Like anything that is 145 years old, the Eagle Farm course proper is surely long overdue to be dug up and get some fresh soil and turf laid and there's no time like the present. The track is set to cop another 52 meetings next racing season. Even Track Manager Bill Shuck acknowledges that "Doomben is a different proposition (to Eagle Farm) because it is a lot newer", but no one in authority does one solitary thing about it except constantly allowing the band-aid treatment to continue.

It is just a simple fact that death must follow life and to that end nothing is exempt from the life then death scenario. To equate that into racing parlance every champion racehorse gallops off into the sunset at some point, even though their memory will remain long after they are gone. Every punter, trainer, owner or jockey ever born will meet the same fate eventually. How is it then, that when a racetrack course proper is in its death throes - we all choose to look the other way? Probably I guess because if we look at the problem squarely in the eye it becomes a very costly exercise to do anything about it.

After watching last Saturday’s Eagle Farm meeting, it’s just a simple no brainer if you call a spade a spade and not a shovel, that the old girl is in desperate need to have some money spent on her. Why is it a “no brainer”? Well the track at acceptance time last Wednesday morning was rated as a “dead 4”. Come Race 8 last Saturday afternoon, which jumped at 4.22pm, at an important meeting that featured a Group 1 race, namely the Tattersall’s Tiara, as well as four other black type races, the track was still rated as a “dead 4”. That is, as I wrote yesterday, “an absolute and utter disgrace”, as that means that after three-and-a-half days of fine weather, with not so much as one drop of rain that the Eagle Farm track could not dry out so much as one increment in the 10-tier track rating scale. For the benefit of readers who don’t live in Brisbane or surrounds, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week were what I would describe as “absolutely glorious days, with the maximum in the low 20’s”, whilst Saturday was “an overcast day with a light breeze, with no rain, and a maximum of 20 degrees”. Amazingly at metropolitan tracks in both Sydney and Melbourne this year, stewards have upgraded the track rating up by four increments on a single race day, which defies belief, given the Eagle Farm experience of last Saturday which endured 3.5 days of fine weather - for no improvement as stated earlier.

Then unless one was holding on to a Labrador in one hand and a white cane in the other, they could see the amount of fill that was getting flicked up at the meeting, so there was obviously a good deal of fill in the track, understandably the result of past Eagle Farm Carnival meetings – and with that amount of fill, I guess it was never ever going to get back to a genuine good 3 surface even if we’d had fine and sunny 30-degree days from last Wednesday.

Sky Channel racecaller Alan Thomas had the heebie-jeebies about the track after just two races had been run, noting it looked like backmarkers couldn’t get into the race. Experienced jockey Damien Oliver told a stewards inquiry into the poor run of the well fancied Soft Sand in the Group 1 Tattersall’s Tiara that “the pattern of racing today advantaged racing up on the speed”. It was further noted in the stewards’ report on the same horse that “Trainer C. Little concurred with the comments of D. Oliver in respect of the inability of horses to make ground”. Believe me that statement of Oliver’s to stewards was very complimentary compared to what he had to say later within earshot of a certain media person, but his comment will thankfully never get to see the light of day. I’m a bit each way on that theory of Oliver and Little, as Jetset Lad came from a mile back to miss out narrowly and horses like Warrior Within had no problem making ground near the fence. It’s probably fair comment that horses had a problem coming wide and making ground, but that can happen if there is no speed on.

The sectional times break-up of the entire meeting tells me that there are only three possible scenarios to the day’s racing and they are A) the track was not a dead 4, B) almost every horse that won on the day is a slug, as on the day horses had problems running much better overall time than their slow extrapolated overall times, as their field passed by the 600-metre mark, or C) the track was worse from the 600 to the winning post than it was around the back as horses couldn’t run decent overall time to bless themselves, yet alleged class racehorses should still be able to run fast overall time on a dead 4 track.

Let’s look at all eight races to see how slow overall times were the order of the day on this supposed dead 4 track:

* race first split = overall distance minus 600 metres.

As you can see from the above, even fields that went out in slow first splits, like on-pace Race 2 winner (Howmuchdoyouloveme), or Open company Race 5 winner (Firebolt) had problems bettering their slow extrapolated first split. In the Group 1 Tattersall’s Tiara the first three at the 600, namely Red Tracer, Pear Tart and Skyerush ran three of the first four placings on the line and the entire field could not sprint home to bless itself – as these alleged Group 1 fillies and mares were on target to run 1.23.94 as the field went by the 600, yet only managed to stop the clock at 1.23.37, that time being nearly 20 lengths off the track record for the distance.

