Let’s cut straight to the chase and no sarcasm this week! Anything that is a positive to increasing attendances at the races should be supported and the 30 min trial in Victoria is a great move.
The shortening to 30 minutes between races is something that will be explored at Caulfield with full support of the Melbourne Racing Club – although I am pretty sure we will not be seeing 30 minute gaps at Flemington, for example.
Likewise I am sure the MRC won’t be having a 30 min gap before the Blue Diamond or the Caulfield Cup to maximise turnover.
It was interesting to note comments from Greg Carpenter referring to Victoria as the state for innovation and this 30 minute trial is one for innovation. Certainly we encourage any and all innovations – but obviously within constraints.
This has had ramifications for other states with direct clashes in races between Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide metropolitan races and short gaps at other times. Any delays will see things turn into a shambles.
As I said in our last column:
“And I predict this situation will only get worse as Victoria goes on its own with the raceday clock as it aims to reduce the time between races as evidenced by an upcoming trial which will cause conflicts with other thoroughbred races across Australia and thus on the coverage of Sky 1.”
So where does that leave us? The other states really don’t have an option as Racing Victoria fully backed with support from the Melbourne Racing Club and the financial results of some positive wagering data are going to go ahead with this and will be a standard for Pakenham and Moonee Valley night races – and that will generate customer feedback, expected to be positive.
What will other jurisdictions, including Racing NSW, Racing Queensland, media outlet Sky Racing to do? They may just have to work around the times I would suggest.
It’s still a better innovation test than putting the major race of the day as the last race, which was tried against pretty good advice, and failed.
The racing jurisdiction without a board, Racing QLD, was busy this week putting together a draft racing calendar for next season that includes a return to racing on Tuesday’s in the Sunshine State.
This is going to increase turnover by seven per cent, as stated in the release. RQLD participants wish it was that easy. Anyway a step in the right direction but if somebody does not suggest and get night racing at the Gold Coast pronto – well, I give up.
My column asking for turnover figures for the Magic Millions raceday caused a stir, with RQLD eventually releasing a press release that was short on exact detail and figures. I even got a call from the shadow racing minister asking where I get my info from.
I asked Tatts for comments regarding a 20% increase in turnover and the response was “As you will appreciate, being a listed company, we are restricted in what information we can release. Our turnover on the Gold Coast Magic Millions meeting was up more than 20 per cent (just to clarify – that’s more than, not exactly 20 per cent).
“We had strong promotional support in place for this meeting, including a $1.5mil guaranteed quaddie pool, money back for 2nd and 3rd (up to $50) on all ten races, as well and increased and improved facilities on-course, all of which helped contribute to the strong performance.”
I went back to them with a copy of the Tabcorp release following the Melbourne Cup, so we now know what a listed company can disclose.
I pointed out only 9 races – up from 8 in 2015, so on the basis of the information disclosed and no reply to refute from UBET, we are forced to report that turnover was flat on Magic Millions day on a race by race basis.
Tabcorp also reported good positive numbers this morning for the half year July to Dec 2015, even if they were flat. Here’s the release to the ASX.
Main items include wagering revenue up 1.8% in total, with tote betting down 3.7%, but fixed odds up 19.6%. Luxbet revenue fell 5.7% and the saviour for Queensland, Trackside, down 2.9%.
The investment in the new UK platform SunBet, costs associated with possible merge with Tatts, and the partnership with Longitude for innovation in tote pooling technology, were interesting side comments.
Tabcorp has 420,000 account customers, up 5%. Would be interesting to know how many of these also have a corporate account.
We look forward to Tatts/Ubet results!
Nathan Absalom
Roar Guru
It wasn't particularly difficult to figure out what answer they wanted from that survey.
kv joef
Guest
the welfare of the national industry is at stake, either a practical 30min schedule is worked-out or the progress that has been made in the last 3 years will turn into chaos. anyone receive that childish survey emailed by vicracing? ... i know vicracing needs justification for their bloody-mindness and what better way than to start a 'conversation' where any participant had little choice but to agree in some form the 30min had merit. ,,, the probable result will be that vicracing could go into any racing-interests meeting armed with biased 'survey' evidence? on a another tact, someone asked me whether the smaller non-vic regional clubs could sue vicracing for loss of revenue or certainly bring an injunction against the state-racing body to halt this stupidity. Apparently, everybody is a 'business' these days and there are laws that cover smaller entities protection against monoliths unfairly attacking their business and revenues. work it out for the national interests.
