Trainer upset with Stradbroke transfer

Trainer Mick Bell says he will not run Jungle Edge in the transferred Stradbroke Handicap if the track is too firm.

Racing Queensland announced on Monday Brisbane’s premier race was to be moved to Doomben following widespread condemnation of the surface at Eagle Farm two days earlier.

While the track had been declared safe after the Eagle Farm meeting, the consensus was it was unfit for Group One racing.

Bell, who trains Stradbroke third favourite Jungle Edge, says he was not consulted about the transfer of the meeting on June 10.

The winner of the BRC Sprint at Doomben on May 20, Jungle Edge finished second to the Kris Lees-trained Clearly Innocent in the Group One Kingsford-Smith Cup at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

“They said they consulted before they made the decision,” Bell told Melbourne radio RSN927.

“They didn’t ring me and they didn’t ring Kris Lees.

“This is so wrong. It doesn’t pass the sniff test. It doesn’t pass the pub test.”

Bell said RQ was being held to ransom by some of the country’s biggest trainers saying they were not going to run their horses at Eagle Farm.

He said he entered Jungle Edge for the Stradbroke knowing there was the likelihood the Eagle Farm track would suit the gelding.

“He’s won at Doomben and there’s nothing to suggest he can’t win the race,” Bell said.

“But we left to go to Queensland knowing the race was at Eagle Farm and the track was going to be soft whatever happens, no matter what weather they had.

“When I ran in the Rupert Clarke (at Caulfield) on a good three track, I would have liked to have scratched but I just sucked it up and ran.

“I’ll run the horse if the track is on the softer side of a good four, but if it’s a good three we’ll be scratching.”