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Sometimes the oldest traditions need to be altered to keep them alive.
The VRC St Leger needs more than altering. More than just a facelift. It needs a revival.
Long gone are the days when the best three-year-old staying types are contesting the time-honoured race.
On Friday, the highest rating horse in the race was Order of the Sun – a Gai Waterhouse-trained colt with a Victorian rating of 73 pre-race.
He went onto win the Friday’s VRC St Leger from Honey Steel’s Gold, who had a rating of 72.
It’s not a good sign for a race of such prestige.
Next year, Anzac Day will be on a Saturday, and the race meeting at Flemington will clash with the All Aged Stakes Day at Sydney and, of course, football at the MCG.
Something has got to give.
While prize money of $150,000 isn’t going to attract the best of the best, the VRC St Leger deserves a better field than what was dished up on Friday.
And it deserves a better spot on the racing calendar.
Some of the best stayers of all-time have won the Leger.
Phar Lap, Poseidon and Tulloch all won the race as three-year-olds.
Ironically, Order of the Sun finished well back in eighth in the Group 2 Tulloch Stakes at Rosehill in the lead-up to the Leger.
Before that, the colt finished 13th of 15 in the Rosehill Guineas. Tulloch and Phar Lap also won the Rosehill Guineas as three-year-olds.
So the question remains, how can we attract the best field possible to a 2800-metre race at Flemington?
First of all, it’s not going to work when the best three-year-old stayers are spelling after just contesting the ATC Derby, worth more than 10 times what the Leger is worth.
Prize money of $150,000 is not going to attract Derby runners to continue their campaign in Victoria.
The Leger won’t fit in the March Flemington carnival.
Australia’s best three-year-olds would rather have a crack at the $500,000 Group 1Australian Guineas, as Criterion did, before heading to Sydney.
So why can’t the Leger be moved to November?
Let’s run the St Leger on Emirates Stakes Day – a week after the VRC Derby.
It would give horses such as Polanksi, Complacent, Thunder Fantasy and Criterion the chance to add Australia’s oldest race to its CV.
Horses could run in the Norman Robinson over 2000m, as Polanksi did, two weeks before the Derby. And a week later, step up from 2500 metres to 2800 metres to tackle the Leger.
Or horses like Complacent could attempt the Champion Stakes-VRC Derby double before finishing his campaign in the Leger.
It would get the recognition it deserves, in the best racing carnival in Australia.
Not everyone will back up the week after a Group 1, but maybe we can entice the winner exemption into the following year’s Melbourne Cup. Why not? I think Polanski’s owners would be happy to go one more week to try and guarantee a run in the Melbourne Cup.
We could even offer a bonus for any VRC Derby place getter that wins the Leger.
You can talk about increasing the prize money, but unless we’re offering more than The Championships, the VRC St Leger won’t work in the autumn.
It’s time the Leger is given a better spot on the racing calendar – Emirates Stakes Day is that day for mine.
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