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SPRINT RACING IN QUEENSLAND
The implementation of Sprint Racing within TB race programs in Queensland in 1983 was heralded as the beginning of a new and exciting industry in Australia.
The new industry had the backing of the QLD Government, the AQHA, race clubs in QLD and of course the Sprint Racing participants who were at last able to be part of a professional racing industry.
Older Australian Industry participants all have a view on why and how the industry eventually failed (see Letter by the late Sandra Crampton) and certainly some elements of the TB Industry could be seen as playing a willing part in it’s demise. However, with the benefit of hindsight, it would seem the Sprint Industry may also have to take some responsibility for it’s own demise.
Sprint Racing within TB race meetings ended in Queensland (QLD) in 1993 when the Australian Racing Board (ARB) changed the national Rules of Racing to prohibit racing conducted at distances less than 800m. All TB Racing Control Bodies in Australia were required to adopt the rule which effectively closed down Sprint Racing in Australia.
The major questions raised in relation to the closure would seem to be how the QLD State Government came to encourage the Sprint Racing Industry to establish in QLD in 1983, provided grants to TB Race Clubs to improve facilities for Sprint Racing, assisted in the building of an industry and subsequently allowed that industry to perish overnight.
Whether the final blow was to some extent self inflicted by an Australian Sprint Racing Industry and Australian Quarter Horse Association selling the Industry and retaining no ownership of their own product and destiny would also seem to be a legitimate question.
During 1981 & 1982 the late Russ Hinze, QLD Minster for Racing, was approached by representatives from the Sprint Industry who gained his support for developing the Australian home of Sprint Racing in Queensland. Part of the support was a Government decision that the QLD TB Industry would program racing at distances less than 800m on QLD TB race meetings. Although on face value this was agreed to by the QLD TB Industry the implementation of Sprint Racing was seen by some as being imposed on an unwilling QLD TB Industry. This would be a factor that would return 10 years later to haunt the Australian Sprint Racing Industry.
The plan had the support of the Australian Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) which made changes to the AQHA Rule Book to only recognise “AJC Racing” for AQHA Awards. Although the Sydney based Australian Jockey Club (AJC) never actually conducted racing in QLD this popular misconception is still perpetuated in the AQHA Rule Book in 2007 and newcomers to the Australian Sprint Racing Industry are still told “the AJC killed Sprint Racing”. While the AJC was an extremely influential TB race club, based in NSW, it never actually conducted Sprint Racing in QLD or any other state, nor was it solely responsible for closing the Australian Sprint Racing Industry.
The final part of the jigsaw puzzle for commencing racing in QLD seems to be the desire of the Australian Thoroughbred Stud Book to improve it’s financial bottom line and an expansion of the Non Thoroughbred Stud Book (NSB) to include all Sprint bred breeding and racing stock would have seemed attractive.
This aspect of the plan was assisted by the TB Industry (and government) requiring horses to be identified in a recognised Stud Book. With the AQHA either unwilling or unable to provide support to the argument that the AQHA Stud Book was internationally recognised and acceptable and therefore of a suitable standard, all Sprinters racing on TB race tracks were required to be registered in the NSB. This requirement also created problems that are still impacting on the Australian Sprint Racing Industry to this day.
3 million dollars was pledged by the QLD Government towards developing a complex to include Sprint Racing at Rocklea near Brisbane. Zoning and land acquisition problems eventually stopped the project but the Government and Industry were undeterred and sought other options.
Negotiations were opened with the TB Race Club at Toowoomba with the intention of developing Clifford Park TB race track into the home of the Sprint Race Industry. The negotiations included upgrading the straight at Clifford Park and installation of lights to allow racing at night. At the time, the future of Sprint Racing in Queensland seemed assured. However, while negotiating the provision of funding for redevelopment of Clifford Park the Queensland Sprint Racing Industry which was still seen by some as being forcibly imposed on the TB Industry, seems to have entered into the venture with no written guarantees of access to the facility or government commitment to a continuation of Sprint Racing.
A Sires Produce Futurity was established to finance sustainable 2yo Sprint Racing and provide funding for a series that in the following years developed into a major event on the QLD race calendar. Additional funding was secured from both business and the private sector and Sprint Racing in QLD now had a growing participant base and seemed to have a secure future.
TB Race clubs programmed Sprint events and benefited from nominations and acceptances, increased gate attendance and TAB distribution and the Sprint Industry began to grow and prosper. At that time the minimum prize money was set at $2000 per race and Sprint Racing was conducted all over the state.
Sometime during the late 1980s a campaign started that seemed designed to denigrate the Sprint Racing community and their horses. In particular it was hinted that sprinters were not well educated and were therefore unsafe rides - not well supported by the facts as during the entire period Sprint Racing was conducted within TB race meetings in QLD, not one death was recorded and in fact it is difficult to find any records of Jockey injuries involving Sprinters.
By the early 1990s the campaign against Sprint Racing was accompanied by a drop in prize money from $2,000 per race to $1,000 and found many Owners & Trainers abandoning Toowoomba and/or the Sprint Industry. Soon after the Toowoomba Turf Club announced that if any Sprint Race did not attract a field of 8 acceptors it would be cancelled and this announcement was followed a little later by the ARB Rule change.
With Russ Hinze having passed away and little support from the QLD Government the Sprint Industry now faced the end of the road in QLD. Having no written guarantees in place to ensure continuation of racing within TB Race Meetings and no written guarantees of access to Cliffiord Park (or any other TB race track in QLD) to conduct stand alone Sprint Race Meetings the industry was now doomed.
The ARB Rule change was implemented Australia wide on 1 August 1993 and what remained of the industry closed overnight.
The fallout from decisions taken during the 1983 - 1993 implementation of Sprint Racing in Queensland continues. For example, despite Sprinters being bred largely from Quarter Horses and TBs they were only required to be identified in the NSB to race in QLD and large numbers of owners and breeders soon opted not to dual register with the AQHA as the future for Sprint Racing was based within the TB industry.
The cessation of racing in QLD had the unfortunate long term side effect of creating a group of Sprint Bred horses in Australia with no registration at all as over the years the group of NSB registered (Quarter) horses continued to breed, eventually dropping out of the NSB as well when Sprint Racing was consigned to the Bush.
A proposal was presented to the AQHA Board by he NSRA in May 2007 to bring these horse back into the AQHA system. To date the AQHA has not replied to the proposal.
Changes in legislation and attitude have allowed major changes to occur in the QLD Racing Industry since 2005 when the NSRA was initially approved to sanction Sprint Racing both within TB race meetings and as stand alone race meetings on TB race tracks. The current system has been voluntarily implemented by the QLD TB Industry and has every chance of success if supported by the Sprint Industry.
An NSRA affilliate, Alternate Racing Queensland (ARQ) has been formed to administrate Sprint and Arabian Racing in QLD.
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