Stan Johnston (pictured) heads up Craiglea Stud at Kenilworth near Gympie. The fact that Stan and his trainer Peter Fleming can go to North Queensland and have eight of the nine starters in a two-year-old race last Tuesday shows just how pathetic the thorougbred industry is north of Gympie. Justracing plants two seeds that may germinate and help rejuvenate yearlings being sold to those areas. Others can come up with some other innovations that may help.

You know it strikes me as a pathetic indictment on the thoroughbred racing industry in Queensland when there must be hardly any 2YO’s in work north of Gympie.

That may seem a rash statement, but it must be true, as a week ago today Gympie trainer Peter Fleming and Craiglea Stud owner Stan Johnson jumped in a truck and took a load of nine horses, consisting of eight two-year-olds and one older horse, almost to the other end of Australia, way up to Townsville in North Queensland to a TAB race meeting. I’ll give you a hint – don’t try to walk from Gympie to Townsville, as it’s probably about a 13 or 14 hour trip – and that’s in a passenger car, if one abides by the speed limit.

So Peter Fleming and Stan Johnson finished up having eight of the nine runners in that 2YO race run last Tuesday that ironically Craiglea sponsored. Run under the name of the “Craiglea Stud QTIS 2YO Handicap” over 1000 metres, the race was worth $10,000 in total prizemoney with $6,500 for first, $2,000 for second, $1,000 for third and $500 for fourth. Add the “QTIS” part to the equation and suddenly if the placegetters are paid up for the QTIS incentive scheme the prizemoney gets tripled to $30,000 with first getting $20,500 second earning $6,000 third receiving $3,000 and fourth $500 – so an owner or trainer of a QTIS registered 2YO cannot possibly complain that “a lack of prizemoney” stops them investing in the thoroughbred industry, as that $30,000 is not too far short of minimum Saturday metropolitan prizemoney in Brisbane of $45,000 per race.

As has happened before at the Mackay track, at a TAB meeting, Craiglea Stud also got to keep the full complement of prizemoney when runners emanating from their eight starters ran the first four placings on the line. That effort made headlines all over Australia, as “qualified journalists” – sadly with no idea – all wrote it up as a great feat. In my humble opinion what they would have been far better off writing about would have been to ignite a debate on just how pathetic the thoroughbred industry is in the State of Queensland, when we don’t have any 2YO’s to run in races north of Gympie - unless they are owned by Craiglea Stud.

The only non-Craiglea runner in that Townsville race last Tuesday was Blufalo from the Trevor Rowe stable at Manoora in Cairns, so even that runner had to travel for some hours to get to the race meeting. Clocking in sixth of the nine starters sadly didn’t pay expenses for the day out by Trevor and Manoora, but then again if Peter and Stan hadn’t turned up, the race would have had to be abandoned, so he was in a no win situation. The make-up on that Townsville field therefore meant that not one 2YO from Townsville or surrounds accepted to run in the race. Given that the Townsville club has a long and proud history of annually running a top-line 2YO race called the Parry Nissan, surely to God there would have to be at least one 2YO in full work in one of Queensland's biggest cities?

Now don’t get me wrong here - there is absolutely nothing wrong with trainer Peter Fleming and owner Stan Johnson driving to the other end of Queensland and taking home all the prizemoney and it’s an accepted fact that Craiglea Stud has long been a wonderful and much needed sponsor to country racing in Queensland, so good luck to them, but I could mount a case to say that they even artificially stack the numbers of the race to make sure the race has a minimum of eight starters to ensure the QTIS component of the race is paid out, as in another twist to that Townsville race last Tuesday, bookmakers knew that four of the Craiglea runners were absolute brumbies, as four of the eight started officially at 80/1. To give you an idea how absurd that simple fact is – and how well schooled the on course bookmakers were to the distinct lack of talent of four of the Craiglea 2YO’s, in nine Brisbane races run at Doomben last Saturday, cumulatively containing some 111 runners, only three horses at the entire meeting started at 80/1 or longer.

So whilst everyone was obviously standing around after the race backslapping the trainer and the owner - wouldn’t it be far smarter business acumen if everyone just stood back and shook their head in disbelief at how the hell this pathetic scenario is allowed to unfold before our very eyes. Surely to Christ if we don’t have a healthy and vibrant industry of young 2YO’s coming through the ranks in the areas north of Gympie, where does the long term future of the thoroughbred industry lie in those areas – surely not via simply buying slow and/or broken down hacks from down south and trying to patch them up, or make them run faster - and getting a quid out of them?

What has happened to the millions of dollars that the Queensland Government, via its Events Corporation, gave to Gerry Harvey and John Singleton in recent years, when they jointly owned Magic Millions, with the specific purpose of those millions of dollars being “to promote the Queensland thoroughbred breeding industry” that I wrote of extensively just last month? Obviously that money has gone missing in action?

