Slip the Slipper into the Championships

Great posts guys. Just on the old betting auditorium - massive mistake to demolish it. It would have been close to the best betting ring in the world!! The new betting ring is shocking. Impossible to get the best price!! Too many people and not enough room, even on a small day. Flemington leaves Randwick for dead. So does Caulfield and Moonee Valley! Why build a stand with only 1000-1200 seats?? The capacity of the track would have to be half what it was.

Except for the fact that they have no appetising food to speak of, unless you like eating rubbsish and are prepared to queue for 10 mins to get something to eat, with the added insult you have to queue 30 addiitonal minutes for your beer to wash it all down. They should have tendered the catering service to a number of stalls and food trucks to offer some great local dishes. I think they have cottoned on and now you can get some drab chain food takeaway pizza? You talk to any hotelier and they will tell you good food and service is now key. Why is that so hard? Why do I have to walk up 64 flights of stairs to get to what I can only descirbe is a bad RSL experience (except with $8 beers and massive queues). AND WITH IMPEDED VIEW OF THE TRACK! to boot. And if you want to put a bet on, it's just as bad. The pit/ring is deplorable. The previous auditorium was the best in the country. Now it's a pile of $12m rubble. It was only 10 yerars old. The money wasted was shocking. Anyway back to the current ring, there is even a massive beer queue snaking through the entry way just as a fu to Both people wanting to bet on the horses and those who want a drink. And if you want to go watch the horses parade you have to traverse the ring and the beer queue, just to stand out in an exposed barren theatre of the horse that has been designed with some vague reference to ascot, but without local regard for Australian conditions (i.e a sun that sets in the west!! hello????). It's a logistical nightmare even my 5 year old cousin couldn't design. And then just to finish you off, they put the big screen tv's right behind the support columns for the stand. Instead of getting an experienced operator to mange the delivery, they welched on the budget for this and gave it to a firm with no experience in race track delivery. My understanding is that they chose to keep the original footings of the previous stand (to save costs) when the original grand stand was far too narrow for what they were trying to do (which is replicate Flemington and Ascot), save if you have a table at the chairmans lounge as stated above. The result is some half compromised cloning experiment gone wrong. The function rooms and lounge bars are outstanding, credit to them there, but they have basically turned the grandstand into a function centre at the expense of a place for people to sit down and watch the races. The business model was to provide alternate income streams outside of racing, so now we have music festivals that destroy the track, inadequate drainiage and a poor racing experience overall. Most members I speak to are fuming about the mismagement that has occurred. The average punter has been taken for a ride if anyone tells you that the grandstand is an adequate design, but at least if you want your wedding there on a non racing day it will be brilliant.

I agree 100%. As a Member it's extraordinary how bad the viewing experience is, unless you're willing to shell out extra for seats in the Grandview or Champagne Bar or elsewhere. It's been built to maximise revenue, not to maximise the racing experience. Flemington (where I am also a Member) leaves it for dead.

I agree. They should have spent the $150m on the actual track. As a place to watch racing, Randwick has never been worse in my opinion.

If you can get a seat in the Chairman's Lounge it's probably the best grandstand in the world. If you're not one of those 200-odd people... you're going to struggle.

Sorry for slow reply on this. They have put all the money in the high rollers chairmans lounge at the expense of basics facilities for everyone else. It is shameful.

i think you will see the ATC move all the top races towards Randwick, it definitely wasn't a merger more of a takeover. it makes sense to me but old STC members won't like it

Scott, I apologise for getting side-tracked, as I'm occasionally want to do. To answer your question, I think it's better the way it is, with the Slipper & BMW in the week before the Championships. I'd be more inclined to swap the BMW & QE2, but of course, that's not going to happen now with the massive prize money increase for the QE2. Also, the Slipper (1200m) leads nicely into the Sires Produce (1400m) & Champagne Stks (1600m). For 2yo's, I think this progression upwards in distance is especially critical & shouldn't be altered.