Razzar
Guest
On a Saturday with 30 minute times between races, there is at least 10 gallop races. One every 3 minutes. With the odd distraction, the punter has less time in doing fast form. Turnover will be the loser. If something's adopted universally, I believe 34 minute spacings would be more appropriate. That allows times for reshoeing and the odd protest. But at 30 minutes, the corporates won't get thier usual turnover. Us punters don't usually bet just because we like thier name.
andrew
Guest
michael. i agree. i think this is what vic want. they cannot garner the support from the other states (esp NSW) as they are locked into long term contracts with sky. sky want to show you dalby, sapphire coast, etc...and thus prefer the 40 min breaks. these country meeting are important for the local communities and should not be lost, so i suggest sunday becomes the 'round the clock' day of high volume (low quality) racing. and on saturday we run just 1 meeting in each state capital and showcase it. i agree running races at fixed times (ie, you know race 6 from melb will always be at 3pm) is good. but i think it does present some challenges with the seasons and sunset times. you cant be running race 9 from melb at 5:30pm in winter, for example, but the more cohesion the better.
michael steel
Guest
It would be nice if this innovation was done a national basis and not just a Melbourne basis, but that seems to be how racing operates. As a punter I would think that Friday night racing could be a combined effort between Moonee Valley, Canterbury and either Toowoomba or Sunshine Coast , but no, one week it's one meeting the next 3 meetings and the third week 2 meetings. I've also found it strange (like for 40 years) that e.g Saturday race meetings always start at different times, daylight savings excepted. It's like there's a coin toss each week for the starting times. How practical would a system like this be every week? iMelbourne Race1 to start at 12.00 noon, Sydney Race 1 to start at 12.10 pm Brisbane Race 1 at 12.20 pm Adelaide Race 1 at 12,30pm Brisbane Race 2 at 12.35pm I'm sure all punters have had that day when they've missed an early race because they got the time wrong.
andrew
Guest
the comments about safety are laughable from v'landys. andrew eddy gives a rebut of this. i would add further they race with 30min gaps in honk kong where surely the weather is more oppresive. i dont think anyone seriously is taking those comments are a legitimate reason. and then v'landys says its even worse in staying races for the jockeys. LOL. they dont run many staying in races in syd. and if they do, its a field of 6, where they go 13sec a furlong (track gallop) and sprint home the last 600m. but this is largely peripheral. firstly, racing vic, had already said they would hold for syd and other places if there was a clash. v'landys then saw a good opportunity to score some points and change their time 3 mins for the 1 clash. there was never going to be a 'clash'. just wall to wall coverage - exactly what sky want (except when its 'wall to wall' vic and syd). for me, im a MRC member, and i support this move. i wont be there on sat. but will next sat. but, i have swimming lessons at 9am, milo cricket at 9:30am, i do the shopping for the missus with the kids after than. the lady boss then has some household jobs lined up for me from about 11:30am, and by 1:30pm i am free to watch the races. this model is fully supported by someone of my demographic. and of course, the serious punter that makes up 90% of turnover, is going to bet regardless. i hope in a few years time we look back and say, this is where it started. when a day at the races (ok, bar the big feature days, i understand the difference there) be it on the track, at home or at the pub, means you can watch the entire card in a 4 hour period, and all of aust is operating to a 30 min clock, with 5m to 8m gaps between races nationwide in the capitals.
Jason Cornell
Guest
quick update. NSW first to blink with changes to starting time to avoid direct clash. But some pretty interesting comments. Hard to have a 30 min trial in NSW now? Randwick Race Four Run Earlier In A Win For Punters Racing NSW and the Australian Turf Club today announced a variation in the scheduled starting time for Race 4 at Royal Randwick this Saturday by three minutes earlier to 2.27pm. The change in race time for the TBNSW Breeders Classic (1200m) is in order to avoid a direct clash with race 3 from Caulfield, which is scheduled for 2.30pm as part of Racing Victoria’s trial of 30 minutes gaps between races. “While we are disappointed at the unilateral decision by Racing Victoria to run at 30 minute intervals, Racing NSW and ATC are conscious of the impact of race clashes between Sydney and Melbourne on racegoers and punters,” said Racing NSW Chief Executive, Mr Peter V’landys AM. “Our customers are the lifeblood of racing and Racing NSW has taken the decision in this instance to move forward by three minutes to ensure that punters can wager on and watch both races,” Mr V’landys added. The Australian Turf Club welcomed the change and said it wanted to ensure the interests of racegoers and all punters were put first. “It was clear that leadership was needed to ensure a clash in race times is avoided between Sydney and Melbourne. Although attending Royal Randwick, many racegoers as well as punters off-course also enjoy the coverage of racing from meetings throughout Australia,” said ATC Chief Executive, Mr Darren Pearce. Although the change creates a shorter gap between races 3 and 4 at Royal Randwick, this is manageable because Race 4 has Randwick’s smallest field of the day with seven acceptors. The situation is also aided by Race 3 at Royal Randwick being the shortest of the day, run over 1000m. “Racing NSW desires spacing between races of 35 to 40 minutes, however, circumstances assist in being able to run a shorter gap on this occasion to meet our objective of making the best racing offering for punters,” said Mr V’landys. “We are able to make this change to separate the two largest wagering race meetings, other clashes appear imminent and the day’s racing could become chaotic,” Mr V’landys added. Racing NSW stressed that the decision to move earlier by three minutes was not a forerunner to further change, with 30 minute intervals suited only to night racing or on the rare occasion where races may be delayed. “For several reasons, participants at race meetings across NSW need a reasonable time to professionally present race meetings in a timely fashion, without compromising safety. Additionally cramped intervals are simply not conducive to wagering nationally on thoroughbred racing.”