Racehorse TALK

Have had a look at the replays of those races.The state of the track does not seem to make any difference.

Good posts guys - am very interested in the sectional times angle.  I am still puzzled by the Cushion Track but for some reason am having a bit of luck there in finding winners, some of them at reasonable odds.

There also seem to be horses that are developing Cushion Track specialists - Heza Flashman, a handy horse anyway IMHO, comes to mind as does Bizante whose record suggests couldn't go a yard on anything else.  I think Real Grand may be another one.

Whilst there was a diabolical front runner's track on at least one, may be more, occasion(s) overall all horses including backmarkers seem to get their chance, more so than any other track in the SEQ catchment according to a smallish but indicative sample of races I did a while ago.  In contrast I have observed that fewer backmarkers are winning on the grass track in recent times. 

A leading trainer up there posited that maybe because some meetings are transferred to the cushion, there is less racing on the grass leading to a thicker covering of grass, making it harder for backmarkers to make up ground out wide (notwithstanding that the Crown has always been the best going there).

Coinswell, to my observations the cushion track favours horses and jockeys who are up near the speed in shorter distance races, 1000 1100 1200 but from 1400m beyond those that generally stay near the back and come hope late seem to do better.
I regard to turf track lately the rail has been out quite away and the crown is about 3 off the fence so those choosing the outside are off the the crown.

It LOOKS different Mick .....

but Beurre was beaten 1.5L on 9th May after being a bit held up with 57kg 65.28, then on the "wet" he gets beaten .3 with 54kg in 65.64 , the .4 variance in time can be attributed to the slightly faster tempo on 9May .... but on wet and dry grass tracks , there is a lot more than .4 variance anyhow !

Karalius wins on 9May running 65.29 beating What a Success by 1.8 ..... then on 23May (wet) runs 2nd in 65.64 when ridden by a lessor apprentice , beating What a Success by .2 (different jockeys, official results have the weights wrong)

I cold throw some more arguments at you , but I wont .............. nonetheless I am pretty keen to be shown the "facts" from Magic or someone else that is claiming the cushion is a faster track depending on conditions , and that wet makes for faster times ! ...... at this stage , I would have to say , that wet doesn't make for faster times , but they are able to run similar times to dry , which is comparitively "faster" than the wet and dry situation on grass .................... what an awful thought that they may actually have got the track right and it is actually an "all weather track" ............ doesn't that spoil all the fun of bagging the cushion concept !

I wonder how many people have a similar experience to me.
From my punting experience so far with the cushion track I have only had a handful of bets at Sunshine Coast since the cushion has been introduced. These bets were bets in the first few months of opening & a few tips that have been forwarded my way. Maybe 25 bets in total since cushion started operating.
The thing is I don't even bother looking to see what surface they are running on anymore. Whether grass or cushion, the Sunshine Coast is OFF my punting radar.

Comparing this to 2 years ago I would have bet regularly each week at Sunshine Coast, average 5 bets per meeting x 50 meetings is 250 bets for a year compared to 25.

What I think gets missed is punters are creatures of habit & that's where the Sunshine Coast would be struggling as people who don't like the cushion will probably not even know when the grass meetings are on anymore as they stop looking. 

Geez no wonder our "fearless leader" gets the big bucks with statements like that ! ..... What wisdom to determine they will break track records on a track never raced on before ! 

The final decision on the cushion track rests with us the punters.If we can spot a winner we will bet,if not,there are plenty of other venues.

true Mick ..... but unfortunately , a lot of "US" are halfwits ! .............. they will get adequate turnover eventually ..................... you only have to look at Australian casino and poker machine takings , and the Australian gambling dollar per capita compared to the rest of the world to justify my "halfwits" comment ........... Desperate Aussies will bet on 300% betting markets if it's the only way to get their "fix" !! ..... they'd bet on which horse would get to the end of a 50m swimming pool first if it were the only race on ! 

I agree Shaftesbury
I cannot believe the turnover on the first few races on the cushion of a Saturday.
It's obvious it's the drunks in pubs & clubs trying to get square.
However all of us are guilty of betting on races,simply because there was one about to jump.

yeah ......... "give em another beer" I say ...... the more uninformed desperates punting, the better ! .......... Unfortunately , those early cushion races are usually a joke to bet on , orelse we could benefit greatly from the "beer goggles" of others !

Don't be bracketting me in the "every race there is a winner" group ! ......... "If in doubt.... stay out" has served me fine for a long time ! ........... I often welcome bad betting races , gives me a chance to spend time with my kids , and not focus on the bloody nags ! 

