Mark Staines wrote:
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Well Mick at least they are being used for racing !!!!!
The NSW GBOTA own Appin a great straight track that has been nothing more than a trial track for years now !!!!
The NSW GBOTA were telling participants that racing will return but nothing has happened, now that there infamous CEO has moved on i hope the best straight track in OZ gets utilised as a race track again !!!
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Mark, In both cases GRA stood by while GBOTA (Appin) and NCA (Wyong) did their own fiddling with the industry's future and told GRA where to sign. At the same time, NCA dumped on Singleton as well so as to create their magic answer to financial troubles via Newcastle and their exit from Wenty. Singleton was hardly the smartest set-up in the world but it had a keen mob pushing things along; it was in the middle of a population with huge average weekly earnings (mining); and it was a (TAB) focal point for a big portion of the state. Very sad. All that followed GRA refusal to get involved in the trainers' strike at Beaumont Park, its decline of the offer to purchase Beaumont Park cheaply ($3m) and, earlier, its disinterest in how SKY passed out goodies in the form of racing dates/coverage across the Hunter. Even the Cessnock v Maitland argument was generated by the Minister, not GRA. In exchange, we got The Gardens which is technically a second rate layout with engineering problems and which is now in its third rebirth. And no straight tracks. The absence of those straight tracks (aside from trialling) denies many the opportunity of using such facilities for dogs returning from injury, getting fitter for longer races, or being able to race on a track which better suits their habits. In total, it demonstrates the inability of the three organisations to look past their noses and fashion a future which suits the industry and not just their personal wishes. And that's without counting the millions of dollars thrown away to pursue imaginary targets or to gain new customers and higher turnover. If any further proof were needed, the massive success of Healesville operations shows what might have been done. Even Capalaba (which is terribly located, flood-wise) emphasises the point. All this illustrates the farcical nature of GRNSW' appeal to clubs to phone up and let them know if they want to build a straight track - an idea supposedly prompted by UTS (It did not actually do that but simply suggested that injuries would be lower on straight tracks). The incongruous aspect of that is why GRNSW had to ask that question. Why didn't they know the answer already? Are they not the state managers? As a small aside, note that the centre of Sydney population, and therefore potential customers, is moving closer and closer to Appin. It will soon have its own airport, too.
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