The news champion mare Winx wouldn’t be running in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick on Saturday might have left a lesser sporting administrator in the foetal position on the floor of his office as he battled with the growing challenge of trying to pull a crowd.
However, Peter V’landys accepted the fact and just kept going.
The Racing NSW CEO has engineered victories for the industry, in areas including race fields and tax parity legislation, that will convert to over $1 billion in future revenue and now he is locked into what he says is the sport’s greatest challenge – getting people to attend the races in numbers.
Racing NSW and the Australian Turf Club were hoping for a crowd of at least 30,000 at Randwick for day one of The Championships, last Saturday. They got 22,615. Winx brilliantly won the Doncaster Mile, but instead of backing up in the Queen Elizabeth she has been sent for a spell.
It’s a setback greater than, say, Tim Cahill being unavailable for the Socceroos. At least there you’ve still got the attraction of the team factor, but a truly outstanding horse like Winx is very much an individual attraction.
Unsettled weather, which has been the case ahead of day two of The Championships, always makes racing administrators – indeed, all sporting administrators – nervous as well, but what can you do? As far as V’landys is concerned, you’ve just got to get on with it.
“Getting the people to come is a challenge because there’s so much competition for the public interest and people are time-poor,” Vlandys said. “You won’t get them coming every week like you used to, people are event-focused now.
“They’ve got X amount of disposable income, real estate is a lot more expensive, there are a lot of factors affecting how people spend their time and money and you’ve got to address each one of those factors in trying to find a way around it.
“Racing NSW have a close relationship with the ATC and we’re working with them on it. We’ve got the facilities we’ve never had before and now we’ve got to get the people to attend. It’s a challenge that is not just about this week, but for well into the future.
“We’re not the only ones who face this challenge, Victorian racing has suffered the same fate. But all sports are having trouble attracting crowds and in some cases the very futures of those sports are threatened.
“We’ve had third parties, consultants, look at it as well, but they tend to tell you the obvious. We’ve just got to make it more attractive and we’ve spent a lot on advertising and promotion in an attempt to do that. I’ll never give up on it. There’s got to be an answer.”
V’landys said he thought Winx, if she was racing this week off the back of her slashing win in a big handicap like the Doncaster, confirming her champion status, could have attracted an extra 10,000 through the gate.
She’s not there, but V’landys said that didn’t change it from being a great day out and once The Championships were over Racing NSW and the ATC would reassess and establish strategies for drawing more people to The Championships and other big meetings in the future.
“We aim our advertising at all demographics, but in the case of young people it’s a fun, exciting day they can have with their friends,” he said. “How many places can you really dress up for and have a big day, apart from weddings and the races?
“We’re out to promote our strengths, the fun, the excitement, the great day out with your friends, that’s what we can sell, and great horses, the best available. We’ve also sold it as the grand finals, everyone loves a grand final and the championships are the grand finals of our racing.
“That’s our tagline and we’ll continue to use it. Eventually, I think people will start to see what a great day it is to go to the races. It’s a fantastic day out. Everyone who does go, loves it. The challenge is to get them there in the first place.”
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