.."THE WEEK THAT WAS"
"TROT TACTICS"..29/01/2011..
The Lord Mayor of Fernvale,Darrel Graham,unable to secure racing opportunity for 2yo pacers in his home state ventured to Menangle Park south of Sydney last Tuesday and demoralised the "cockroaches" by taking out the trifecta in the juvenile event.First home was Emperor Montana (Chris Petroff) from Montana Falcon (Darrel Graham) with Kerry O Relly (Adam Richardson) filling third place.The "montanas" are raced by Dean "dotcom" Shannon and Kerry O Relly by former Qhrb chairman,John Crowley.D.Graham was loud in his praise of the 1400m Menangle track,saying that he was able to remove some gear from his juveniles as they were "super comfortable" on the spacious circuit.His comments echoed the reports of trainer/drivers when Albion Park made the step up from 800 to 1,000m in 1983 as they claimed the sensation of turning to be almost non-existent.Whatever,the current climate of uncertainty in Queensland trotting has encouraged DWG to initiate a contingency plan by booking 10 units in the first block of 100 on-course stables to be constructed on the site.The final count is hoped to be 400 equine residents.It will be some complex!!
We know DWG went to Menangle,but where do the fast class pacers go from our racing pool.One week they are there,and the next,they vanish.The M4 and better did not stand up tonight nor did the Tuesday equivalent,that was $15,150 in prizmoney that the owners and trainers of these FFA horses were content to discard.It makes no sense to this writer,not only because I happen to train Fox Valley Appeal,but Blacks A Fake and Mr Feelgood will be back in a couple of weeks and will be payed in prizemoney to prepare for major events in the south.Trainers who boycott the fast class now will complain bitterly when RQLtd puts on four horse events to fit our champions for this.The moral to this tale is"get it now" because money will be thin on the ground when the superstars appear.
It's just 8 days to the BOTRA open meeting at Marburg,Sunday February 6th at 12.30pm at Marburg Showgrounds.Get there early for the sausage sizzle.It is even more important now that we get a good roll up.Come prepared to speak up and air your grievances.I am equally sure that there are many of you who have valuable and reasonaable suggestions for the overall improvement of the game.It all has to go in the mix.Come along and be heard!!
He's not from this district,but new face and former jockey,Trevor Lambourn,who trains out of Redland Bay,is putting up a great performance on Brisbane paceways.Lambourn horses are fit,look the part,and are providing their boss with an enviable strike rate.We can claim a bit of T.Lambourn as he regularly uses Ipswich based drivers Kelli Dawson and Ray Law.Bet with confidence..