Doomben Straddie risk

Edmonds says big race could be better off on Sunshine Coast

LEADING Gold Coast trainer Toby Edmonds says shifting the Stradbroke Day race meeting to the Sunshine Coast would produce the best racing if Doomben’s track problems cannot be solved.

The amount of racing held at Doomben due to Eagle Farm being out of action is starting to affect the track that struggled to deal with rain at a Queensland Oaks Day hindered by delays on Saturday.

The likes of Houtzen leads Edmonds’ list of nominations for Stradbroke Day, scheduled for June 9, and the trainer said the Sunshine Coast would be the preferred option for the meeting should Doomben not be up to scratch.

“The Sunshine Coast would be the best track to run a Stradbroke,” Edmonds said.

“It’s a bigger track, the barriers you draw don’t matter that much. It’s the logical move if they were going to move it anywhere.

“You would see the best race at the Sunshine Coast and most horses, whether they be back markers or wherever, would certainly get their chance to perform.”

A Queensland Racing official said it was business as usual and that they had no plans on moving the meeting.

Edmonds said Doomben would likely improve enough if it didn’t rain over the next fortnight, but called on Racing Queensland to be smarter with their scheduling in the future.

“They have a week to patch it up so there is not much we can do about it right now,” Edmonds said. “The authorities need to be more aggressive to make sure that the lead-up races are moved away from those types of places that have premier meetings.

“They should have got rid of some more meetings and given Doomben a month or so to get over it, not one week.

“For the most part Doomben has done a good job but it’s just the time of the year, the tracks fall apart. It’s hard to get growth. Once Eagle Farm comes back it will be all right but we have just got to make do with what we have got.”