

Fantastic Blue returned to winning form over 1625 metres at Toowoomba three starts back before Nolan was forced to drop him back in distance to 1500 metres at Eagle Farm on July 9.

"It was too short for him over 1500 metres when he ran sixth and he needed the run last start when I stepped him up to 2100 metres at Eagle Fram when he ran fourth," Nolan said.

Nolan has never taken a horse to Sydney but is keen to send Fantastic Blue south for the Group Three Newcastle Cup (2350m) on September 14.

"The only horse I've taken interstate was Laurie's Folly who won the big $20,000 maiden (at Lismore in 2002)," he said.

Munce Tips Good Future For The Inventor

Saturday, 06 August 2011 03:45

Jockey Chris Munce forecast a bright staying future for talented three-year-old The Inventor following his decisive victory at Doomben.

The Inventor stormed home from near the rear of the field to down Peppered Black by 1-1/4 lengths in Saturday's Ord Minnett Handicap (1630m).

Early leader Denwood filled the minor placing only a half-head away.

Trainer Bevan Laming missed the son of Danasinga's maiden victory as he was in Adelaide to saddle up three runners at Morphettville.

Laming's wife, Jenny, who owns The Inventor, was always hopeful of victory.

"Bevan said before he went away that he thought he had a good each-way chance," she said.

Munce believes the penny is yet to drop with The Inventor but once it does he'll emerge as a genuine stayer.

"He's probably not bred to stay but he'll run a lot further for sure," Munce said.

"He's a nice horse but he's not a racehorse just yet.

"He was switching on and off a lot during the run but he was very strong at the finish."

Munce said he was confident The Inventor would pick up the leaders soon after the gelding settled into his rhythm.

"When the penny drops with him you'll see a very good horse," he said.

Munce claimed his fourth Brisbane premiership last season and is already off to a flying start in the new racing season.

Runner-up Peppered Black looked to have every chance but was no match for The Inventor's powerful finish.

Snitzel Getting Ready To Sizzle

Thursday, 04 August 2011 03:37

Stakes winning two-year-old Hot Snitzel is set to be aimed at one of the Melbourne Cup Carnival’s feature sprint races.

The son of Snitzel has returned to Gerald Ryan’s Rosehill stables this week ahead of a preparation aimed squarely at the $500,000 Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) restricted to three-year-olds, scheduled for October 29 at Flemington.

Nominated for New South Wales 2yo Horse of the Year along with the Peter Snowden-trained pair of Sepoy and Helmet, Hot Snitzel raced nine times as a two-year-old, winning three times and placing on a further four occasions.

His biggest win to date came in the Group 2 BRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) at Eagle Farm on June 4 when securing victory by three lengths before finishing second in the Group 1 TJ Smith Classic (1600m) behind Benfica.

Hot Snitzel has accumulated over $450,000 in prizemoney.

Picture: Ross Stevenson

Bailey Has Reservations With Frozone

Friday, 05 August 2011 04:15

Every horse eventually finds its own level and that could be the case with Alan Bailey's gritty Gold Coast performer Frozone.

Bailey fears the handicapper may have caught up with Frozone who will carry equal topweight of 58 kilograms in Saturday's Next Byte Open Handicap (1630m).

The six-year-old carried only 53.5kg when successful in the Listed Centenary Classic Mile (1600m) at Eagle Farm on June 25.

Frozen was then taken to Sydney and carried 58kg when fourth to Hidden Gem over 1800 metres at Randwick before returning home to finish third with half a kilogram less in the Listed Tattersall's Mile (1600m) at Eagle Farm last month.

The only positive in his two recent defeats was that the gelding drew favourable barriers on both occasions.

"I suppose you can't have it both ways with the weight and barriers," Bailey said.

"But it was disappointing to see him win with 53.5kg and then carry 58 kilos next start.

"Thankfully he drew good barriers in his last three runs but he would have had no chance had he drawn wide and had to drop back.

"He's a good competitor but I've got my reservations with him this time as he's got around the same weight as last start and he's looking for further now."

Bailey tries to find every way of beating the handicapping system and frequently heads interstate to chase better prizemoney.

"The way things are going at the moment a lot more trainers will be looking at going to Sydney for better prizemoney," he said.

Bailey's latest interstate ventures were successful when Glen Colless partnered God Bless Us to victory in a Maiden at Canterbury on Wednesday while Brave The Way won Thursday's Coffs Harbour Cup.

It was Colless' second Coffs Harbour Cup victory after landing his first aboard Sabre Luck in 1991.

