Gold Coast sports identity reveals how he was left standing in his underwear and his six-figure betting win in our Q&A
Find out why a prominent Gold Coast sporting identity was left standing in his underwear in a car park, along with his brush with royalty and six-figure betting win, in this week’s Q&A.
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A prominent Gold Coast sporting identity has opened up about the most colourful times of his career in this week’s Q&A.
Chairman Brett Cook is one of the driving forces behind the success of the Gold Coast Turf Club. A hard-work ethic instilled as a child and good old bush toughness has prepared him to fight for what he thinks is fair, as State Government officials found out during the prizemoney distribution controversy.
You came on to the Gold Coast Turf Club board 11 years ago. How did that come about?
Two weeks before the close of nominations I didn’t have a nomination form in. I had no intentions of doing it. I was convinced to do it but I didn’t even have a suit that fitted me. I didn’t have a suit.
Is it fair to say you have been through a few suits since?
Two weeks after I was brought on to the board it was the Melbourne Cup so I wheeled out the same suit. Andrew Eggleston was on the board at the time and he was going over to Thailand on holiday after the meeting. I went to the function in the board room then over to one of the local bars at the club. I told him he would have to get me some suits in Thailand but I didn’t know my size. So at the end of the day I stripped off down to my jocks in the car park and gave the rest of my clothes to him and told him to go two sizes up on the suit I gave him. He came back with half-a-dozen suits for me. I had to drive home in my underwear.
You and Gold Coast Turf Club CEO Steve Lines work well together. What’s the secret to your successful working partnership?
One has to play good cop and the other has to play bad cop. One of us will see a political issue we have to deal with and one of us will run hard at it while the other comes in with the resolution. It works well. Steve (pictured) has worked with boards before and wanted to change things or move things forward fast and sometimes it’s hard for boards to get their head around it. The beauty of us working together is we have the same desires and we have been able to get things moving fast. The new $1 million betting ring happened when Steve came but it was part of our long-term planning and we were able to deliver it together. The ideas and groundwork have been there for years. When Steve came on board the groundwork had been done but we needed someone to get their hands dirty and get it done. We are just knocking things off one after another.
Y ou came from the bush. How did your love of racing come about?
I was brought up about 50 miles from Jandowae in the scrub. Our primary school had seven people. My old man worked in the timber industry in the sawmills. I was born in Jandowae when there was a population of 500. As a teenager I was always playing football and cricket but in the off-season it was all about racing. When I was 13 we were jumping in the car on a Saturday morning and going four or five hours to go to the races all over the joint. Dad was a big punter. We all loved it. Jandowae used to have seven race meetings a year, now there is one.
When did you make the move to the Gold Coast with your family?
I was 20. I’m 51 now. I had my first racehorse when I was 15. It was called Split The Wind and ran at Bell. We were all excited. It dropped the jockey and bolted on the way to the barriers. They went and got him and started him but it got beaten by 50 lengths.
I understand you didn’t own another for a while. What brought you back?
We bought a tried horse called Penalised for about $3500 when I was 21. It won and I was hooked. It took me four years to get my next winner. I have probably owned 50 horses by now. The biggest win I have had on the punt was a horse of mine called Snappy Show. It won a trial at Doomben by eight lengths. It ran 10th at Lismore and then we went to Murwillumbah second-up and at $13 we got heaps out of it. We each got six-figures back in winnings. It is still one of the biggest wins I’ve had. That was my best horse. It went into its next race in Brisbane at 80-1 and ran third. Unfortunately he got sick and passed away.
What interesting characters have you come across while chairman of the GCTC?
When I first became chairman I went to a Melbourne Cup and I met Prince Charles and Camilla. That was pretty cool. Not many people can say they have met royalty. They came up into our room and had a chat. You meet all the Prime Ministers and politicians. At Derby Day I was in the (Flemington) birdcage and then you come back here to Magic Millions and meet some more.
What is it like in the backrooms of board meetings at the GCTC?
I went to my first AGM and met everyone. We jumped in the elevated to go upstairs for a vote and as soon as the doors close it was on for young and old. They were all nice outside and then everyone piled in. We only went two levels but they had to work out who was going to be the chairman, deputy and treasurer and where their votes were going. It was an instant eye opener for me as to what happens behind closed doors and the politics of it all. I learnt a lot in that first meeting. It was the only opportunity for people to lobby for votes before they sit down formerly. There was a fierce dusty up that nearly came to blows.
Tell me about the day you were lined up in front of the stewards in some strife?
I wasn’t on the board at the time but we got hauled in by the stewards one day. One of my horses was running at the Gold Coast and it got knocked over and it flew home. One of the co-owners in the stands was kicking the tripod of one of the cameramen. We had to go into a stewards inquiry. That was nerve-racking.
Your family owns and operates Coastal Tipper Hire. How did that business venture start?
When I first came down to the Coast I didn’t have a job so the old man bought a 6m tipper and he was a subcontractor to a company. He conned me into buying a bobcat that I didn’t know how to drive. There was nine of us who relocated from the family and partners. We had $5000 between us. I spent every weekend learning how to drive the bobcat and then went around handing cards out to customers onsite. Dad had his tipper and I had a bobcat and then we finally joined forces and we built it up to what it is now. We have 250 people working for us now. It probably took me 18 months after arriving on the Gold Coast to get into it. We were based out of Nerang originally.
How much has that work ethic translated to what you have done in racing?
You do get a good work ethic. I used to go to school, finish and then go cart logs with the old man and my mum used to jump on the tractor. We have never been afraid of hard work. You flash forward to now and people think they are hard done by. I have done the hard yards. I just find society today people expect to get handouts. I stopped playing football when I started the business because you couldn’t afford to get hurt. I didn’t have work cover or insurance back then, I just went out and did it.
There have been so many state government changes that it must be hard to have any promises to the racing industry come through. How frustrating is that?
I have been on the board for about a decade and in that time we have had three state governments, different Racing Queensland chairmen, and seven racing ministers. That is where the problem is. There is too much instability in Racing Queensland boards and turnover of politicians to try to understand the business. They just haven’t been in the portfolio long enough to understand. The question has to be asked, why so many racing ministers have gone through the system.
The turf club owning its land at Bundall has been massive for its survival. How important has that been?
There was once a relocation on the table to Palm Meadows. The Labor Party were trying to get us to sell our land, relocate to Palm Meadows. But when we went down there we were only going to be a tenant. It’s exactly what happened to harness and greyhound racing down here at Parklands. If we went there we would have lost all ownership. Racing Queensland would have owned the land. The same as Stadiums Queensland own Metricon Stadium and can put the rent up. This club and land is owned by the members. We changed the constitution the first year I was here so the members have to vote to sell the land. There is more protection for the land because 80 per cent of the members wouldn’t vote for that.
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