BIG SURPRISE AND EYE OPENER AT BUNBURY.

This morning I headed up what I thought was bright and early to Bunbury to work my two runners in this weekends A.H.A. Cup. My son Dion came down to the farm last night and we wanted to give both horses a solid workout on the grass track at Bunbury. I was figuring on a nice quiet relaxing morning at a country training centre but boy was I in for a shock. Maybe I was reminiscing back to the days when I use to drive down to Bunbury on Sunday mornings and ride Lourdes Pilgrim and Melody Hour in trackwork for Roseanne Pimm. I forgot that that was back in the mid to late 70's.

As we approached the track, the first thing I noticed was the float park was full to capacity with two horse floats and bigger trucks of every size. I struck it lucky as a big truck pulled out leaving me room to park and unload. When we walked in the gate, nearly every stall was occupied and the hustle and bustle was akin to Ascot on a Tuesday morning during the carnival.There were track riders and stable hands everywhere busily following their trainers instructions. Was this for real or was I still in bed and this was all a terrible dream. This was Bunbury at 5.00am not Flemington or Caulfield. While I'm at it, I have to say a big thank you to my mate Warwick Bradshaw who came to my rescue and offered me two stalls while he relocated two of his own horses. Not something you would see happen very often at Ascot on a busy Tuesday morning I must say.

Now this may have been provincial training centre but this was certainly no hicksville. Gone are the days when some broken down old trainer with the strong smell of alcohol on his breath and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, would stagger through the gates leading a rough looking nag which would not look out of place at a knackery. The trainer was invariably followed in by his wife carrying the saddle, closely followed by the kids dragging the bridle, the chains or the packing and wearing a dressing gown and slippers. There could be any number of friends and relations making up the entourage. That was how country training tracks were back in the "good old days".

As I said this was no hicksville. This was a professional show with professional people as the main actors. Some of the states leading trainers and horsemen all busy going about getting the task at hand completed as quickly and safely as possible. Trainers like Ross Price, Bruce Watkins, Brent Larsson, Chris Stelmach, Toby Bairstow, Michael Lane, Michael Campbell, The Giadresco family and many others.

All of these top class horsemen and women working their horses in conditions which have not improved much since the days when Sonny Scott would pull off plunges with regular monotony training from the same track. If ever there was a time for those in charge of the industry at RWWA to get out of bed and go down and view the early morning track work conditions first hand then now is that time. This club and this track need a huge injection of funds spent not to patch things up but to completely overhaul the training facilities there so as to give the participants some certainty for the next 40 to 50 years.

Bunbury and the surrounding areas must surely have one of the biggest horse populations outside the metropolitan area and after what I witnessed this morning, I'm not convinced it is not bigger. Surely now is the time to take the bull by the horns and plan something futuristic for racing in the south west so as to secure the future for so many people working in the industry.

As much as I may have been at a different track this morning with different people, some things never change. The banter and the humour between trainers and staff is something which is universally accepted. As is living in the hope that the next baby we break in just could turn out to be the next Northerly!