Horse Racing

An equestrian sport that has been practiced over centuries, most notably in the Roman Empire, Horse Racing is now often considered as the sport of kings. In modern times, Horse Racing still finds itself as an integral part of the sporting calendar, most notably in the United States, France and Australia. The Kentucky Derby in the USA, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in France and the Melbourne Cup in Australia, are probably the three most important horse racing events in the world. The Melbourne Cup in particular is billed as ‘the race that stops a nation’. It is the richest and most prestigious “two-mile” handicap in the world, and the second richest turf race in the world.

If ever you required any proof why horse racing in NSW is struggling you only had to watch the CEO Peter V’Landys, who was the special guest on the TVN’s Racing Review program on Sunday morning.
Normally he would never expose himself on TVN and the highly intelligent and untouchable Racing Review compare Bruce Clarke [...] Read article

If every punter in New South Wales had a bet from their heart on the outcome of this week’s landmark court case in Sydney, when leading corporate bookie Sportsbet and exchange Betfair take on Racing NSW, then surely it would be a one horse race.
The most important participants in the racing industry are the punters, [...] Read article

I don’t get the Melbourne Cup. Or what’s become at least. I appreciate it as a sporting contest – something that has been long debated – with a storied history intrinsically linked to Australian culture. But what is it really about?
I’m not condemning the event. Anything that has survived since 1861 must be [...] Read article

There are are two ways to punctuate the question: how good were the expert picks for the Melbourne Cup!? The exclamation punctuation suggests that the experts were spot on. But the question mark punctuation, which goes with this Roar, suggests that they were mug punters (like you and me) rather than gurus of the turf.
I [...] Read article

The Mark Kavanagh trained Shocking has won the 2009 Melbourne Cup. Shocking defied a wide run and a challenge from European horse Crime Scene in a strong staying performance.
Shocking paid $9.90 for a win and $3.60 for a place. Runners up were Crime Scene (Kerrin McEvoy) paying $10.80 for a place, and Mourilyan (Glyn Schofield) [...] Read article

Not long after I started work at the Sydney Morning Herald writing editorials, I was told to write one on the Melbourne Cup. I started off with the notion in my head of using the traditional cliche about “the race that stops a nation.”
So I started my editorial by stating that at “3.30 this [...] Read article

It’s Melbourne Cup time again, and the papers are awash with a possible trifecta for Bart Cummings, who has, yes, three runners in the Cup – Viewed, Roman Emperor and Allez Wonder.
Picking the winner of the Melbourne Cup is the damnedest thing going, which is what makes ‘The Cup’ so very special – everyone is [...] Read article

The biggest chances in this year’s Melbourne Cup have come from two extremes in their lead up to the big race. Viewed and Alcopop are two of the favourites to take out the Cup.
The former is trained by Bart Cummings with 56 years experience as a trainer, the latter trained by Jake Stephens, the new [...] Read article

Every year the talk surrounding the Melbourne Cup field seems to centre around the overseas horses that travel to Australia in a bid to steal our Cup. And every year, these same horses disappoint.
Remember the hype surrounding the Irish horses Mad Rush, Septimus, and Profound Beauty last year? Purple Moon and Mahler in 2007? Yeats [...] Read article

“Victoria Racing Club barman Les Taggart’s smiling face greets connections as they arrive in his Flemington bar to celebrate a win”, says the Sunday Age. The Flemington Winners Bar, however, certainly doesn’t look like a place for winners; what with the cream carpet and white walls spotted with old racing photographs.
The carpet used [...] Read article

Strictly speaking this headline is dead wrong. We have a physical activity that is engaged in at a competitive level with a set of fairly clear rules and guidelines.
However it doesn’t take much digging and even less thinking to analyse what really makes this sport tick and how it manages to keep afloat and [...] Read article

I guess it’s the society we live in today – everything is instant gratification. If someone or something can’t get your attention in the first five to ten seconds, you’re outta here!
While playing around on Google, I looked up the US Breeders Cup horse racing series, looking for some related info for a possible upcoming [...] Read article

Congratulations to all Australian jockeys for launching a nation-wide strike, mid-way through Thursday’s race meetings, in protest of the new whip rules.
The horse racing industry has been steeped in controversy since the introduction of the rules on 1st August by the Australian Racing Board (ARB) in response to lobbying by animal welfare groups.
The amended [...] Read article

Betting agencies spitting the dummy over certain matches or framed markets is not an issue for any sports governing body. Or is it?
Betting on sports other than horse racing is a reasonably recent phenomenon in Australia which has developed extensively over the past two decades.
Just recently, there have been some incidents of betting agencies withdrawing [...] Read article

Roger Federer’s win in Paris has a rugby connection. The president of the French Rugby Federation – or should that be Federeration? – is Jean Gachassin, the diminutive halfback who played for Les Bleus 32 times.
Known as Peter Pan, in his playing days he was an inch shorter and 35 pounds lighter than George Gregan. [...] Read article