Self-interest will be the death of horse racing in Australia.
While there’s no reason to think the industry is going to fall off the perch any time soon, alarm bells are starting to ring based on recent movements.
The most recent was the announcement by Racing NSW that it would have a $45-million spring carnival program to compete directly with Melbourne’s historic events.
Although there has been nothing scheduled to do battle with the Melbourne Cup, Racing NSW boss Peter V’Landys made it clear that he wants to make Sydney the capital of Australian racing.
Which is great if you are training a horse in Sydney and probably even good news if you are in Melbourne, but it’s not so great if you are in Queensland or South Australia.
Australian racing does not revolve around Victoria and NSW. Sure, they have always been the main jurisdictions for the industry, but the racing ecosystem has always revolved around having a competitive playing field in South Australia and Queensland.
More prizemoney in elite races in Melbourne and Sydney does not do anything for the sport. It doesn’t create more champions and it probably won’t attract a whole lot more newcomers to the industry.
But what it will do is effectively kill racing in Queensland and South Australia. It won’t be immediate, but it will do it over a long period of time. A death by a thousand cuts.
Racing at Eagle Farm – one of Queensland’s premier race tracks. (AAP Image/Albert Perez)
And when you kill off racing in two major states, you will actually harm racing in Victoria and NSW.
Look at the trainers and jockeys competing in Melbourne and Sydney this Saturday. It is not full of Victorians and New South Welshman.
There are a number of Cane Toads, Sandgropers and Croweaters. Even our biggest trainer is a Kiwi.
I was speaking to an old mate of mine from Mount Isa last week.
Andrew Saunders and his family have owned horses for years and have been one of the biggest players in the north-west Queensland non-TAB racing circuit.
His father Graeme is a renowned bookie and his mum Lenore was the listed owner of Le Chef when he won the Magic Millions 2YO race.
Racing in that part of the world is not far from being in dire circumstances.
You see, virtually all the horses trained out of Mount Isa, Cloncurry, Julia Creek etc are tried racehorses. Horses that couldn’t quite make the cut in Brisbane or Victoria and NSW.
Ten years ago, you could buy a tried horse from Ballarat and truck it up to outback Queensland for $15,000 and win a handful of races.
You wouldn’t get rich but you’d have some fun and probably cover your costs.
Now, with the prizemoney so high in the southern states, buying a horse from Ballarat might cost $50,000 and you just won’t see that kind of return when racing for $6500 to the winner.
This is what Andrew said last week: “It’s not just the prizemoney increases – it’s the fact they are paying down to tenth place down there.
“If a horse wasn’t winning races, owners would move them on and we’d be able to buy them at a decent price. Now they just keep them and run them around picking up cheques for finishing fifth and sixth.”
While there have been some great additions to the Racing NSW calendar – The Everest was a brilliant idea and is virtually self-funded – I don’t understand what Mr V’Landys is doing in Sydney.
Sure, we want to see more great races, but competing directly with Victoria makes no sense.
There’s much more to Australian racing than just Sydney and Melbourne. (AAP Image/James Ross)
Punters want to see the best horses running against one another, not avoiding each other for easier shots at big prizemoney.
Victoria Racing Club chair Amanda Elliott spoke on the radio on Tuesday morning and wasn’t far off the mark.
“I’m getting to the stage where I am actually getting a little over the whole thing and a bit frustrated and a bit angry because we actually do have a responsibility to the sport of racing in Australia,” she said.
“At the end of the day, the Australian racing industry is the one we care about.
“So, this kind of single-minded determination to knock off Victoria infuriates me, to be honest.
“This glorious sport is in some way demeaned by this rather unnatural amount of prizemoney that is getting thrown at one or two races.”
Mr V’Landys fired back with: “The Victorian participants should be thanking NSW because without us all the millions of dollars in prizemoney increases in Victoria wouldn’t have happened.
“The Melbourne Cup and Cox Plate hadn’t moved up in prizemoney for years and all of a sudden they’ve realised they’ve got to return money to their participants.
“Out of every negative there’s a positive and the positive is that the participants in Victoria are now getting proper returns.”
The rich are just getting richer with this kind of thinking.
Top races don’t need any more money thrown at them. More money won’t increase the calibre of horses.
Don’t reward mediocrity, stop paying past fourth place and allow smaller racing states to be able to stand on their own feet and be competitive.
If you were Rob Heathcote, how could you possibly attract owners to race their horses in Brisbane?
Remember, the trainer of Black Caviar came from a tiny country town in Queensland. Most horse racing people don’t grow up in suburban Sydney.
Black Caviar wins her final TJ Smith Stakes. (Photo by Steve Christo/Corbis via Getty Images)
The biggest threat to the Australian racing industry is itself and something needs to be done about it.
Nathan Absalom
Roar Guru
I think it's a bigger jump than that. For five of those meetings they go from 2% to 3% (and 2.5% to 3.5%) as they are currently standard meetings, and only for the Spring Champion Stakes day they go from 2.5% to 3.5% and 3% to 3.5%, as they are currently listed races or above. But let's not get into too many details or we'll be at cross-purposes and miss the point. I don't want to knock V'landys, but get people to think about how and why racing is about to undergo changes on the big racedays, at the flagship meetings, and whether this is a good idea. If I were RacingNSW, I'd have probably done something similar, as the incentives that they have through legislation is now to have many more meetings with a single feature race, very different to the '90's where big races were consolidated into fewer meetings. They also have incentives to place those races on the same day as the traditional features, so we have the $1 million Bondi on Cox Plate day and the Golden Gift on Derby Day, for instance. The trouble is that whatever we think of the corporates, that's where a lot of the punters are. If racing pushes too hard on revenue, and at the moment this is occurring both with increased racefields legislation and point of consumption tax, there will be consequences. First with poorer percentages in the fixed odds markets, and then in the longer term, better incentives for people to bet on sport than racing. I should be clear that the Golden Eagle and Everest aren't part of this equation, but the decision to spread $1 million feature events over as many days as possible is. Also, taking features to Kembla and Newcastle should be applauded, good idea. And, of course, I may be wrong and there is plenty of room to generate more revenue from punters without seeing them head to other forms of betting, but I personally believe that there is an ever-present danger that racing talks itself into taking punters for granted.
