The topic of gambling is a no-go area for most politicians, unless they are speaking against it, but the fact that racing and the gaming industry continues to grow year on year should at least draw some attention.

The racing industry is controlled at state level and it is a significant contributor to most state budgets. The problem is that the source of the industry's revenue, gambling, is no longer state based. Gaming is an international industry, so surely it should come under federal government control in some way, but the issue remains a blindspot.

That Australia still doesn't have national TAB pools is one of the the most ridiculous things in 21st-century racing.

The pools continue to lose ground in real terms every year because of the growth and promotion of fixed-price betting with TABs and corporate bookmakers. Tabcorp maintains two different TAB pools and UTAB another, which offers corporate bookies one of their biggest products – best tote.

A national pool would immediately put an end to that. It would also give the opportunity for bigger punters who have been disenfranchised by bookmakers' restricting the size of their bets to bet larger without significantly affecting the pool.

The stronger jurisdictions, Japan and Hong Kong, are tote based and even a percentage of the illegal betting money flows back into the big pools.

A bigger pool means more confidence and more betting on the TAB.

The TAB pool offers the best deal in terms of the return it gives to racing, yet it doesn't put pressure on its betting partners and government to make it as good as it could be. The larger the pool, the bigger the return to state government and racing. And a bigger pool would also mean the takeout could be cut, again to the benefit of punters.    

On the outer

The sight of a group 1 winner coming down the outside fence at Eagle Farm on Saturday can't be allowed to happen again at the new track.

The words state-of-the-art are used every time a new track is opened and the expectation on them often outweighs the performance. Despite millions of dollars being spent on it, the Eagle Farm surface on Saturday was no better than a country track.

It was summed up by Godolphin trying to scratch Mogador from the Healy Stakes because it had drawn barrier one and the stable knew it would not get a fair chance with how the track was racing. It ran third and never got to the best part of the track. The last favourite, Tsaritsa, had the inside alley and got rolled, also running third.

This is the first strike for Eagle Farm. It should be judged over the next year and, as it matures, hopefully the surface will improve.

While on the subject of tracks, there wasn't even a murmur about Randwick on Saturday. Maybe that's because expectations are so low but it was a tough testing ground and it raced fairly.

Stewards busy

The stewards room has proved a busy place for jockeys post race since Marc Van Gestel took over at the beginning of the month.

Van Gestel has been keen to make sure jockeys are riding out their mounts to the line, hence the $400 fine to apprentice Winona Costin on Saturday.  Hugh Bowman has also been reminded about pushing them to the line twice in the past month, as have others.

The chief steward has taken a close look at some rides and the Blake Shinn case with regard to his ride on Thud, which resumes on Tuesday, will cause a lot of interest. Trainer Peter Snowden has indicated he will appear at the inquiry on Tuesday   

Greyhounds report

The special commission of inquiry report into the greyhound industry is in the hands of Racing Minister Troy Grant, who is considering what form the sport will take in the future.

Michael McHugh's report has gone to just a few key stakeholders but it is understood one option is to close down the sport in NSW. More likely there will be a move for strong controls on all aspects of the sport.