Dr Turf fires back
The good doctor, aka Dr Turf [better known to his family as John Rothfield], gave another trademark spray surrounding the state of the racing media last week, again taking aim at Victorian broadcaster racing.com.
You can watch it here.
Doc has this advice for racing media kb pic.twitter.com/UmavaQaU7I
— Kevin Bartlett (@KevinBartlett29) June 18, 2026
To summarise, he again criticised .com, its management and the need for racing’s media to do better.
It’s not his first spray at racing’s media [nor his last]. He regularly did the same, for the record, when I worked at racing.com.
In fact, he gave free advice to management even when HE worked there.
SEN Track’s Miles Pfitzner decided to take the media veteran [not to mention significant SEN share holder!] to task.
Pfitzner, who we like and isn’t afraid of the occasional opinion himself, defended the leadership at racing.com and said he backed their innovations, which he says are the inclusion of West Australian racing to the channel and having a panel show on a Sunday during race day.
His take comes as SEN as a whole is working far closer with Racing Victoria and their media arm, with senior host Gareth Hall’s show now shown every morning on the screens of racing.com.
Pfitzner, in his response, also had a crack at the doctor.
“We can’t be scared of when things change…”@Betfair_Aus | @PfitznerMiles pic.twitter.com/ENlfcDAfXE
— SENTrack (@SEN_track) June 21, 2026
‘’It’s all well and good to sit back and pot from a long way out, but there is a transition too in racing media … I am all for opinion,’’ Pfiztner said on SEN Track.
‘’And we’ve spoken about this in regards to opinion. While I am all for it, you have to then offer an alternative.”
”And what’s the alternative? So nothing’s getting spoken about from Doc there in regards to alternative, but there is a lean to what he does mention about that.’’
Fair enough.
Dr Turf’s response?
‘’I don’t understand a word he said or what point he was trying to make,’’ he told Betsy.
‘’One thing I did take away from it all is he wants ideas. Had he listened to more than one podcast segment he might have heard them.”
‘’I have been to racing media management with ideas for years with show ideas, segment ideas, going back to Peter Sweeney to Peter Campbell.
‘’The Saturday morning show, for instance, was mine and Terry Bailey’s idea, so to criticise without having an idea is unfortunate and completely wrong.’’
Dr Turf has long complained there is too much tipping content in racing media – where ‘heroes are made from tipping $1.50 shots’.
His comments happened to be made from a podcast paid for by Betr, a bookie of course. As was Pfitzner’s show [and as is much of Betsy, not to mention this column].
Dr Turf’s take on the racing media comes as Bailey, his good friend, was axed from racing.com, with his last shift coming next Tuesday, ending a 40-year career.
When Betsy called Rothfield, he paid tribute to his great mate.
‘’Terry is a racing man, he gets racing, understands there is so much more than tipping horses, that it is a sport and a game,’’ he said.
‘’He gets the game, he is professional, multi-talented and now completely wasted in racing.”
‘’His dismissal can only be political, any other explanation is a farce, it’s a political decision that doesn’t stand up to reason.’’
What a great interview by TB with trainer Les Robertson. I hope the imbeciles who decided to let Terry go were watching. He does more to bring the colour of racing home to the viewers and why the people in racing do more for the sport than the 100 tipping shows will ever do.
— Docturf (@docturf) June 16, 2026
ATA boss hits out at track
The boss of the Australian Trainers’ Association has hit out at the Ballarat Synthetic Track, saying he wouldn’t run his better horses there.
The usually mild-mannered Troy Corstens, who is more statesman than the outspoken, political type, said he wouldn’t run his metropolitan grade horses given the ongoing complaints about the surface.
Wednesday racing was transferred to the synthetic track after heavy rain on the Ballarat course proper made it unsuitable for racing [and credit to Racing Victoria for making the early call].
As Betsy revealed last week, the long-troubled synthetic surface has again been widely criticised for the amount of kick-back.
The ongoing drama is despite the track being given extra time to recover from its latest round of remedial works.
It’s a situation that has been described to Betsy as ‘’clearly not good enough’’ and ‘’totally unacceptable’’.
The responsibility to get it right has been put at the feet of Racing Victoria executive Jamie McGuiness and the contractor he engaged, Martin Collins.
Corstens raised the salient point on SEN on Wednesday – why is the Pakenham synthetic so good, and Ballarat so bad?
