The Everest is big for racing!.. By Bruce Clark

Commander in Chief Peter V’landys is in safe hands on the radio this week with Alan Jones (you can listen to it on the Racing NSW website).

Jones introduces the RNSW supremo with “he has done more for racing than anyone”  and “this bloke is very bright, he’s forgotten more than most of us know”.

And all this to talk about the V’landys driven game changer, the inaugural $10m TAB The Everest.

“There is only one man we can thank…” says Jones – so you get the idea.

He does reveal though a little in-secret – that PVL has ‘shares in purple shirts’ to which he replies “you buy one purple suit from the Salvation Army and you are never able to live it down”, then threatens to wear it to Royal Randwick on Saturday as the friendly banter continues amid the flagrant noise surrounding The Everest.

One thing Jones has right is when he says “this is big”.

But it is not just big in the sense of the race, this is big for racing, and putting aside the parochial fire of the week and the build-up, The Everest alongside Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas day with its four genuine Group 1 events, is big for racing. It’s important for racing and some relevance.

For all the back slapping and glad handing about what might happen, this is a day racing needs to engage with – not just its own soldered on audience, but shake up some new ones.

If The Everest can do that, then it is good for racing. And no-one can deny the “throw everything at it” media avalanche (pardon the pun) to let everyone know it is on, gives racing, not just The Everest, a chance to do that.

Unlike the sport’s main annual Racehorse of The Year Awards (Winx won the major!) held in Brisbane last weekend. Who knew it was on? Whose fault is that? What should have been a celebration about all that is excellence in racing, was nothing more than a private party. Racing has enough of its own racing television channels but none could show it.

Which is one of the core issues this week with the ‘he said- she said’ school yard barney about the race times for The Everest v Caulfield Guineas (primarily) and the whole day in total.

Channel  7’s main channel will broadcast both meetings on Saturday and can showcase the sport better than racing.com’s Melbourne coverage (which incorporates Adelaide as well) and Sky’s Thoroughbred Central (which takes in Brisbane content).

But there is only 15 minutes from the first Everest – which I will take Winx odd’s runs a minute or two late to maximise wagering – into the Caulfield Guineas where lead-in mounting yard and wagering information is vital for punters.

So how can 7 capture the moment of the winners and elation at the summit of The Everest post-race with the appropriate regards for the Caulfield Guineas.

 

Enter the white noise with New South Wales blaming Victorian authorities about the failure to reach an agreed on 20 minute solution, and Victorian’s replying  vice-versa. The answer remains stark, questioning racing’s relevance and ability in handling its best product.

Try this exchange:

V’Landys: “Unfortunately they wouldn’t change their times. We tried and they were set on what they wanted and we couldn’t accommodate it.”

Shaun Kelly (Racing Victoria): “Victoria made an offer to NSW for both to change race times at a meeting in their state to facilitate a 20-minute gap between The Everest and Caulfield Guineas, one that would not impact on race times in any other state, but this was unfortunately declined by NSW.”

Racing needs The Everest to generate something new about a sport built on tradition. But it needs the Caulfield Guineas day as much to underscore why that tradition is so important and aspirational for all involved to climb to the top.

Which is to also say you can’t just enlist the media (not the supposed Melbourne mafia acting as 17-year-olds – as mentioned in Sydney this week) to campaign for tearing up Racing Australia’s membership of the Asian Racing Federation and its pattern to get black type for a race restricted to horses on slot holders whims.  (The Magic Millions still only retains an almost whimsical “restricted” listed status despite its rich history on the track and via the breeding industry).

So what will we learn from Saturday and how can racing capitalise on not just the wider media exposure, but the having a Sydney focus as deep as a Melbourne one on a premium spring race day clear of any real other sport intervention.

RNSW is hoping for up to 40,000 at Randwick but bums on seats is long gone as a measure of popularity or engagement. That said – that’s a mighty vote of confidence in the event (perhaps not the races) – when 27,000 for The Championships headlined by Winx is a modern day Sydney benchmark.

“Flemington’s Birdcage will be made to look like a suburban aviary this weekend when The Everest,  the world’s richest turf race, takes over Royal Randwick,” wrote the Daily Telegraph.  I will let that one go – just wanted to include it for reference.

Vital fashion information for The Everest day colours though  have also been revealed – so fellas it’s white with a touch of blue – before you get to the track.

Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas day will survive on its own appeal both on and off the track and as the Melbourne Racing Club has often pointed out, can only be enhanced from a wagering perspective by having The Everest alongside it. Melbournian’s will turn up, punters around Australia will bet on it.

And it is perhaps wagering which is the primary measure of the day, especially as wagering returns are meant to make up some of the $2.8m shortfall in the prizemoney pool for The Everest – it is written into the terms and conditions of the 12 slot licensors. So too are sponsorship and television rights, but there has been little information coming from any of this.

So will the share of wagering – that is normally returned to the industry to fund prizemoney primarily – be divvied up amongst the slot holders, nine of whom will run a loss on their first of three $600,000 a year investments with fourth prizemoney at $400,000 (5th – $250,000 and from 6th back – $175,000). Of course the loss is amplified if any slot holder deal with horse’s owners is to share the prizemoney – which it will. Only the Chautauqua slow is owned by the horse’s owners.

As V’landys has said in his overt push to give Sydney something for the spring – it’s all about chasing the competitive gambling dollar.

As he already has moved on to selling slots to The Everest for the 2020 event and beyond – “I could sell another 10 slots no problem right now. I even had a text message [on Tuesday] night from someone asking if they could get a slot.

“I’m telling you I could sell another race and I haven’t even tapped the market.”

So as the climb towards The Everest takes shape – and international competition (equine – not jockeys) along with the supposed $3m revamp of revamp for quarantining  them – will follow, the time for spruiking is up.

Racing as a whole needs The Everest to deliver on a variety of fronts.

“I’ve never seen a sporting event that’s got public engagement like The Everest, it’s been phenomenal,” said PVL to Jones this week.

Let us hope it is. Just as Guineas day at Caulfield will be. And let’s hope there are plenty of people are watching both and more importantly, betting on both. And via that – get some relevance back for racing in the mainstream, not just in talking to itself.

 

 

 

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