Many educated and well versed form students rated the Eagle Farm track as “slow” for the entire eight race card on Stradbroke day, 9 June, when it was officially rated as being a slow 6 for Race 1 before being upgraded to a dead 5 for the remainder of the card, so dead 4 last Saturday is questionable by the aforesaid times.

In the recently published May 2012 edition of Racing Queensland Magazine, Brisbane Racing Club Track Manager Bill Shuck featured in a story entitled “Shuck Continues Turf Tradition” written by Bernie Pramberg. Bill Shuck in that article acknowledged Eagle Farm “presents ongoing issues because of its longevity”, when he is quoted as saying “We’re dealing with a racetrack that is 145-years-old and there’s no text book that tells you how to treat tracks that old. You have to monitor it, feel it and nurse it.” In the article Bill Shuck goes on to state, “Once we get the race dates (52 times Eagle Farm will race in the upcoming 2012/2013 season) we set out our maintenance plan for the following year, but nature can play tricks. Wet weather, drought, turf diseases, grubs, mites, nematodes and everything in between can change things overnight.” He also tells Bernie Pramberg that Eagle Farm and Doomben – and he is the Track Manager at both – are chalk and cheese, by noting, “Doomben is a different proposition because it is a lot newer. Sometimes that is difficult for people to understand”.

What people need to understand is that the Eagle Farm track that was presented to the public last Saturday was no fault of any of the staff that work at the Brisbane Racing Club, but put simply, anything that is 145-years-old is surely going to need to be replaced at some point. As leader of the industry in Queensland, the controlling body, Racing Queensland, needs to lead from the front foot. We all accept that the Brisbane Racing Club and the previous Bentley regime all got on about as well as Germany and Russia did during the second World War, but this new Racing Queensland Board need to accept that the time has come for some millions of dollars to be spent on digging the current Eagle Farm course proper up – and starting from scratch again. That notion should be easy for the present Racing Queensland Chairman Kevin Dixon to comprehend, as he would surely need a Labrador and a white cane himself if he’s not acutely aware of the problems with the course proper at Eagle Farm - from not only last Saturday’s meeting - but from other issues that have beset the track in recent years when he was Chairman of the Brisbane Racing Club. In fact Kevin Dixon was Chairman of the Brisbane Racing Club on 9 November last year when jockeys approached stewards amid safety concerns during an Eagle Farm meeting, after a number of horses dipped in a depression in the track at the old 600-metre crossing and the meeting was delayed whilst staff moved the false rail, which was already positioned out 10.5 metres, thus allowing the meeting to continue, otherwise three races would have been lost that day.

Racing Queensland inherited a pool of over 100 million dollars to spend astutely across the three codes to improve the racing industry - and in the thoroughbred industry it’s simply a no brainer that the Eagle Farm course proper should take precedence over the recently mooted idea of reverting the current Toowoomba cushion track back to grass – as Eagle Farm has, and always will be, the flag-bearer track in this State. However it will cease to maintain that status into the future, unless someone spends some money on it – starting yesterday.

I can even help Racing Queensland with where much of the funding can come from to inject some new life into the Eagle Farm course proper. When Kevin Dixon assumed office he sent the Brisbane Racing Club (BRC) a cheque for close on a million dollars that he claimed former Chairman Bob Bentley had dudded the club out of. Had Bob Bentley still been in office that little windfall wouldn’t have beset the BRC, so that money could go to the track, then the $900,000 that Allan Reardon is to get paid in total over the next five years could also have been spent on a far more worthwhile purpose - like digging up the Eagle Farm course proper and giving the track staff something new to work with. There’s nearly $1.9 million there which would be a terrific start.             

If I were running Racing Queensland, the Eagle Farm course proper would be dug up as soon as Spring arrives and many of those 52 meetings in the next racing season allocated elsewhere and come the 2013 Winter Carnival Queensland could be truly proud of its signature racetrack.

“The future belongs to those who plan for it” is a well worn phrase that has stood the test of time - and it’s high time someone planned to do some extensive work on the Eagle Farm course proper. It’s funny also as we travel along the path of life how for some strange reason numerous people just cannot see the forest for the trees.

Today on the www.brisbaneracing.com.au website there is the first of two montages of photos from Eagle Farm last Saturday and Murwillumbah last Sunday. On www.sydneyracing.com.au David Clarkson is just back from the Royal Ascot Carnival and he's got some great stories and photos up on that website today, whilst on www.melbourneracing.com.au Matt Nicholls catches up with Queensland born apprentice rider Braidon Small who is now riding in Victoria and Braidon rode his first winner last Saturday - over the sticks at Casterton.