No runners today

No runners in the next couple of days.

Time to lock in Sydney dates

Lee Freedman

May 3rd

With the Sydney autumn carnival drawing to a close this weekend, the question on everyone's lips in the Harbour City is: will the autumn racing dates be locked in?

In the past, the carnival revolved around Easter. The Australian Jockey Club meeting always started on the Saturday of the Easter weekend and the carnival flowed on from there, but the equine influenza outbreak pushed back all the race dates this year and the Randwick carnival has been run well after its normal date.

The arguments for locking in the dates for the Sydney Turf Club and AJC carnivals are compelling. For a start, no one would be tied to such a variable date as Easter. Further, sponsors want dates locked in as they feel there is less exposure over the Easter holiday period.

The AJC may well be unlikely to offer up marquee dates such as the Saturday and Monday of Easter weekend without a fight, and this is understandable. But the release of attendance figures from last Saturday — Doncaster-Derby Day — and Golden Slipper Day tell an encouraging tale.

The AJC had 34,850 through the gates last Saturday, which was above expectations, and the STC had 27,000 patrons on Slipper day. Both figures suggest that a move to fixed dates could work.

Then there is the problem of clashes. At one stage, we had group 1 races in NSW, Queensland and South Australia on the same day.

The problem was greatly alleviated this year, allowing each racing state to get on with its carnivals without being dwarfed by Sydney. It also allowed key horses to compete in various states and thus enhance the quality of the racing there.

While on the figures from Randwick last Saturday, I hope the bean-counters didn't include the lawn party numbers. Sure, the party was held in the Randwick racecourse precinct, but it was at the back of the corporate chalets and I guarantee none of the attendees had any interest in the racing. Furthermore, the beat of the "doof doof" music drove tent-hoppers mad.

On a disturbing note for lovers of stayers, Saturday's Derby result sent warning signs to the Australian racing industry. The Kiwis really haven't been competitive in the AJC Derby for years, possibly since the days of Bonecrusher, and yet this year they were able to quinella the race with Nom De Jeu and Red Ruler. And before every Shaky Islander starts screaming Fiumicino, I am talking about New Zealand-bred and trained horses.

This is not the Kiwis' fault, as diminishing prizemoney in NZ has forced the sales of the best horses to Asia. Perhaps with the new government initiatives in NZ, racing will be able to afford to keep more of these horses at home.

This is bad news for Australian breeders, whose obsession with speed has left our staying ranks sadly depleted. Most owners and trainers want a two-year-old, a quick result, but there is plenty of prizemoney in races 2000 metres and beyond. Global giants such as Darley and Coolmore have sent some quality stayers down to shuttle, but the progeny have either been underused or pushed too early as two-year-olds and never reached their potential.

Sadly, the need for speed is becoming a more global phenomenon and opening up the qualifying conditions for races such as the Melbourne Cup only compounds the problem.

Other Stories

Results 1 - 10 of 12 documents

IF YOU asked me for two personal Cox Plate memories, the ones that stick out are the day the green colours went flying through the air.

Log in for all the latest information on your horse and VIP stable news for owners.

The Freedman brothers took a decision in 2002 to switch from a metropolitan training regime to a unique environment on the Mornington Peninsula - they built the world-class complex known as Markdel

Badger discusses Breeding

Breeding for Market and for Racing by Grant Pritchard-Gordon of Badger's Bloodstock

BloodHorse.com

Top Headlines