GALLOPERS PUNTING ARTICLES
Quality Distance Races - A Thing of the Past
How many Group 1 open age races over distances beyond 2200m are there in Australia?
Think about it, open age, not restricted to 3yos, open age. So that excludes Derbies & Oaks.
We will stand corrected however in 2009/10 we believe there are now only 3. The Melbourne Cup, the Caulfield Cup and the H E Tancred Stakes (I know, I know, the BMW, yuk). Three Group 1 events of 2400m or longer in the entire racing calendar. Not one other major Cup race, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide or Perth retains Group 1 status. In fact, racing administrators have in their wisdom reduced the distance of the Brisbane & Perth Cups to a mere 2400m from the traditional 3200m in recent years.
What a tragic and sad indictment on our great industry this has become. Breeders are now influenced by race schedulers and leading studs to breed only speed machines to run as 2yos where the multitude of prize money now exists. We see an influx of New Zealand bred horses for all the major staying races and at Cup time in the spring we are now inundated with Asian, European & USA thoroughbreds to try to steal our major prize, the Melbourne Cup.
Call us traditionalists, call us old fashioned, call us whatever you wish, the fact still remains distance races in Australia are headed for doomsville unless appropriate action is taken by racing authorities. If the trend continues, in 20 years not only will all Derby & Oaks winners be coming from the Shaky Isles, it will be a novelty to have an Australian entrant in our greatest race, the Melbourne Cup.
Race administrators won't schedule more staying races on the calendar because they attract a poor quality and lower quantity of horse. This affects the omnipotent turnover to which all racing authorities bow and scrape. We see it every Saturday in Sydney, Brisbane or Perth when a 2400m race is scheduled. Clubs receive barely a handful of entries, the race is the first or second on the program so it doesn't affect quaddies or big 6 attraction for punters. Most provincial and country meetings do not schedule any races of over 1600m in distance.
Breeders throughout the country want speedy returns on their investment. Yearling purchasers also want speedy returns on their investments, therefore breeders only breed sprinters, and yearling purchasers only buy likely 2yo speedsters. The breeding of stayers has been left lamenting back in the 1970s & 1980s
So where do horses bred to run a journey end up? Most either in Victoria for a jumping career, whose existence is currently under great threat, in a paddock doing nothing for the rest of their lives, a few gain a start as a show jumper but have to be perfectly correct to obtain this opportunity, or, where most end up, being sent to the nearest knackery.
What will happen to races such as the Melbourne Cup in years to come? Will racing authorities reduce the distance to appeal to a different type of horse? What would traditionalists like us think of a Melbourne Cup being run over 2000m? In our view if this were to happen the entire structure and existence of the industry would be in serious doubt.
It makes us cringe when we see a time honoured race such as the Brisbane Cup not only being run over 2400m, but not even being adorned with the Group 1 tag. Tulloch must turn over in his grave every time he sees this.
Traditionalists we may well be, however where would this industry be without its history? Without the memory of horses such as Tulloch, Kingston Town, Rain Lover, Might And Power, Phar Lap, all champions over staying distances, all etched in racing folklore.
How many sprinters are in the top 4 or 5 Australian horses of all time? How many are stayers? The top 4 are arguably Phar Lap, Bernborough, Kingston Town, & Tulloch, and although all won over a sprint course, they were all at their best in staying races. Throw in Makybe Diva, Northerly, even Sunline was at her best over the 2000m of the Cox Plate.
And how many of these speedy 2yos that amass mountains of prize money early in their career go on to become legends of the turf by the end of their careers? Leave that one with us, we may be able to think of one in the coming months.
There needs to be a serious review of race scheduling in Australia, and it has to happen now because it will be too late in 5 years time. By then, there simply won't be any distance races scheduled on a Saturday. Administrators need to attract owners & trainers with staying types to city class meetings and they have to reduce the number of restricted 2yo events staged for horses purchased from a particular sale.
Do we think this will happen? Not a bloody snowflakes chance of surviving in hell, but someone has to say something about this issue.
Stayers are a dying breed in Australia, their revival needs to be swift & potent. It's up to racing administrators to change for the better what they themselves have created.
Good luck & profitable punting to all . . . . .