Bailey hopes to send Frozone back south for the Listed Wyong Gold Cup (2100m) on September 2 and Group Three Newcastle Cup (2300m) on September 14.

"If he goes away I'll also nominate him for the Metropolitan," Bailey said.

The Group One Metropolitan (2400m) will be run at Randwick on October 1.

QRL Offered To Purchase Doomben

Thursday, 04 August 2011 00:27

There have been some questions from the industry in recent times about whether any offer or discussions were held to include the Brisbane Racing Club (BRC) in Racing Queensland Limited’s (RQL) Industry Infrastructure Plan.

For the record, the BRC were consulted with as part of the process of looking at the best use of all industry assets. In fact the former thoroughbred control board, Queensland Racing Limited (QRL), did make a generous offer to the BRC to purchase Doomben, which was subsequently rejected.

For the sake of clarity for the entire industry, the facts are as follows:

The former thoroughbred control board, QRL on February 17, 2010 commenced a series of meetings with BRC chairman, Mr Kevin Dixon to discuss the possibility of the thoroughbred industry purchasing Doomben outright for $40 million.

This was part of the process of evaluating the assets of the industry in preparation of the construction of the Industry Infrastructure Plan now being rolled out by the merged control body RQL and funded by the State Government’s tax redirection. 

The approach to the BRC to purchase Doomben with a practical plan was seen as a logical first step, as this was considered the best option for the industry and the BRC.

The detail of negotiations instigated by QRL and put to the BRC is summarised as follows:

• QRL would purchase Doomben for $40 million (value of Doomben as a racecourse).

• QRL would finance and build the on-course stables at Doomben.

• BRC would pay the cost of relocating the race day stalls adjacent to Hamden Street to a location east of the Doomben grandstand.

• The corner of Hamden Street and Nudgee Road would be developed and BRC and QRL would share equity of the profit.

• SEQEB transformer currently located in a position that hinders the BRC development at Eagle Farm would be relocated to a site at Doomben.  The land at Doomben would be transferred to SEQEB at no cost.

• QRL would operate the Doomben venue on a similar basis to Suncorp Stadium and race clubs including the BRC would lease or hire the facility to conduct race meetings.  This would allow other entities to form race clubs and race at Doomben.  As an example, BHP could form a proprietary race club, could be licensed and apply to conduct a race meeting.  This would give the industry an opportunity to have race meetings with increased prizemoney from a new opportunity of proprietary racing.  Tattersall’s Race Club would also have an alternative to Eagle Farm.

• Existing BRC members would automatically be members of the Doomben facility at no charge.  All existing BRC members rights would be preserved.  New members would become members of the facility and pay a nominal charge to be venue members.

• Doomben would have its own caterers.

• QRL would warrant that Doomben would remain a racecourse and training centre for 99 years.

QRL’s submission was for Doomben to be retained as a racing and training centre conducting mid-week meetings as well as two Saturdays that would include the Doomben 10000 meeting and one other carnival day. 

Doomben would remain a major training centre with the on course stables being built at Doomben rather than being situated in the centre of the Eagle Farm Racecourse.

A successful negotiation outcome would have:

• Allowed the BRC to bring forward the commencement of the development at Eagle Farm.

• The cash injection would have allowed the BRC to control its destiny without being beholden to a developer.

• The funds would allow the BRC to be better placed to secure a greater proportion of the development revenues and profits to return to the industry.

• Stabling at Doomben would allow maximum use of the site and free up more valuable real estate at Eagle Farm.

• QRL could free up Deagon for other uses or development for industry long term revenue streams by moving training to Doomben.

• QRL could relocate its headquarters from Deagon to Doomben and make use of the excess grandstand space.

• The responsibility of maintaining Doomben would be taken away from the BRC would have enhanced the BRC profitability.

The negotiations on material matters was agreed ‘in-principle’ however, the progression to an agreement was frustrated by one issue: BRC’s insistence that Doomben be leased back to the BRC for 99 years and the club hold the controlling entity.

The intent of the approach by QRL was not only to secure Doomben as a racing and training venue but to move away from the club control model and seek to introduce professional event management to the Queensland racing industry.

At the time, QRL considered that this would have been the catalyst of a significant change to how the industry was managed. 

The failure to reach agreement was disappointing but the control body could not be a party to handing over $40 million of industry funds to the BRC without giving the industry equity and a progressive new direction.

The suggestion that harness or greyhounds were considered as prospective tenants at Doomben was not considered in negotiations. 

