October
JulyWhere are they now?
I’m glad that N. Melvin (25/6) enjoyed the Oakbank experience. Many of those spectators have been going there for decades, and their parents went before them.
The problem is that their attendance doesn’t translate into ongoing support for jumps racing. Yes they screamed when Petushki challenged Vindicating, but they screamed equally for the flat-race finishes.
The question remains: why does investment drop so significantly when a jumps race occurs, even at a "jumps carnival"? Secondly, where have all these jumps followers gone since Oakbank? And Warrnambool?
Punting sustains thoroughbred racing, and jumps racing doesn’t appear to pull its weight.
The Victorian government is now having to subsidise the Living Legends program. Where is the racing museum that was, until recently, in Federation Square? Racing just won’t support anything unless it’s to do with punting.
On Saturday June 25, South Australia conducted a six-horse Grand National Hurdle. The Victorian TAB showed that betting fell 30 percent from the three-year-old event that preceded it, but rose rapidly for the race that came after it (0-94 handicap).
At Warrnambool the following day, one jumps race provided just two horses, and the betting investment barely exceeded the prizemoney. The three jumps races attracted a total of $133,000. The four flat races attracted $510,000 plus a quadrella of $134,000. Given that this was in the "heartland" of jumps racing we’re surely entitled to ask some questions?
Ashford (Vic)