Eagle Farm

[Ruby 160]

I have just watched the Queensland Minister for Racing on the ABC news here regarding the reopening after a 50 million upgrade. The facilities look great and she was saying the investment is hoped to bring bigger and better racing events to Qld. I haven't been in NZ for some time but wish that the powers that be can see what investment in the industry might bring for NZ racing rather than us being the supplier of great horses to Australia although with the stakes on offer here it is probably a better option to fly a good horse over. Congrats to all for their success today☺☺

[Trump 2,741]

All credit to the previous govt who got thrown out ! They provided the goods. The new Labour Govt has done their very best to f$&k it up !

[Memphis2 1,078]

Yep Labors fault

or Tony Mundines

[Trump 2,741]

The comments from the the Jockeys after the first race at EF confirmed that this is going to be a great track for the future. There wasn't the stupid bias ( like Doomben ) and horses can sit off the pace and come wide with the new camber. Look at Sacred Elixir's and Provocative's runs. Also the Straddie winner Under the Lourve. It's great to see the Farm back in action with not only a new track but upgraded facilities for patrons to enjoy. With 400 Stables being built inside the track, this is going to be great for racing - and don't the punters like being back at the Farm!! Seven days ago it was a H10 and it comes up a Good 4 for the big day! Good stuff !

Edited June 11, 2016 by Trump
Additional comment

[Ohokaman 5,854]

That's almost readable Trumpy....pretty amazing after the night you've probably had.....

[Trump 2,741]

Ohakason, I don't know anyone who has been hungover by indulging in French Champagne and quality Red Duck Curry! Certainly not me anyway. We had a great night and the kids have had their 2% put into their bank accounts  gotta keep the whanau happy eh?

[Midget 4,489]

1 hour ago, Trump said:

The comments from the the Jockeys after the first race at EF confirmed that this is going to be a great track for the future. There wasn't the stupid bias ( like Doomben ) and horses can sit off the pace and come wide with the new camber. Look at Sacred Elixir's and Provocative's runs. Also the Straddie winner Under the Lourve. It's great to see the Farm back in action with not only a new track but upgraded facilities for patrons to enjoy. With 400 Stables being built inside the track, this is going to be great for racing - and don't the punters like being back at the Farm!! Seven days ago it was a H10 and it comes up a Good 4 for the big day! Good stuff !

Under The Louvre is owned by Kiwis too. Paddy Harrison of Carpet one and Peter Kean, ex CEO of Lion Breweries.

Quite some day for team Kiwi huh.

[bloke 1,234]

15 hours ago, Trump said:

All credit to the previous govt who got thrown out ! They provided the goods. The new Labour Govt has done their very best to f$&k it up !

Yeh the previous Queensland Government got turfed out due to that " DIck Head"  Tony Abbot. He was Aussie's version of Cunliffe.

 

[hedley 1,900]

https://www.racenet.com.au/news/123851/Reality-check-%E2%80%93-Eagle-Farm-wasn't-all-it-was-cracked-up-to-be

 

There were lots of pats on the back for Eagle Farm on Saturday, but according to Australian racing expert Peter Lawrence ‘it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be’.

 

Lawrence writes, After two years waiting for the new track, everyone was falling over themselves to be positive. They wanted it to be a success. Reality was just a pesky nuisance when it came to reviewing the day’s events.

So let’s be honest here. The Eagle Farm track on Saturday was an unmitigated disaster and the course curator who made the decision to water the track on Thursday should be dismissed - Immediately.

What an incredibly inept decision after the track received two hundred mils of rain the week before.

I spoke to one of Australia’s leading jockeys since the meeting and they told me it was like riding on quicksand, particularly in the last half of the meeting.

That would be where the big races were, right? You know, the Group I races worth millions of dollars?

Officially rated a good (4), the track deteriorated markedly throughout the day.

By the last four races on the card, the four feature Group I events on Queensland’s biggest day, the results look like those expected on a heavy surface, with the times akin to slow at least.

Any form student who is serious about retrospective form analysis, knows that this meeting needs to be treated as if run on a heavy track.