So bad, he says, he wouldn’t run his metro grade horses there.
‘’So I’ll put my neck in a noose here and I’ll say that Pakenham, no problems, but Ballarat, I am not racing my metro horses at Ballarat on the synthetic,’’ he said.
‘’It’s just it’s not good enough at the moment. I am probably going to get crucified for this, but it needs to be better.”
‘’How do we have the same people doing the same tracks … Pakenham is so good at the moment, and Ballarat after what the jockeys said was terrible the other day. So we need to get that better.”
‘’They’ve had problems with the surfaces, and I can’t quite understand.’’
The other important question is whether there was a better option for Wednesday racing than a struggling synthetic track.
To which Racing Victoria gave a completely reasonable answer.
”We explored transferring the meeting to another turf track, however there was no suitable alternative given existing schedules and the impacts of recent wet weather,” a spokesman said.
”Both synthetic tracks were then considered and it was determined on balance that the meeting should remain at the venue and in the region where participants were planning to attend, thus ensuring those based in the state’s west were not materially impacted.”
Talking of track controversy, it’s a big day for Caulfield on Saturday.
The track has been at the centre of widespread criticism for how it has raced since April, with the Melbourne Racing Club previously saying they accept the criticism.
Betsy is told the club has worked hard to get the track ready to race well on Saturday, with a number of key meetings between senior club staff and track operatives since the last race day to try and figure out what went wrong.
The club has been blessed with some dry weather this week, which at least means it gives the MRC every chance to have it right for Saturday. In many ways it is important that Caulfield races well as we near a big Spring Carnival.
Caulfield Racecourse Manager Sam Bennetts told Betsy he expects no change to the track rating come race day.
“Caulfield is currently rated a Soft 7 and given the forecast of limited drying conditions with maximum temperatures between 13 to 15 degrees, we expect the track to remain in that range ahead of Saturday’s meeting,” he said.
“Caulfield has received 52.8mm of rainfall since the last meeting on May 30 when the track was rated a Heavy 8.
“We’re continuing with our usual track preparation processes and will keep monitoring conditions closely in the lead up to raceday.”
Demons on the clock
The fascinating saga around the battle for Caulfield is unlikely to be settled before the June 30 deadline.
Word has it that Melbourne Football Club – who are desperate to move to Caulfield to build a $100 million plus training complex – are seeking an extension as they work behind the scenes to get a deal done.
The Melbourne Racing Club are against the move – particularly because they say the Demons’ plans to build a tunnel underneath their tracks will cost the club time and money.
The latest we can ascertain is that the football club has varying degrees of support within the state government and momentum still exists for the move to eventuate. Some within the government are stronger supporters than others, but there is an appetite to get the football club there.
But there also seems to be a consensus in government that the Demons plans will have too great an impact on racing in the short term.
Betsy is told respected Racing Victoria executive Peter Betson, who has significant experience within government departments, is also working to support racing’s interests within government circles.
Ollie carves
He is considered the GOAT of the race track, but Damien Oliver can seriously surf too.
The surfcoast of Victoria has been blessed with some amazing winter surf this year, with Oliver shredding, as was posted to instagram by a local surf page.
The roar of the Moonee Valley crowd for the unofficial anthem of the Cox Plate, Horses, was always a sign that one of the world’s great races wasn’t far away.
We’re talking about Daryl Braithwaite of course, who announced his retirement this week.
Braithwaite sang his hit Horses a number of times at The Valley, but all good things must come to an end.
The cult hero was rumoured one year to have enquired about moving the time of the race so he could do two gigs in one day.
So while Daryl may be set for a well deserved retirement, we have no doubt his hit will live on for Cox Plate Day, which of course will be at Flemington for at least 2026.
From Asfoora to the Socceroos
Fresh off turning a Ballarat pub into a makeshift Ascot for Asfoora’s Royal UK raid, the Ballarat Turf Club has found another excuse to get the community through the gates, this time for the world game.
This Friday, the Club will throw open its doors from noon to screen the Socceroos’ World Cup qualifier against Paraguay, beaming the action across every screen on course.
You can watch the Socceroos on the TV, then eight races on the track and a cold [or maybe hot given it’s Ballarat] drink in hand.
Winners and losers
Word has it one Victorian coastal trainer could be the beneficiary of one stable’s potential spring woes.
