Ratings to need real trackwork

SETTING aside the problems that have beset the new Eagle Farm, track ratings have become a hot topic of discussion in the past fortnight.

Is an early morning canter the solution? Punters have felt cheated the past fortnight with jockeys claiming the track was playing far worse than the official reading both weeks. Picture: Annette Dew

SETTING aside the problems that have beset the new Eagle Farm, track ratings have become a hot topic of discussion in the past fortnight, following the downgrading of Ipswich and conjecture over Eagle Farm’s Soft (5) assessment.

Gold Coast trainer Toby Edmonds said there was a simple fix.

“They should put a couple of horses over the track every morning before they give out the assessment,” he said.

“That’s the only way to truly tell.

‘‘See how the ground reacts to horses going over it.”

Edmonds said galloping horses on different sections of the track, which they did in the southern states, would allow assessors to make a far more accurate call of how the ground should be rated.

Punters have felt cheated the past fortnight with jockeys claiming the track was playing far worse than the official reading both weeks.

A Gold Coast trainer has suggested galloping horses on different sections of the track will allow assessors to make a far more accurate call of how the ground should be rated. Picture: Annette Dew

WALTERS GETS THE THUMBS UP

THE appointment of Max Walters to the new RQ board will be welcomed by frustrated Queensland punters, who again cried foul at the treatment handed to the Tiara meeting on Saturday.

Queensland racing is in a constant battle for airtime with the NSW provincial meeting and despite SKY sending its big-name presenters to Eagle Farm at the weekend, the general feeling was that we were dudded again.

Walters was a senior executive with the Seven Network for 26 years and is described as being a lifelong follower of all three codes of racing.

Walters joins chair Steve Wilson, deputy chair Sharon Dawson and Susannah George as independent board members, while Mark Sowerby has been named thoroughbred representative on the board.

The general feeling after Sunday’s announcement was that the Government had hit the right note with the new appointees.

Originally published as Ratings to need real trackwork