Global Weekly Preview: Top Track not ready for Brisbane Carnival

Queensland racing was dealt a savage blow this week with news that Eagle Farm will not be ready to resume racing in time for the 2018 Brisbane Winter Carnival, one of Australia's most popular meetings.

Controversy has surrounded the track since last May when officials were forced to abandon racing there due to the poor state of the surface, in spite of extensive redevelopment.

Previously, there had been a grand opening of the revamped course at the Stradbroke meeting in June 2016. 

The Brisbane Racing Club has declared the track "not up to standard."

Now, four top races, including the G1 Stradbroke, Queensland's biggest race, are to be run at Doomben, Brisbane's other city course, situated opposite its sister track.

Godolphin won this year's Stradbroke with Impending, a Lonhro colt trained by Darren Beadman, the former Hall of Fame jockey, who took over the licence as an interim measure prior to the arrival of James Cummings.

The race had been transferred from Eagle Farm to Doomben.

With the Festive season approaching, and with Hong Kong having staged their big international day, the biggest global events approaching are in Japan, which I will tackle in this column next week.