Hot field just what the Doctor ordered

By Danny Buttler
DR TURF hasn’t owned any greats of the track, but he could legitimately claim that Go Raami beat one of the hottest fields of all time to win the 1997 Pakenham Cup.
Unfortunately, it was the 42 degree heat rather than the quality of the other gallopers that had the crowd and Cup runners in a lather.
“I remember that win because of the incredible heat,” said Dr Turf, who is more formally known as John Rothfield.
“One of the earlier races was a staying race where one of the jockeys thought he had won the race, but there was a lap to go.
“He pleaded heat fatigue and I believe he escaped without a penalty, despite the fact he managed to confuse one and a half laps with two and a half laps.”
The Doctor will return to the scene of his greatest triumph tomorrow (Thursday) for the Cardinia Business Breakfast at the Pakenham Racing Club.
While the veteran media performer (his business and broadcasting partner Craig Hutchison ungraciously refers to him as a “journeyman”) is looking forward to sharing his money making know-how with local business people, he is also hoping he can add to his personal balance sheet with a second Pakenham Cup win on Sunday.
Its Prince, which ran second to Alcopop in last Sunday’s Kilmore Cup, is a chance to start in the big race.
If he does run, it will mean a rare trip back to Pakenham for a man who used to attend every meeting there
“Absolutely, when I was growing up before wives and kids and houses, I was there all the time, they wouldn’t open the gates without me,” he said.
“But unless I have a runner I only tend to go to the big race days … it is just easier to do it at home.”
‘It’ is gambling. Dr Turf describes himself as a semi-professional punter who spends time and effort studying the form.
When he is between media gigs – and that has been quite often during a long career – he claims to have been able to provide an income through betting.
While gambling on horses might help pay the bills, Dr Turf said owning them is a prescription for losing money.
He said no-one should buy into a racehorse with the expectation of making a dollar.
“I think you need a lot of luck,” he said.
“You are doing it for the love of the game, because you would never do it to make a quid out of it.”
What he is making a quid out of is his investment in Crocmedia (along with Hutchison), which provides content for sports radio SEN and country television and radio stations.
It’s an industry he knows backwards after stints on 3AW, ABC-TV, Channel Seven and Sport 927 (now Radio Sport National), where he was sacked for continually criticising the TAB, which owns the station.
His outspoken nature doesn’t seemed to have been tempered by his chequered employment history.
Asked if broadcasters were reluctant to tell the truth in the small world of Victorian sport, he did not hesitate to take a swipe at his current radio home.
“A lot of that goes on. Particularly SEN is wary about saying anything wrong. The AFL is a powerful body, so there is certainly a lack of honesty.”