October
MarchSmall is beautiful
There’s been a fair bit of commentary around prizemoney amongst Your Say’s regular contributors lately. Reading the various opinions, I found myself wondering how many of these guys have owned racehorses.
I’m in the ownership of four horses, two city class stayers and two jumpers and for the record I’m not an investment banker, I’m just a school teacher.
As the learned contributors to this publication would know (or maybe they don’t?), owning horses is not cheap. It’s a mug’s game. A monetary black hole. A bottomless pit … you get the idea.
What helps make it possible for a humble public servant to participate in the industry to the extent that I do, is the prizemoney available in Victoria for average horses.
It doesn’t mean any of my horses run at a profit but it makes the losses manageable. Provincial races worth $35,000 pay $700 down to 10th and midweek metro races worth $50,000 pay $1000 down to 10th.
This at least covers the cost of taking the horse to the races and, if you’re lucky, pays for a few celebratory lemonades. I wouldn’t be able to afford to engage in my hobby to the extent I do in South Australia, where they race for a fraction of the prizemoney but training costs remain comparable. It makes a big difference.
What doesn’t make a difference is whether the Cox Plate is worth $5 million or $3 million or if the Melbourne Cup is worth $7million or $4 million. It has no impact on punters, it has no impact on the social set and has no impact on the top end of town who generally contest these races.
Do you think Lloyd Williams particularly cares how much the Cup is worth? Would he stop entering runners if it was “only” worth $3 million?
The big dogs will still compete in these races for the prestige and value it adds to mares and entires in the breeding barn.
The All-Star Mile would be no less appealing to participants, punters and the public alike if it was worth $2 million, as opposed to $5 million.
The big states throwing outrageous sums of money at gimmick races and group races is little more than a pissing contest.
It is the small owners that keep this industry healthy and it is the David versus Goliath battle that makes it interesting, unless you think watching Godolphin horses race against each other every day makes for good racing?
Camberwell (Vic)