Brad Davidson looks at the big issues in Queensland racing

SHOULD Saturday’s washed out meeting at Eagle Farm have been transferred to yesterday or today?

Eagle Farm racecourse on Saturday. Picture: Grant Peters, Trackside Photography

SHOULD Saturday’s washed out meeting at Eagle Farm have been transferred to yesterday or today?

It’s a tough question and one that you could successfully answer either way.

Those in support of abandoning the meeting and transferring some races to other race days will insist postponing the meeting to Sunday or Monday would have been a disaster from a wagering perspective, not to mention the extreme difficulty logistically of rescheduling a race day at such short notice. For starters there was a race meeting at the Sunshine Coast yesterday to consider.

The decision not to postpone the meeting 24 or 48 hours also means Eagle Farm will be in prime condition for a now beefed up Super Saturday this weekend.

But those on the other side of the fence would argue that industry participants have a right to feel a tad frustrated.

The decision not to postpone the meeting a day or two has affected or ruined the plans for many horses.

Spare a thought for the connections of Archives and Redouble, who are both likely to miss the JJ Atkins, the last Group 1 for two-year-olds in Australia this season, because of the abandoned meeting.

Or those involved with Kaepernick, who will now be underdone in the Stradbroke if Team Hawkes decide to go that way.

Or the connections of Col ‘N’ Lil, who was a genuine chance of running at least a placing in a Group 2 race (Eagle Farm Cup), which would have added value to her future career as a broodmare.

Then there is the handful of Queensland Oaks runners who needed a wet track to be a genuine winning chance. Or the punters who spent hours studying the form for Saturday’s meeting or backed Provocative in the Queensland Derby thinking she would back up in that race.

The weather forecast on Saturday strongly predicted blue skies in Brisbane on Sunday and Monday and the state of the art drainage at Eagle Farm meant the track would have been safe to race on yesterday or today.

Yes, from a business point of view it made a lot of sense to abandon the meeting and most of the horses that would have raced at the postponed meeting would not have backed up in feature races on Stradbroke day anyway.

But did all those groups above impacted by the abandoned meeting deserve the chance to race on Sunday or Monday?

I believe so but some will argue otherwise and I can appreciate that as well.

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FOUR Group 1s, four Group 2s and two Listed races- that’s now the outlook for Stradbroke day after the Queensland Oaks and QTC Cup was moved to this Saturday.

Regardless of whether you agree with the move, it’s hard not to get excited by that line up.

We are potentially looking at an all Group 1 quaddie with the four Group 1s likely to run from races 7-10.

UBET should promote the quaddie heavily this week and even put up a guaranteed quaddie pool or a big jackpot.

Let’s just hope the punters rock up in numbers for the sake of the Brisbane Racing Club, who is expected to lose about $400,000 from Saturday’s washed out meeting.

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IT’S good to see Racing Queensland and UBET doing more to interact with punters.

A host of short videos from Racing Queensland and UBET featuring trainer and jockey interviews have found their way onto Twitter in recent weeks.

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WELL done to Racing Queensland for bringing forward the Saturday night meeting at Toowoomba to a twilight timeslot when Eagle Farm was abandoned.

This would have helped wagering and should be applauded.

I MIGHT change my mind yet but for what’s it’s worth my early tips for the four Group 1s this Saturday are Eschiele (Derby), Candika/Sacred Elixir (JJ Atkins), Azkadellia (Stradbroke) and Provocative (Oaks).