Punting isn't compulsory Shaft

....... not when th eraces are crappy Gratlog .......... but it is compulsory to make sure they are crappy betting affairs before I walk away !! 

Well what can  you make of this? One minute Bentley says delivery of lighting will be delayed cause they were ordered too late (due to the stupid protesters)& now QR release that everything is on track for the Weetwood to be run by planned date & also at Night.
If they are fortunate enough to get track ready, there won't be much time for trialling horses on the track. 


MEDIA RELEASE
Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Weetwood Handicap to go ahead as scheduled
The Chairman of the Toowoomba Turf Club, Mr Neville Stewart, today announced that “despite recent media speculation, the Grand Opening of the Cushion Track at Clifford Park is proceeding as scheduled.”

“Contingency plans are in place in regards to lighting installation and the supply of light fittings for the Cushion Track course proper and the Weetwood Handicap and Toowoomba Cup will be proceeding as scheduled on 11 July 2009,” said Mr Stewart.

“The lighting contractors, Town Lighting & Electrical, have given Queensland Racing Limited, the Toowoomba Turf Club and the Toowoomba racing stakeholders a written assurance that the track lighting at Clifford Park will be operational by
30 June 2009 or 4 July 2009 at the latest.”

The Toowoomba Turf Club and Queensland Racing Limited look forward to this historical event of racing and the spectacle of the Weetwood Handicap and Toowoomba Cup being held on the Cushion Track under lights.

Noticed in Obi's The Ear column today a reference to "a spray" BB got in State Parliament  last week so as a public service in the interests of stakeholders I fished it out.

"Queensland Racing
Mr STEVENS (Mermaid Beach—LNP) (11.33 pm): It is with extreme disappointment that I have
to rise again in this House to highlight the failings of Queensland Racing to the racing industry that has
been on another wild goose chase led by its recalcitrant leader, ‘Cowboy’ Bob Bentley. I am particularly
disappointed because after my appointment as the shadow racing minister I rang Mr Bentley almost
three months ago to request a synopsis of the direction he saw Queensland Racing taking for the years
ahead, and he promised me a written expose on his vision for the direction of Queensland Racing.
Nothing has arrived.
At the time he had a written contract on the Wandam Park racing complex for somewhere in the
vicinity of $20 million of racing industry funds. I sought the details of the decision-making process behind
this left-field acquisition process for a new training facility for the racing industry in greenfield territory.
This is the fourth dream scheme that Bob Bentley has been involved with, following on from his very
unsuccessful supertrack at Wacol, his very expensive sell-off of Doomben proposal, his proposal for a
supertrack at the Gold Coast and now his failure at Wandam Park in the Beaudesert hinterland.
How much of valuable racing industry funds has been spent on these wild and fanciful failed QR
investigations? When will the message finally get through to QR that all the racing industry wants to do
is get on with the serious business of racing and stop the shadow sparring of the current board in
relation to dream schemes that come to nought after millions of dollars of racing industry funds are
spent on these reality aberrations?
I note that the $20 million the QR chairman said he would be chasing for an upgrade of the Gold
Coast Turf Club facilities is missing from the budget papers in terms of a government contribution. I
endorse the government’s decision to not put any money into the upgrade of the Gold Coast Turf Club
facilities until the Magic Millions company commits to a long-term contract for the conduct of this race on
the fabulous Gold Coast.
We will not be held hostage on the Gold Coast by some Sydney city, white-shoe-brigade spivs
who think they can bludgeon the Gold Coast Turf Club and the government into submission to extract
more money for their very successful enterprise, established not by them but by more Queensland
friendly breeding identities. The government currently puts $700,000 of taxpayers’ money directly into
the pockets of three of the richest people in Australia running the Magic Millions. I question the right of
those people to complain about the standard of their own saleyard facility when they are completely in
control of any upgrade they feel is appropriate to their own facility.
I await my report from the unelected, unanswerable chairman of Queensland Racing. In the
meantime, I am expecting to see sale proposals for Deagon, Cairns and possibly even his beloved
Ipswich. But I doubt even an unchallengeable ex-chairman of Ipswich Turf Club would be game to
proffer the sale of a Labor heartland icon such as the Ipswich Turf Club.
(Time expired)"



Don't think Singo and Gerry and co would be impressed with Stevo's description of them.

On the other hand I doubt if Bob would be perturbed by this "spray" he's used to it and has had a lot worse.

That's great Ray Stevens, for the rest of the year the training facilities at the Gold Coast are busting at the seams, but because you want to kick Singo and co in the arse, the whole joint just stands still. In my view Ray sounds just as childish as those he is critical of.