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The nominations for the Dubai World Cup carnival were released earlier this week and, for the first time in recent years, not one Australian or New Zealand horse was among entries for the world’s richest racecard. Not one.
It makes sense – why travel to Dubai, despite their remarkably rich races, when you can target races here that may not be worth as much but are far easier to win?
Perhaps it’s the first big indicator that Racing NSW’s The Championships is likely to be a success of sorts, getting the best that Australasia has to offer.
That said, there were a number of hints already – for example, a weakened Orr Stakes that was light on numbers.
However, while there will be a lot of back-patting at Racing NSW, it seems it will only be to the detriment of the Australian racing industry that we won’t be represented at what is widely considered the world’s best meeting.
Australians are a parochial bunch. We’re willing to believe our racing product is among the best in the world, when really, it is struggling to keep up with the growing Asian monster.
Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore are all quickly moving past Australia, both in terms of turnover and interest.
We’re steadfast in our belief that Australia’s horses can match the best in the world on any given day, but apart from our sprinters and the random topliner, we are no match for the Europeans.
It’s the Americans that have always been criticised for their insular nature – lasix, the dismissal of turf racing, a belief that the Breeders’ Cup is the world championships of racing. But Australia’s industry is slowly moving down the same path.
In an era of international racing, where warhorses like Red Cadeaux run in seven countries in a year, it seems absurd that Australia seems to be turning its back on the world stage – only hoping others visit while not travelling to global carnivals.
Sadly, Australia has been wide of the mark on so many occasions. Our sprinters are world-class, but beyond a mile we struggle to measure up.
In the last 15 years, other than our sprinters, only our topliners have managed to win against the world’s best.
This could change if we had more trainers with the conviction and the ambition to succeed abroad. But so many are of the opinion that Australia’s racing is the best in the world, so why travel?
It sounds more like ‘we can’t be bothered travelling’. Parochialism to the fore.
Soon the day will come when an Australian trainer decides to forego local riches for a crack at the world’s best. I hope when that happens they are applauded, not derided.
Australian administrators must learn you can’t expect to attract the world’s best if you don’t travel your horses abroad too. It’s a simple give-and-take proposition.
Put it this way – we don’t want to end up with the same syndrome as American racing. Otherwise, you might as well sound the Last Post now.
Big Philou was at the centre of one of racing’s biggest scandals when he was poisoned and scratched minutes before the 1969 Melbourne Cup as a heavy favourite. He joins The Roar more than four decades later to give his take on racing and maybe create some more controversy.
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