Bathurst trainer/driver Nathan Hurst will drive Tulhurst Courage in tonight’s Golden Guitar final. It came from last to win the final heat on Sunday. Photo: Paul Mathews
TAMWORTH Harness Racing Club stages its Golden Guitar Final tonight but a dark cloud hangs over the local club.
It has done for a few years.
While the talk should be about the six Bathurst pacers who will dominate tonight’s 8.17pm $20,000 Pryde’s EasiFeed Golden Guitar Final over the 1980m and who will win, much of the talk centres on whether Harness Racing NSW will come good with their promises of a new track next to the Tamworth Racecourse.
The proposal for Federation Park football ground to be developed into a Racing Precinct with a pacing and greyhound complex was first touted about four years ago, but now seems like a distant dream.
Harness Racing NSW is supposedly making a decision on the proposed Tamworth Precinct.
It’s about time.
However, I don’t hold any great hopes of them doing anything good for the local pacing industry.
It’s based on a number of reasons. The first being their previous history of “Indian giving” promises, none of which have been kept.
The first excuse about not starting the new Racing Precinct was they had to wait for the sale of Harold Park. Then it was waiting for the race fields legislation. Both have come and gone but the new complex hasn’t materialised.
Another key indicator was the secret way it tried to buy the Tamworth Showground.
Staying at that decrepit and decaying old site would sound the death knell of pacing.
There is also the fact THRC racing administrator, Laurie James, started his job as an interim appointee more than three years ago to help usher in the new complex.
He’s still there.
Recently he received a call from Trotguide to do some publicity on an upcoming meeting run in conjunction with the Inter Dominion. It was his first involvement with that journal in more than two years!
He was also promised a new water truck but it hasn’t arrived.
Another indicator is the lack of interest, care and understanding of, and for, pacing in the Narrabri, Armidale, Inverell and Tamworth Northern Inland coming from Harness Racing NSW itself.
Here at The Leader we receive numerous press releases from HRNSW daily about different events, race meetings, races and stewards inquiries.
Over the past two years I’d say we have received maybe one or twopress releases on a Tamworth meeting – last year’s Golden Guitar and this year’s.
There was no one from the HRNSW in Tamworth for last week’s Gold Nugget meeting and there was no one here on Sunday for the Golden Guitar heats meeting.
Maybe someone might turn up for tonight’s Golden Guitar Final – but don’t hold your breath.
Which all makes me feel less than confident of anything good coming from HRNSW.
Good luck to the THRC on their big night of the year.
o Turn to Page 32 for more on the Golden Guitar Final meeting.