GALLOPERS PUNTING EDITORIALS

Synthetic Tracks - Mocking Serious Punters

If you look up the word Synthetic in your pocket dictionary, it is described as false, phony, counterfeit, artificial and mock. All seem extremely accurate descriptions of the deplorable synthetic tracks being dished up to punters in Australia in 2010. These manmade atrocities have left owners, trainers, jockeys and now punters shaking their heads in disbelief as to why more are being constructed and why more are even being planned.

Firstly let's look at the Synthetic track at Geelong in Victoria which has been in place for over 4 years now, however, it has not been raced on for almost two years due to major safety concerns. A most costly exercise for Racing Victoria with at this stage very little return.

Queensland Racing have so far built two Synthetic tracks, the first at the Sunshine Coast as a back up to their grass track, and the second at Toowoomba which completely replaced their grass track. In the name of saving the abandonment of meetings due to the affect of rain, these synthetic tracks do the job and allow meetings to be conducted so some form of revenue can be maintained.

Nevertheless, it must be said that field sizes plummet when meetings are conducted on these tracks. When we see a grass track meeting at the Sunshine Coast transferred to the Cushion Track, scratchings reduce field sizes dramatically. Meanwhile at Toowoomba, races are being deleted from programs due to insufficient acceptances. Earlier this year an entire meeting was abandoned because only 31 nominations were taken for the whole 7 race program.

So, why are trainers not wanting to race their horses on the Cushion tracks? Trainers have in fact left Toowoomba in droves since the Cushion track was built. Whereas over 800 horses were in work at Toowoomba prior to the Cushion Track, barely half that amount can be seen nowadays on a Thursday morning at fast work.

Facts are facts, trainers don't want to risk training or racing their horses on the cushion surface. Trainers claim the cushion tracks cause injury due to lack of "cushion". Trainers also claim the track gets so hot, especially in summer, it becomes quite a dangerous surface on which to race horses at full speed. Some trainers who are based at Toowoomba will not race their charges on the Cushion Track for fear of injury.

One trainer, who moved his horses to be trained away from Toowoomba when the Cushion Track was built, told Gallopers he would never race any of his horses at Toowoomba again. However, at the bequest of one of his owners, he entered a horse with more than average ability on the recent Cup day meeting simply so the owner could have a runner on the day. Much to the owners delight the horse won a minor race on the program, alas, it pulled up sore after the event and has had to spelled.

Jockeys also tell tales of debris being flicked up off the racing surface of the cushion tracks endangering the riders. Some jockeys even wear plastic visors to protect their head and face during the races.

Notwithstanding all these occupational health and safety issues, what about the poor punter. Some horses handle these Cushion tracks, others simply don't. Week in and week out we see horses who have excellent grass track form, suck punters in to putting their hard earned on them, only to see them flounder in the wake of a track specialist.

Week in and week out we see a horse who won easily on the Cushion track at its previous run, perform abysmally on the same surface the next week. We also see horses who perform poorly on grass tracks, turn their form around completely when they race on the Cushion Track. There appears to be little or no rhyme or reason to explain these massive form reversals. So once again, the poor old punter is left lamenting, disillusioned as to why he even bothers to have a bet.

Credibility & integrity, that is what punters want. Synthetic racing surfaces give punters no confidence on which to have a bet. If racing administrators want to increase turnover, then punters need to have confidence in the product being offered to them.

Okay, you supporters of the Cushion tracks will say why don't punters just back horses proven on the Cushion tracks. Well, let's face it, most punters are not well informed. They place their trust in racing administrators to dish them up fair even racing surfaces that give every horse a fair chance. A right to which I believe every punter is entitled. And how many form guides for a Toowoomba race meeting actually show the winning & place strike rates of horses on the cushion surface? Very few unless you seek out this information on an obscure web site on the internet. Some horses have never even raced on a synthetic surface, so punters have no idea before the race if the horse will handle it or not.

Cushion Tracks are an occupational, health and safety issue for horses who race on the surface and the jockeys who ride them.

Gallopers do not bet on Synthetic tracks, not just because of the safety issues, but simply because results show they are little more than lotteries and a punter would be better off using a blindfold and a pin. Punters are being mocked by racing officials who only want revenue from betting turnover. Ala, racing administrators seem to ignore the fact that turnover would increase with better racing surfaces and larger fields.

If someone described an object to you as false, counterfeit, phony or mock, would you invest your own money on it? Well, this is exactly how the dictionary describes the word synthetic, and this is exactly the type of surface racing administrators are asking punters on which to invest their dollars.

If racing administrators are hell bent on increasing their revenue via turnover, then the best way to do that is provide a fair, even, and safe racing surface for all players in our industry. Synthetic tracks do not fall into this category.

Consumers would not support a bakery that served mock cream when they obtain the real thing from another bakery next door. With so many options punters have to use their wagering dollar these days, the real thing for punters is all but a click of the mouse away.