Well the cancellation of the races at Elwick on Sunday is nothing short of a disgrace! Not only do they have 2 tracks at Elwick it appears that neither of them were suitable or safe for racing on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday this week. So when will they be safe, and where is the Track Manager Neil Gardner?? Oh he’s away on holidays – how ridiculous when the Hobart Cup Carnival is about to commence next week. Or is it???? Perhaps Tas Racing should transfer it to Spreyton immediately to solve any problems and so Neil can rest easy on his holidays.
Word is that one of the state’s leading jockeys walked the track at least 24 hours prior to the meeting and declared it unsafe for racing – so why weren’t the races cancelled or better still transferred then, saving trainers and owners considerable time and expense travelling to Hobart? Increasingly more and more money is being spent on highly paid positions in Tas Racing so we have a well run industry and what happens – there are more ‘stuff ups’ than ever, and no one appears to want to shoulder the responsibility. Its not the first time this has happened – only 6 weeks ago trainers complained the track was rock hard and unsuitable for racing and many horses pulled up sore after running and had to be spelled. Oh it won’t happen again we were told ! It’s hardly surprising the industry feels disillusioned with Tas Racing and the Government who are responsible for this situation.
Good news now – if only dear old Bert Wicks was still alive to see the success of his breeding efforts. Yesterday METHUSELAH (3 year old gelding SAVOIRE VIVRE – DAZZLING VINTAGE) saluted over 2000m at ARARAT for Victorian trainer John McArdle. Having only his 3rd start METHUSELAH cruised away to win by over 5 lengths. Born and reared at Armidale Stud METHUSELAH was a lovely individual and sold to Redgum Racing, Victoria for $30,000 at the Magic Millions Tasmanian yearling sale.
The Hobart issue is out of control Geoff Harper was on Racing Ahead this morning calling for TASRACING heads to roll.
Bert was a great student of breeding glad to see he bred another winner and another winner to Australia’s best value stallion SAVOIRE VIVRE