JOE HYNES has only been back a week and look – the Mackay Cup crowd is up from 600 to 5000. That was the comment from an excited MTC chairman Lou Kinsey at a packed out Ooralea race course on Saturday.
With the car park choc-a-block long before the first and the bars and on-course facilities at bursting point all day long it was a return to the good old days at Ooralea.
While the figure of 5000 might have been a stretch, it was easily the biggest crowd in a decade.
And Joe Hynes was the man in charge when Cup day used to draw the big crowds, and when racing in the sugar city was as strong as anywhere in provincial Queensland.
Much has happened since Joe left the club after a dispute with a previous MTC committee. While Joe successfully sought a career change, the club sank into mediocrity and finally into the administration of Racing Queensland. The MTC bank balance went from $250,000 in the black to $250,000 in the red. And six secretaries later, Joe is back. Or at least he was back on deck last Saturday
Kinsey is keen to have him back full-time, but he won’t get an answer for another week.
“I told Lou I would think about it for a week,” Joe said.
No one expected such a massive turnout. Race books were sold out long before the first race was run and bar staff were under pressure from midday until the band stopped playing around 8.30pm – four hours after the last.
It was the first time in five years that Mackay Cup day didn’t clash with the Townsville V8 car race, which obviously was a contributing factor to the crowd numbers. But it also revealed that Mackay and district residents have not lost the desire to dress up for a well promoted feature race day.
They came from everywhere. Jockey Mathew McGillivray flew up from Sydney to ride the Roma-trained Oggie to an easy win in the Cup. He was aboard the same horse when it won the jockey’s hometown Roma Cup last year and he took time off from a busy Sydney schedule to partner the gelding on Saturday. He beat Emerald visitor Fastnet Flyer which will make its way to Townsville for the Cup on July 30.The unplaced favourite, the Muswellbrook, NSW trained Binalong Road, is also expected to head north for the Cluden cup carnival before returning home for a spell.
The day was not without drama, however. Connections of Court Clown, which was placed fourth by the judge in the rough house running of the Newmarket, thought their horse might have finished third or at least dead heated for the minor prize. They asked for the photo finish print – but there wasn‘t one.
The stewards then viewed the Sky channel vision and were confident the judge had got it right. The judge, by the way, was flown up from Brisbane to officiate. Yet another cost cutting exercise by RQ – which won’t offer rebates for horses, but is happy to fly officials to attend race meetings to perform duties that for a 100 years have been performed by club committee members, mostly in an honorary capacity.
Maybe it’s time for a Time and Motion study at headquarters, which could result in a lot of savings – and a lot of empty desks at Deagon.
LAST week letters from RQ were sent to the Collinsville and District Race Club and to Mingela advising of certain changes going on at RQ. Everyone knows (except the licensing body) both clubs were de-registered 10 (or more) years ago.
A return to race riding by Townsville-based Ivo Fry hit a speed bump when the popular jockey came off at the recent Cluden jump outs. He was not seriously hurt, and will continue with his comeback plan, but the incident has renewed calls for an ambulance to be in attendance at future early morning jump outs. At a cost of $1500 for the paramedic presence, it will be an extra financial burden for owners and trainers.
Surely a more practical (and cost saving) alternative would be to conduct the jump outs immediately after Cluden race meetings – just as it used to be.
ROCKHAMPTON stewards report that trainer Ricky Vale is to face four charges over alleged positive swabs including three to cobalt. A date for the hearing is yet to be set, but is expected in the coming weeks. Vale recently had an 18-month disqualification reduced on appeal to six months suspension wholly suspended for 12 months on a charge of threatening a steward at Callaghan Park in April and his licence was immediately restored.
