Gday Archie,
Was just reading through your stories from the weekend and wanted to confirm that it
definitely did rain in Muttaburra on Saturday morning, it was still raining at 7.30am when
they did the ring around. Two of the dirt roads into the town were also closed due to the
rain and have only opened up to 4WD's this morning.
The club got on the front foot and proactively rang the trainers to let them know that there
was no way they'd be racing Saturday with the amount of surface water on the track. In any
other year, the amount of rain they had probably would have made for a perfect track on
Sunday, but due to the ground being so saturated from the consistent rain this year already
everything is taking so much longer to dry out, especially being that black soil, which is a
nightmare when wet.
They are experiencing the problem in Longreach as well, and finding that the biggest problem
isn't the track when its rained, but more so the challenge of moving barriers and vehicles
around to different starts without ripping everything up if there was still moisture in the
ground. Thankfully they only got about 2-3mm on Friday evening - strangely the BOM didn't
report this either? But I can definitely confirm it rained - so the track there will be
perfect for racing on Saturday.
I a hundred % agree with you regarding the ridiculous re scheduling of races. But not only
that, look at the races they have given the Longreach club. A BM65 over 1000m, when there is
an open 1100m - same pool of horses - and an open 1400m when there is a BM65 over 1400m
already - again the same pool of horses. The amount of low rated horses that will most likely
miss a run again is going to be huge. Hopefully they are proactive with the splitting of any
races that are needed to be split.
Also, regarding your story about Kerrie McCracken, I'm led to believe that there is a huge
"watch this space" scenario going on with "conflicts of interests" and racing clubs,
particularly in the bush. There is mail going around that by the end of the year clubs will
no longer have to provide their own judges or photo finish operators, and that QRIC will be
providing their own. As you could imagine, it's hard to find anyone to work at these clubs
in the bush without any perceived "conflict of interest" in some form or another, otherwise
most of them would have no reason to attend these race meetings in a volunteer capacity or
be actively working to make these meetings go ahead.
Young Ethan Suli would often come out to many clubs in the west here during his cadetship,
he was a great steward in my opinion and a huge loss. I have heard that the reason he was
asked to move to Townsville or Brisbane, was actually because his Dad is a greyhound trainer,
and that they didn't want him "in the same region".
Some serious questions need to be asked about the Emerald Track..... I know 2 weeks ago they
were almost not going to race after a very small amount of rain 2 days prior, I believe it
was in the vicinity of 7mm. Probably not good enough for a grass track and "The home of OTB"
(On The Bit Racing).
Also, OTB has now been taken over by Neale Parry, of CQ Laundry fame. I believe that he was a
big Matt Peters man when OTB first started, because he owned the Irish pub in town, which is
where the kick on was for the first OTB awards.
Matt Peters sent a massive message to people recently saying that he is no longer involved
in the company now, blah blah blah. Guess who was filming at Tambo a week later? You guessed
it, his wife. Kristy Peters.
I am told that Matt Peters was sitting in the car in the carpark the whole day, too gutless
to even show his face. Matt is also sending regular emails to confirm race times to clubs on
behalf of OTB. Pretty good work for someone who claims not to be involved in the company,
isn't it? Never believe a bullshitter as they say out here in the bush, for all you get is
sprayed with manure.
You should come out to Jericho again one day. We have a new barmaid since you last visited.
I reckon you'd like her. She's in her fifties too.
Editors Note - Smart arse