Has anyone at any level of the thoroughbred industry in Queensland – from 1) the governing body of Racing Queensland, to 2) the Magic Millions sales company whose core business last time I checked is to promote the sale of Queensland bred yearlings, to 3) major race clubs like Townsville, who are running these 2YO’s races, done any sort of research, or put out a questionnaire for owners and trainers to complete, so that going forward some sensible and specific strategies can be implemented so that the “Craiglea” horses can have some competition when they race north of Gympie?

As usual, I’ll won’t just sit here and fire a scud missile straight over the bow of the sinking ship - I’ll offer two constructive ideas that may help increase the ownership of yearlings north of Gympie - and other people who consider themselves to be a whole heap smarter that this “Dumbo” can come up with some other others. One idea would be to reimburse the floating costs of any yearling that is bought at any Gold Coast Magic Million sale, or a Brisbane Bloodstock sale that is to be trained north of Gympie. That idea would surely be an incentive for buyers in those areas, as when they buy a yearling at the sale then they have to quickly find another $1,000 to get their new purchase to Townsville or Cairns. The governing body of racing and/or the Breeders Association, could work together to pay for that idea - or the QTIS scheme could even be modified slightly to incorporate it. The new owner of the yearling would get reimbursed by simply signing a statutory declaration to the effect that the yearling they had purchased would eventually be trained by a specific trainer who is domiciled north of Gympie and in any event they would have a transport company tax invoice from the yearling being transported north. Members of the Breeders Association could all chip in a small amount of money to assist, as if they had a buoyant market for their product north of Gympie, their yearlings would attract higher bids than they do now anyway. A second incentive could be that the QTIS scheme was free to horses that were to be trained north of Gympie and say west of Dalby to get more young horses trained in these areas. Again, being admitted “free” to the QTIS scheme saves owners money - and in no way shows any bias, as horses trained in South East corner of the State have numerous QTIS races to contest.

Ken Ferres, Bookmakers Representative on the Southeast Queensland Country Racing  Association wished to have his say on this aforesaid issue as well and he wrote:

At the Townsville meeting on Tuesday January 31, race 3 was a QTIS two year old HCP. Of nine starters, eight came from the same stable and from the same owners. Well known owner Stan Johnston had sent a total of nine horses and trainer Peter Fleming on the more than 1000 km trek from Gympie for the meeting. In race 3, his horses ran 1,2,3,4. All were QTIS600 registered and so qualified for the maximum prize money of $30,000.

In the summer months in North Queensland, it is not unusual for trainers to spell horses. But even so, that a field could only attract one North Queensland two year old raises questions about the state of the industry in North Queensland. The incentive of QTIS prizemoney should encourage nominations. And while Stan had a couple of handy horses, there was no Black Caviar in the picture.

Last Tuesday’s race field indicates a problem: a lack of horses and owners in North Queensland. So for southern stables that make the journey north, the prospects of a win are good.  But the prospects for the local industry and stakeholders are not so bright. A decline in investment in young horses impacts on people such as horse breakers, farriers, veterinarians, track work riders, and jockeys. The long term impact could be a lost generation of racing service providers.

The QTIS scheme recognises the importance of investment in young horses, whether buying yearlings or breeding. Two year olds represent the future of the industry. While the incentive that QTIS provides is valuable, there are other factors in play here.

Small investors are unlikely to buy horses if opportunities to participate in racing are few and far between. In North Queensland in the last decade, local racing has been considerably reduced.Previously, weekly meetings were a regular occurrence on the country circuit. Those opportunities for North Queensland owners and breeders produced champions like Prince Hervey (Doomben 10,000 and Stradbroke placed), Dancing Report (Stradbroke placed) and Prince Lonely (some say the best NQ sprinter ever).

The thrill of seeing your horse race, and possibly win, at a local track is a key reason why people buy horses in the first place. Local involvement is vital to the long term viability of racing. Non TAB events keep participants in the game. The racing calendar needs to be scheduled in a way that recognises the role of country racing in creating a sustainable industry.

Ken Ferres

Bookmakers Representative, Southeast Queensland Country Racing Association.

(Bookmaker in North Queensland 1981-1993).

Tomorrow on the website Justracing I will have exclusive photos up on the Brisbaneracing website of the Toowoomba cushion track being ripped up. What’s going on? Justracing is of the understanding that extensive tests have been done on the cushion track and wonders if the results of those tests will ever be made public? I wonder has the cushion track maintenance been done on schedule and if it has, did those significant latest tests reveal that there was a large disparity in the thickness of the cushion track at various parts of it? All very interesting.