Weights for the Stradbroke are set to rise 1.5kg when the final field is announced on Wednesday, with Ortensia to carry 51.5kg and West Australian galloper Marasco the expected topweight with 57kg. Meantime, a teleconference today will resolve the fight over which horse Craig Williams will ride. Ortensia's trainer, Tony Noonan, dropped a bombshell on Saturday when demanding Queensland Racing stewards force Williams to ride Ortensia, which less than an hour earlier had been guaranteed a Stradbrok
Weights for the Stradbroke are set to rise 1.5kg when the final field is announced on Wednesday, with Ortensia to carry 51.5kg and West Australian galloper Marasco the expected topweight with 57kg. Meantime, a teleconference today will resolve the fight over which horse Craig Williams will ride. Ortensia's trainer, Tony Noonan, dropped a bombshell on Saturday when demanding Queensland Racing stewards force Williams to ride Ortensia, which less than an hour earlier had been guaranteed a Stradbroke start by winning the QTC Cup with CW on board. The rider has committed to All Silent but Noonan claims he was already signed up for Ortensia.
Take that! Sydney Morning Herald scribbler Craig Young has fired a missile at the State's Racing Minister Kevin Greene. He says: 'Three questions please: Why is the Sydney Turf Club putting the sword to loyal workers? Why is the NSW Government allowing it to happen? After all, Labor is supposedly for the worker. And why is the NSW Government freaking out about its own independent review into wagering in this state? The review Alan Cameron was asked to compile. The one sitting in the drawer or the vault or somewhere. The one that might well go some way to saving racing in these parts. Yes, minister, what are you doing? That it is you, Mr Kevin Greene. Please help the racing industry. The one that helps provide for hospitals, roads, schools, you name it.'
Craig Young goes on to suggest that it'd be easy for the STC to cut prizemoney on some of its major races, like the Golden Slipper and the BMW. He says: 'You could tell the STC to drop $500,000 - yes, we are saying it - off the world-renowned Golden Slipper prizemoney. Make it worth $3 million, and the majority will tell you it won't make any difference to the quality of babies turning up on race day. Not one iota. Please believe us. The STC has told employees to work 19 days out of the usual 20. It will save 5 per cent on the wages bill. The club is about to post a $3.8m loss but it will still pay out $35,411,000 in prizemoney this financial year. You could trim another $250,000 off The BMW and make it worth $2 million.