Veteran turf scribe Max Presnell has launched a scathing attack on the Australian Turf Club.
In the SMH/Age, Presnell writes: The Australian Turf Club has developed into an outfit in poverty, lacking not only funds but also promotional flair.
Obviously the treatment of Chris Waller's record at Rosehill on Saturday was abysmal. Racing is short of heroes, and this drab outfit didn't attempt to give it any sense of occasion.
Certainly the Sydney Turf Club at Rosehill excelled when it came to pizazz but the ATC seems obsessed with the revamped Randwick's ''Theatre of the Horse'', now becoming ''Theatre of the Absurd'', catering for owners and corporates with little consideration seemingly given to the diehard racegoers.
The ATC has chopped back on staff and is implementing a policy with battling Randwick trainers that makes me wonder whether it has any soul, a point that never arose with the Australian Jockey Club or the STC.
No doubt the ATC could apply the words of ''Big'' Jack Ingham, the AJC committeeman who once decreed in a dicey financial period: ''You can't pull your socks up if you haven't got any.''
The ATC could always call on the advice of a life member, John Holloway, the former STC director, if they need assistance in the area of getting the best out of what should be a day to remember at Rosehill. If there is an invoice for services rendered, send it to me.