The court case over Albion Park is unfortunate, but the best use of industry assets for the industry must be defended.

Harness and greyhound stakeholders have existed at Albion Park for many years however, the co-mingling of greyhounds and horses in the restricted land boundaries of Albion Park has always been the cause of friction. 

The greyhounds being confined to the inside of the harness track is less than satisfactory for stakeholders currently so far from the action.

The Industry Infrastructure Plan proposes a far superior outcome for both greyhounds and harness stakeholders at Deagon over the outdated confines of Albion Park. Deagon facilities will feature back to back trackside facilities. 

Harness stakeholders will have the 1400 metre track that they require to lift the profile of their code and greyhound stakeholders secure the large one turn track desperately required.  These new tracks and facilities are not possible at Albion Park due to land area and size.

The proposal for Albion Park as the future home of the prospective new rugby league applicant “The Brisbane Bombers” ticks all the boxes, complies with the Albion Park Neighbourhood Plan, addresses the flood issues, links Crosby Park through Alan Border Field as green space and provides a practical solution to the traffic problems of Kingsford Smith Drive and Albion.

RQL will continue to offer the industry progressive change.

Hill Stumped By Ratings System

Friday, 05 August 2011 03:15

It's fair to say Bruce Hill is not a huge fan of the handicapping system but he's still hopeful Grafton Cup winner Warrior Within can confirm an interstate trip by winning at Doomben.

Hill admits he was surprised when Warrior Within received topweight of 58 kilograms for Saturday's Liftronic - Elevators & Escalators Handicap (2200m).

Warrior Within received the same weight in a benchmark 85 at Rosehill last Saturday which Hill decided to bypass in favour of another Brisbane run before heading south.

"He got the same weight in a benchmark 85 in Sydney last week which was a bit harsh so I waited for this race which is an Open handicap and he gets the same weight again," Hill said.

"I can't understand it when he has a rating of 87 in Sydney and a rating of 93 in Queensland.

"I can't see how the ratings are different and he gets the same weight."

Hill is aiming Warrior Within for the Group Three Newcastle Cup (2300m) on September 14 and may extend his NSW campaign to include the Group One Metropolitan (2400m) at Randwick on October 1.

The six-year-old will be accompanied to Sydney by stablemate Startsmeup who will be entered for the Group Two Warwick Stakes (1400m) at Warwick Farm on August 20.

"If Startsmeup doesn't run in the weight-for-age race in Sydney there's a race worth $75,000 over 1300 metres at Eagle Farm three days before," Hill said.

Hill will send both Warrior Within and Startsmeup to Melbourne for the spring following their brief Sydney sojourn.

He is not concerned Warrior Within has already started 11 times this campaign ahead of a tough spring campaign.

"He's not a hard horse to train but he's very tough and it takes him about 10 runs to get fit," Hill said.

"It's just a matter of keeping him going once he's fit and he's done well since winning the Grafton Cup.

"He's a big doer and at one stage of this preparation we were working him twice a morning to get the condition off him."

Hill has earmarked a country Cups campaign for Warrior Within in Melbourne.

Despite his weight, Hill is confident Warrior Within can notch up win number 10 in his 46-start career.

"It's only a field of eight and he'll probably get back as usual but he won't be that far away," Hill said.

"I'm not sure how much speed is in the race but I hope there's a few there that can lead."

Bentley Cautious On Night Racing Plan

Thursday, 04 August 2011 00:21

Racing Queensland Limited (RQL) chairman Bob Bentley said a strong business case would be needed before night racing on the Gold Coast could even be considered.

“While I believe that the Gold Coast would be an ideal venue for night racing, the numbers have to be convincing given we already have two night venues operating in Queensland,” Mr Bentley said.

“Night racing on the Gold Coast would be expensive to run costing $7 million just to install lights.

“It’s a great idea but it would depend on a comprehensive business plan. RQL won’t rule anything in or out until we see such a plan.

“Any business plan put forward would have to take into account that there wouldn’t be any extra meetings, RQL financial assistance or extra prizemoney. That means there would be no Saturday meetings on the weeks when they wanted to race on Friday nights.

“Night racing has its issues as a betting medium and any new committee at the GCTC would need to mount a compelling case to convince RQL that night racing on the Gold Coast was feasible.”

Mr Bentley said Racing Queensland is responsible for developing a race date schedule that is in the best interests of all three codes of racing in Queensland.

“You can be rest assured that the RQL board will not be making any sudden decision in relation to this proposal and we remind clubs that they need to work within existing frameworks so RQL can keep the playing field fair,” he said.