New Eagle Farm track passes first test with flying colours

MUHAMMAD Ali looked down upon Eagle Farm on Saturday with the raised eyebrow of a man not sure what to make of it all.

A crowd of more than 20,000 showed up for the reopening of Eagle Farm on Saturday. Picture: Jono Searle.

MUHAMMAD Ali looked down upon Eagle Farm on Saturday with the raised eyebrow of a man not sure what to make of it all.

As the great man was laid to rest in Louisville, most poignantly, a giant photo of a young Ali gazed down from the new Eagle Farm American sports bar high in the public stand. Ali’s slightly raised left eyebrow radiated the vibe that something different was happening.

It was indeed. There were seven television screens in the new bar and at one stage just two were showing racing.

On the others there were ice hockey, women’s golf and a multitude of other sports.

In bygone days the only issue for such bars would have been whether to give Bernborough, Rough Habit or Strawberry Road top billing in the photo stakes but they were nowhere to be seen.

They were squeezed out by Serena Williams and an old shot of baseballer Willie Mays.

Welcome to the new Eagle Farm, the track where racing is the big show, but no longer the whole show.

After a painful 22-month wait the Eagle has landed at last and the home of Queensland racing was back in business with a new track that looked a million dollars, cost much more and raced soundly.

Of course there were the occasional first day hiccups such as the fact that for several races the volume of the on course sound system seemed so low it was as if someone had told the volume controller not to wake the baby.

But these things pass.

Tanya Venzke, Miranda Witt, and Louise Morrison lap up the action at Eagle Farm. Picture: Tara Croser.

We are not talking about a one-off party here. We are talking about solid foundation laid that will hopefully support the industry for the next 50-years plus.

Eagle Farm is just four years younger than Queensland itself. It’s 63 years older than the Queen and, like Her Majesty, now seems quaintly old but quaintly modern all at once with a newly minted Buffering bar already popular.

Saturday was not the end of Eagle Farm’s journey but the start of it. Constant challenges and changes lie ahead.

When the Stradbroke Handicap field thundered past the 1000m mark they had nothing but a few giant trees outside the track for company.

The parade ring looked a picture at Eagle Farm on Saturday. Picture: Jono Searle

Soon they will have Saturday shoppers stocking up on their lettuce and veges at a yet-to-be-constructed Woolworths store as the thundering hooves rock past.

Then the horses will round the bend and have local residents watching from 1200 apartments that will shoot up like mushrooms over the next few years.

The challenge for Eagle Farm was to get the crowds back for all sort of things when no one is looking. Officials have aggressively budgeted for 70 weddings at the new track in the next financial year.

In ancient days they would not even have that many race meetings in a year. But the venue must be squeezed for all it is worth and with easy parking, great space, views and general feel it does not need much selling.

In a year when women’s sport has taken off in Australia it was fitting that Kiwi jockey Rosie Myers, knocked senseless in a fall last year, became the first woman to win the Brisbane Cup.

Rosie Myers claimed s slice of history with her win on Benzini in the Brisbane Cup.

Her win would have thrilled pioneers like Pam O’Neill and another Kiwi, Linda Jones, who showed incredible willpower to blaze the trail for female jockeys in Brisbane.

They campaigned against big odds to get a licence and even to get basic essentials such as a female change rooms.

Times are changing as so they must for, as the great Ali once said, “a man who views the world the same at 50 as at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.’’

Originally published as New Eagle Farm track passes first test with flying colours