Scott, I apologise for getting side-tracked, as I'm occasionally want to do. To answer your question, I think it's better the way it is, with the Slipper & BMW in the week before the Championships. I'd be more inclined to swap the BMW & QE2, but of course, that's not going to happen now with the massive prize money increase for the QE2. Also, the Slipper (1200m) leads nicely into the Sires Produce 91400m) & Champagne Stks (1600m). For 2yo's, I think this progression upwards in distance is especially critical & shouldn't be altered.

The Tancred, wow you are going back before my time there. I think it is more likely to get internationals after than before the QE, kind of like a Side Glance in a Mackinnon. But I do think 2000m is the right distance for the big race. Most of the International Carnivals have this as their main race. These are the horses we are trying to attract. It also is more conducive to deep fields of locals than the 2400m. If we got the quarantine sorted, imagine the publicity if we got a Dubai World Cup winner here. Also really keen to find out Scott what you would do with the rest of the 2yr old triple crown? It is the biggest hurdle to a Randwick Slipper.

I think the rise and rise of the Slipper in terms of prize money and prestige has been negative for the Sydney carnival and indeed Australian racing in general. I think the advent of The Championships is the ideal time to give it a long overdue demotion.

Arrrh the Tancred. Can still see Sammy Howard stretching Tails right out - bringing him home like the Sydney-Newcastle express with a full head of steam. He gave weight all round and served up a thumping. Cashed me up for whack at the galloping grey John's Hope in the Slipper, who i think ran a race record of 1.11+ breaking Eskimo Prince's old mark. Treasured memory. Gee 1.11 ... it was a big deal then ... how things have moved along.

Scott, I don't mind the concept of a 'grand slam' although it is very gimmicky. At least in the way it has been applied to Australian racing. Frankly, I wouldn't mind the Melbourne Spring & Sydney Autumn - our two greatest carnivals - each having their own grand slam. Melbourne Spring grand slam: Melbourne Cup, WS Cox Plate, Caulfield Cup & Victorian Derby. Sydney Autumn grand slam: Golden Slipper, Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Doncaster Hcp & Australian Derby. Though frankly, I would replace the Slipper with the BMW/HE Tancred Stakes/Cup. Or take out both Derbies & replace with say Emirates Stks & BMW/Tancred. But it's still odd having a two-year-old race ranked above three-year-old classics. But that's just my humble opinion.

Scott, Imagine the Olympics 100m final for men & women restricted to 12 year old boys & girls. That's what I think of when i think of the Golden Slipper - a helter-skelter sprint for juveniles. Okay, the best two-year-old race in the world. But are you serious when you say it is our (NSW) best race????? You mention the BMW, which our version of France's Prix de l'Arc & UK's King George Stakes. When I first started following races in the late 60s, I quickly understood, despite the popularity of handicaps in Australia, that the quality of hierarchy was roughly as follows: 1. Distance open age (3y plus) WFA. That is, 2000m & 2400m. 2. Sprint/Mile open age WFA. That is, 1000-1600m. 3. Distance open age Hcps. That is, 2400-3200m. 4. Sprint/Mile open age Hcps. That is, 1000-1600m. 5. Three year old classics - Derby (2400m), Oaks (2400m), 2000 Gns (1600m), 1000 Gns (1600m). 6. Two year old classics - Slipper/Diamond (1200m), Sires Produce (1400), Champagne (1600m). Since then quality races for mares & fillies have been rightly added to the mix. It continues to leave me gobsmacked the Golden Slipper is rated in the top five most valuable purses in Australia. It's a great race, but from a purist's standpoint, there must be another half-a-dozen ahead of it. And the poor old BMW, our Prix de l'Arc of KG Stakes, doesn't even command its original race name - HE Tancred Stakes. Crazy stuff! But I guess that is where Aussie racing is going - two & three year old sprints, then send them straight off to stud to redo the breeding cycle all over again.....