"Not good enough for punters": Gately outraged with Caulfield Heath track

By Connor Scanlon

Expert tipster David “Gator” Gately was outraged with the performance of the Caulfield Heath track on Saturday, making it extremely difficult to back horses with confidence.

No horse further back than fourth in the run was able to win at the racecourse, causing Gately to question - What went wrong?

Throughout the week leading up to Saturday, Gately was supporting the Heath track at Caulfield, but now he is requesting an investigation into why the track drastically changed.

“A forgetful day at Caulfield Heath track,” Gately told SENTrack & RSN’s Giddy Up.

“On Thursday with Gareth Hall, I was speaking quite effusively about how this track's been playing since in the new season - there hadn't been any issues running on and winning.

“So I'm not sure why that changed on Saturday.

“If we don't investigate it and work out why it happened, it'll keep happening.”

The main reason why Gately is demanding accountability for the debacle is because it is extremely unfair to the punters who significantly fund the racing industry.

“It's not good enough for punters,” Gately exclaimed.

“I get outdoor sport, blah, blah, blah, but we're not aiming for perfection. At least have the punters' best interest upfront.

“We all know what's gonna happen - in a couple of generations we’ll be racing for no prize money. We've seen this sport in other jurisdictions really struggle.

“We need to be on top of it and for all of us we need to leave the sport better than we found it. I think that's the key.”

When asked about what the solution to the issue is, Gately believes providing punters as much information as possible is what can even the playing field.

“I think information is absolutely the key, information is power, information instils confidence,” Gately stated.

“They don't always get it right. I don't certainly get it right every time. But at least if punters are armed with a myriad of intelligent information, then they can syphon exactly what they want out of it.

“If we don't give it to them, they certainly can't.

“I think the science around tracks has come a fair way - I was chatting to the Sydney Racing Track Manager and they're putting a lot of research into the wind and the impact that has.

“What it was like when I was in my twenties, the rail was always in the true, so just the inside would chop out, they'd get off the fence, you could set your watch to it.

“But now with the movable rail, much better science with track and more science with weather, let's embrace that and give the punters as much info as we can.

“I think that's what we need to do.”

This isn’t the first time Gately has demanded change to protect punters. Click here to read about why extremely late scratchings when horses have been dual accepted are a current issue of debate in racing.