Archive
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
Letter of the Week

Splash more cash

 

There was a time when good race meetings took lace on public holidays. With some exceptions, that is no longer the case.

The Melbourne Racing Club meeting at Mornington on June 11 was terrible, with midweek prizemoney on offer for every race. Surely there should have been some races with normal Saturday prizemoney.

The Melbourne Racing Club seems to be rather frugal with its prizemoney overall, despite having access to money from numerous poker machines.

It conducts the two lowest-money Group 1 races in Victoria, the Toorak Handicap and the Rupert Clarke Stakes, and how those two handicap races retain their rating is beyond explanation.

The MRC’s Blue Diamond Stakes prizemoney has been roughly the same for 15 years and the Caulfield Guineas has remained at its present level for quite a while.

The Caulfield Cup, once indisputably the second-richest race in the country, looks like dropping to number five or six now that New South Wales is about to increase its prizemoney greatly.

It is about time the Melbourne Racing Club loosened its purse strings.

Hugh Fraser
Frankston South (Vic)
Today's Racing
Thursday 28 March
Friday 29 March
Saturday 30 March