no one in particular
Roar Guru
The percentage only increases from 2.5% to 3% for fixed odds and 3% to 3.5% for tote based products (top tote, etc), and only for those not licensed in NSW. Places like the TAB, Top Sport, Elite Bet, etc aren't affected, only the grubs in the NT who don't pay their way as it is. And V'Landys made it known at the launch of the Golden Eagle that it was all about turnover Betfair will be gone from Australia within 18-24 months. Their business model isn't sustainable. They have been running at a loss on Vic racing for years, and they are starting to struggle in the other states
Nathan Absalom
Roar Guru
I'm sorry I missed this article, I was intending to write one on this subject but work is horrendously busy at the moment. The Victoria/NSW thing is a sideshow. A complete sideshow. These decisions are about money, and it's treating punters for mugs. The first question you should ask is why have so many races for a million dollars spread over so many Saturdays? And the answer is that racefields legislation allow RacingNSW the right to charge bookmakers a higher percentage of turnover and profits on an entire meeting if there is a million dollar race on the card. These changes take the number of such days to 14, more than a quarter of Saturday race meetings over the year. So, the second question is why place those days on the same days as the Victorian carnival? And the reason is that when Victoria have big meetings, the turnover on NSW race meetings increase. They don't have to compete with Victoria to be financially successful, they can simply ride the success of the Victorian carnival, they know they can have a race restricted to donkeys unplaced in their last 30 starts and they'll still come out ahead. But it's the punters who will pay with worse markets, fewer offers and more emails of "Dear successful punter, your priveleges of being able to have a decent amount of money on a horse have been removed. Send our regards to Betfair". Finally, the media should at least have the decency to tell punters what's happening and why, rather than treat them for mugs.
no one in particular
Roar Guru
Sydney and Melbourne are where the sponsors are, where the biggest population (hence punters) are, where the big stables are, where the top jockeys are, etc. The English 1000 and 2000 Guineas and the French equivalents are a week apart. The French and English Derby's are on the same weekend,
Omnitrader
Roar Rookie
Racing has never been just Melbourne or Sydney based though, it has always been Australia wide. I’d like to know if there is any Group 1’s in France or Germany during the big English carnivals and vice versa.
Davico
Roar Pro
Think you missed the point. Yes I saw that you are a supporter of the Everest. My issue is that no one seems to write this stuff when Vic racing clubs announce new races that actually do take away from other states carnivals.
no one in particular
Roar Guru
States control their own programming because regulatory bodies, funding and revenue are state based
no one in particular
Roar Guru
Rugby League and Australian Rules did not die when the respective Sydney and Melbourne competitions became national leagues. These sports have gone from strength to strength ever since. There is little evidence to suggest that the opposite will happen in racing. If buying a tried Ballarat horse is no longer financially viable in Mt Isa then it is up to the owners in Mt Isa to adjust.
Davico
Roar Pro
I think this is the key. Get rid of a few of the cheaper group 1s and get a national body to set the program! It used to be great to be able to focus on 1 state for a certain time of year. I know my previous comment may come across as a bit hypocritical but I agree that NSW and Vic in trying to outdo each other are robbing the sport of the other carnivals by encroaching on the other carnivals. And just as I side rant, can we please stop pandering to the breeding industry?! We don’t need racing everyday! It just dilutes the product! And I am sick of seeing 2-3 yo colts retiring after winning a handful of sprint races “retire” just to go to stud to make ownership even more out of reach of the average punter
Matt Nicholls
Expert
Davico if you read this article and others written by me you'd see that I'm a huge fan of The Everest. Racing needed a huge grand final sprint and got one.
Davico
Roar Pro
How is it this only ever comes up when NSW Racing try’s something new? Victorian Racing has been trying to undermine the Autumn Carnival and the big races in other states for 20 years!!! Did not see this article written when the All Star Mike was announced but saw similar ones when the Everest was! The Everest hardly even affects any major races or preps for major races in Vic as there are no Group 1s around the distance in spring carnival!!
max power
Guest
straddy is worth 1,5m and the lead up races 800k. dont think the weak field is anybodies fault
Omnitrader
Roar Rookie
I wonder if they moved the Straddy to maybe 3 or 4 weeks after the all aged stakes, then some of the Sydney carnival horses, especially 3yo's looking for that Group 1 would have an attempt.
Roarpete
Roar Pro
I completely agree. As I wrote the other day, the Brisbane winter carnival is getting shorter and weaker each year. Just look at this year's Stradbroke, won as it was by a very ordinary horse. Horses who may have come up from down south are now being put away for the early start to the spring in Syd and Mel.Very short sighted and harmful to the sport.
tom
Guest
I don't think the states should have control over programming. This should be up to Racing Australia and hopefully it would get rid of farcical situations of say two Grp1 guineas held on the same day or the galaxy and oakleigh plate being a week apart. Also hopefully they can downgrade some of these Group 1 races, I don't think there needs to be five group 1 two year old races, or group 1 lead up races to the main events of the carnivals.