September 22, 2018
The three South Burnett race meetings that run in the October-December period will all be participating in one or two of the upcoming special series being staged on rural racecourses.
The South Burnett Race Club, Kumbia Race Club and Nanango Race Club will all host legs of the South East Country Racing Association’s Burnett To Beach series.
And Kumbia has rolled a double six, with its Cup also included in the Country Cups Challenge.
The Burnett to Beach series, which was previously run in 2001-03, is a points based contest with bonus prizes of $2,000, $5,000 and $3,000 respectively going to the leading jockey, the leading trainer across the eight events and the owners of the best performed horse.
The allocation of points is on a 3,2, and 1 basis for the trifecta horses.
The schedule is as follows : Eidsvold (October 6, Ratings 0-60, 1030m), Gayndah (October 13, BM 60,1200m), Wondai (October 20, $8,000 Roy and Glenis Radunz Wondai Cup, 1465m), Bundaberg (November 6, BM 60, 1380m), Kumbia (November 6, $8,500 Huston Motors Kumbia Cup,1400m), Mount Perry (November 17, BM 60, 1000m), Gympie (November 24, BM 60,1030m) and Nanango (December 2, $8,000, BM 65,1000m).
The Country Cups Challenge is a state-wide initiative that has the same format as the highly successful Battle Of The Bush.
Sixteen finalists will emerge from the eight districts for a $70,000 Final at Doomben on Saturday, December 1.
The selected south-east races are the Kumbia Cup and the $22,000 Gympie Cup on Cox Plate Day (October 27).
Other fixtures at Ewan, Tara, Blackall, Yeppoon, Innisfail, Cairns, Stanthorpe and Roma will also provide qualifiers.
Six Battle Of The Bush heat hosts – namely Bowen, Longreach, Cloncurry, Emerald, Mount Isa and Charleville – will get a crack at the Country Cups Challenge too.
Burrandowan and Monto are the two SECRA tracks to miss out on the 2018 round of special events.
Hopefully, there will be some features operating at the time of their 2019 meetings.
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Personally, I think the Burnett to Beach conditions and prize allocation could be improved by giving paramount consideration to the ultimate bill-payers.
Jockeys and trainers can earn points via the efforts of multiple runners whereas the owners’ points are not accumulative across their string.
They may start several candidates but in the final wash up, only their top points scorer matters.
A fairer structure could be the idea of four payouts of $2,500 each. The winners would be the leading jockey, leading trainer, owners of the top horse and owners whose horses amass the most points across the whole series.
Regular supporters such as Nanango’s Peter Jackson, who puts a good deal of money into buying a number of thoroughbreds, should be considered.
This “double” way gives chances to both small and large owning interests, and also broadens the appeal of the enterprise.
If this type of proposal has loopholes, the owner of the top horse should at least get the thicker slice of the bacon and not $2,000 less than the chief earner as it stands at present.
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Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!
Apparently jockey-trainer Michelle Payne both inflicted and endured some pain last weekend with her pre-race comment about the anticipated firmness of the Flemington surface.
Two relevant extracts from the Racing Victoria stewards report for September 15 and the official racing.com website reflect the dilemma:
“Licensed jockey Michelle Payne pleaded guilty to a charge of misconduct, the misconduct being that she used the term absolute bullshit when referring to the RV Track Preparation Policy on Twitter which was posted this morning. Michelle Payne was fined the sum of $300.”
Horse Actions:
- R3 – Theanswermyfriend, lame, veterinary clearance
- R4 – Crockett, lame, veterinary clearance
- R5 – Hey Doc, lame, veterinary clearance
- R5 – Rich Charm, lame, veterinary clearance
- R6 – Merriest, lame veterinary clearance
- R7 – Happy Clapper, bled both nostrils, suspended three months
- R8 – Native Soldier, lame, veterinary clearance
- R8 – Ef Troop, lame, veterinary clearance
- R9 – Mr Garcia (GB), lame, veterinary clearance
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Speaking on Racing.com pre-race, Payne said she was sympathetic for the predicament of Flemington track manager Liam O’Keeffe but believes tracks should be presented with sufficient give for feature race days.
Forecast rain missed Flemington on Saturday morning, which saw the track rated a Good 3 prior to the running of the first race.
“I feel for Liam O’Keefe the track manager because he’s under a lot of pressure,” Payne said.
“The rain was predicted but it didn’t come.
“Speaking to him before walking the track, he said it would be lovely if he had a policy in place where he watered whether it was going to rain or not just to cover himself.
“If he put five millimetres (of irrigation) on yesterday, this track would have been absolutely ideal for every horse out there today and we wouldn’t have a problem.”
Payne, who apologised to chief steward Robert Cram when pleading guilty to the misconduct charge on Saturday, was fined $500 in July after using Twitter to critique the racing surface at Sandown.”
At day’s end, eight horses pulled up lame at Flemington.
Wags could very well have suggested, in jest, that water was being saved for Werribee to ensure there is a giving surface for the internationals to work on.
It is times like these that the industry regrets that the late Bart Cummings is not around to deliver his gentle but ascerbic lines on these sorts of issues.
