The Winter Carnival is in full swing and once again the focus of the Australian racing industry is on Queensland. Spreading the feature racing to other venues due to the current closure of Eagle Farm has been a challenge, but with that a great opportunity for these other venues to showcase their facilities and benefit from the increased exposure. Toowoomba having a stand-alone Saturday metropolitan meeting was a great example of that and from the success of that meeting should ensure that continues in the future.
After recent instances where the acceptances for meetings have been delayed being published by RISA by up to nearly 2 hours, the ATA had a meeting with Racing Queensland. The major concern with this delay is trainers had been forced to nominate in other races as they were unaware of the status of their runners by the closure of nomination time for future meetings, i.e if they had drawn well or in some cases just made the field, they would not need to nominate for other races. RQ have committed to ensure this won't happen in the future, and where necessary they will publish the fields and draw etc without race numbers or times, as this information is what is the usual cause of the delays.
Our next quarterly meeting will be in June at the Hamilton Hotel, details of time and date will be in our next report. We are hopeful to have the new Racing Minister in attendance so as soon as a date can be arranged this will be advised. Please note only financial members will be able to attend, so if you are not currently a member now is a good time to do so. The strength of our association is in the weight of our numbers, so being a member and attendance where possible at our meetings, is a significant investment in our industry.
Communication is very important to the ATA , and here in Qld we do our best to ensure information is passed on as often as possible. Cameron sends regular emails and SMS with latest news and issues, if you are currently not receiving these emails or SMS please make us aware by contacting Cameron at the email or phone below.
THE WAYNE WILSON MEDAL
The 2015 Wayne Wilson Medal has been won for the month of April by Peter Balzen with his 2yo BIG TREE winning the Group 3 Ken Russell Memorial at the Gold Coast.
The colt by Snitzel out of the Octagonal mare Croft, was bred by Peter and his small group of owners and was having only his second race start. Peter has a small team based at the Gold Coast and always seems to have a handy horse in his stable.
Peter is now in the running for the 2015 Wayne Wilson Medal proudly supported by Tattsbet and Wimmers Soft Drinks.
The Wayne Wilson Medal 2015
August : John Manzelmann - PAYTEEVEE winning the Cairns and Townsville Cups.
September : Rob Heathcote - BUFFERING winning the Group 1 Moir Stakes at Mooney Valley.
October : Brian Wakefield - GRAYSON SQUARE winning 3 Metropolitan races in a row.
November : Helen Page - RUDY winning the Recognition Stakes at Doomben.
December : Rex Lipp - TINTO winning the Listed Bernborough Hcp at Toowoomba.
January : Darryl Hansen - LE CHEF winning the Magic Millions 2yo Classic at the Gold Coast.
February : Les Ross - ONE STANDOUT winning QTIS 2yo Hcp making it 9 2yo wins for the season so far.
March : Ray McCall - HE DON'T CARE winning 3 in a row and 4 from last 5 starts.
April : Peter Balzen - BIG TREE winning the Ken Russell Memorial at the Gold Coast.
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One of the major benefits of being a member of the ATA is having a support network to go to if you have problems or concerns. We can’t solve them all, but we will take your issue on board and try and negotiate on your behalf where we can. Whatever the problem contact us and we will at the least, point you in the right direction. If you are not a member yet, now is the right time to join. Call Cameron Partington on 0433-329-395 or email cam24.7@optusnet.com.au for further information about the Queensland Branch of the Australian Trainers Association.
