Thoroughbred Breeders Queensland Association President Basil Nolan is reminding owners not to nominate tomorrow for races on Saturday, 27 October.
This is a show of protest against the State Government's decision not to reinvest the Point of Consumption Tax into the racing industry.
Strike action is being held at Doomben, Gold Coast, Toowoomba and Townsville on Cox Plate day (October 27) and then again on Tuesday, 6 November (Melbourne Cup Day) across all TAB meetings.
At this stage non-TAB meeting on both these days will proceed as previously agreed.
"It is vital that the industry rally together and support this industrial action," said TBQA President, Basil Nolan.
"We understand the impact that this could have on a horse's preparation, not to mention the loss of potential prizemoney for the day, however we are asking you to see this as short-term pain for long term gain."
This action has the full support of the four industry bodies comprising the TBQA, the Queensland Trainers Association, the Australian Jockeys Association Qld and the Queensland Racehorse Owners Association. It comes after last Thursday's deadline for the Government failed to deliver the requested commitment to return any of the racing component of the Point of Consumption tax to prizemoney.
"We need to send a clear message to this Government that their lack of support will set the racing industry further back," said Mr Nolan.
"The current negotiations with the State Government have reached a standstill with no sign of a positive resolution, so the move to industrial action by the racing participants of Queensland is unfortunately now unavoidable."
The goal is zero nominations on all races on these days. If you have already nominated, please contact RISA asap and cancel your nomination (there is no charge for this). When nominations close for the four events, RQ will call for extra noms, and after they close they will have no choice but to abandon the meetings.
"The Government has the ability at any time between now and Tuesday night to offer a solution and get the races put back on through new nominations," said Mr Nolan.
"We can't emphasise enough how critical it is to ensure we have no nominations at these meetings."
QTA president, Cameron Partington has liaised with southern trainers and advised them of the situation and they have indicated they will support their Queensland colleagues in this strike and they will not nominate their runners.
"The purpose of this strike is to bring to the attention of all Australians, not just Queenslanders, of the disgraceful way the Government is treating thoroughbred racing in Queensland," said Mr Partington.
"It is up to industry participants to ensure this works; and even if you do nominate, you won't find a jockey to ride."
Ten years ago Queensland's prizemoney was 70% of NSW, five years ago it was 63% and now it is just 45% of New South Wales – and that is without taking The Everest into consideration.
Every other state that has introduced this tax has a guaranteed yearly percentage of revenue injected back to the racing industry. I do not understand why the Queensland Government can't use the same model as NSW, SA or Victoria when it clearly is so successful.
Queensland is already trailing New South Wales and Victoria in its return to the industry from the wagering dollar. The tax, which will return at least $70 million annually, could have been used to close the gap between Queensland and the other states but instead Ms Trad is going to deepen the divide.
