BRC stands by decision not to make an early call

BRISBANE Racing Club chief executive Dave Whimpey has no regrets about not making an early call on the Stradbroke Handicap despite dire warnings from trainers last month.

This week’s Oaks and next week’s Stradbroke Handicap meetings were shifted from Eagle Farm to Doomben yesterday after Racing Queensland deemed the controversial Eagle Farm track unfit to host Group 1 races.

The decision signified one of the most embarrassing moments in the history of Queensland racing given it came after the track’s recent $10 million redevelopment.

Leading trainer Chris Munce questioned whether the track was up to carnival standard on April 26, claiming horses had “no footing underneath’’.

On the same day fellow trainer Tony Gollan said the track required “if not a full ripup … massive remedial work.”

Whimpey maintained yesterday the BRC disagreed with Racing Queensland’s decision to shift the meetings and had spent more than $225,000 in the past two months tackling the thatch issue causing the problems.

“It would have been too early to pull the pin six weeks ago,’’ Whimpey said.

“Eagle Farm is the home of racing. We were confident we could get that track to a safe level. Look it was a challenging track.

“We always knew it was heavy and would chop out.’’

The decision to shift the meetings came after a deluge of protests from jockeys trainers including Sydney’s Chris Waller who rang Whimpey on Sunday to emphatically make the point the track was not fit for Group 1 racing.

“Some of my horses were getting beaten 10 and 20 lengths and they were well in the market,” Waller said.

“You just can’t go through that again. The horses were pulling up distressed.

“The distance between first and last horses was embarrassing.”

Whimpey said several ideas would be discussed about how to fix the Eagle Farm surface but it would not be dug up.