And before anyone mentions the time for race four, it is a further embarrassment for the race club that they would even post such an obviously erroneous number.

Anyone with even the most basic understanding of times can see immediately that this time was incorrect by more than two seconds, both the official final figure and the last 600m sectional, even without checking the video.

But hey this is 2016 racing in Australia. Let’s not let a pesky thing like getting the timing right on a brand new track get in the way of putting on a party.

So let’s examine those four feature races of the day.

In the Group I JJ Atkins, only two horses finished within 6-1/2 lengths of the winner, with the field spread out over 42-3/4 lengths. The 1600m took 1.37.82. A good track.

To the Queensland Derby, where only three horses finished within 7-1/2 lengths of the winner with 34 lengths from first to last.

Incredibly in the Stradbroke, only two horses got within seven lengths of the winner with 25 lengths from first to last. This quality field barely managed to break 1.24 for the 1400m, so only three runners broke 1.25.

And then the crowning glory of the Queensland Oaks. Only three horses got within eleven lengths of the winner with the last horse seventy lengths away. More than half the field was beaten more than twenty lengths.

Before bookmaker and renowned form student Rob Waterhouse headed off overseas on holidays last Thursday he tweeted, "Eagle Farm a soft (5) but the course curator plans to water, he must be mad.”

A response came from Racing Queensland assuring everyone that the sun and wind would "soak it up” - It didn’t.

The result was a shambles after about four races as the track started to deteriorate, as all wet tracks do.

Racing is a multi-billion-dollar industry, put on by the punter. Without the punter, owners would race for ribbons and the price of horses would be three fifths of bugger all.

Yet here we have the biggest day in Queensland racing, ruined by a course manager who presents a seriously water affected track.

It’s a crazy situation that seriously defies belief.

Turnover drives prizemoney and for punters to bet they need to have confidence in the track.

In this last season we have seen Victoria Derby day destroyed by track bias.

Cox Plate Day a total joke because of track bias.

The lamentable Sydney Carnival at Randwick, run on a cow paddock despite tens of millions being spent on a new grandstand.

And now Stradbroke Handicap day ruined because the modern course curator just can’t stand to present a good track for racing. They are obsessed with tinkering with the surface.

Massive prizemoney is up for grabs, but in many cases a roulette wheel would serve just as well to decide the results on our feature racedays.

Anyone who puts a remotely positive spin on the Eagle Farm surface last Saturday is seriously deluded.

[Ohokaman 5,854]

Who cares Hedley....we got the money........

[Guest 2Admin2]

Given Provocative's run in the last I'm not sure that all his criticism is correct.

[rdytdy 5,343]

BRISBANE Racing Club officials have confirmed a state of the art timing system is still on track to be installed at Eagle Farm within the next month.

 

The news comes after problems were encountered with the timing of several races at the new Eagle Farm track on Saturday.

Sectional times expert Vince Accardi yesterday said the overall times were incorrect for four of the 10 races at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

According to Accardi, the overall time recorded in the Queensland Guineas was out by a whopping 2.77 seconds or 16.6 lengths (actual time- 1.36.90), while the Group 2 QTC Cup (1.17.80), Group 1 Queensland Derby (2.32.80) and Group 1 Queensland Oaks (2.32.68) were out by 0.57s, 0.46s and 0.51s respectively.

The last 600m figure for the Queensland Guineas (35.70) and QTC Cup (36.12) was also out by 2.6 seconds and 1.07 seconds respectively.

 

However, Accardi said the JJ Atkins overall time “was spot on”, while the overall Stradbroke time was also correct.

[Trump 2,741]

Peter Lawrence obviously had a bad day on the punt. If you look at the winners, they came from back, from middle and near the lead. There was no bias. Forget the times - that's all about tempo. Lawrence probably backed all the Aussie horses and didn't rate Benzini, Sacred Elixir and Provocative and is writing thru his pocket - a loser. He's a nobody journalist anyway. The track was welcomed by the jockeys and winners are grinners.