October
AugustMetric madness
Shane Templeton’s recollections of the “metrification” of Australian racing (3/8) reminds me that the great Bert Bryant told ’em to go jump. The Melbourne Cup was “The Big Two-Miler” and that’s what he would continue to call it.
The all-powerful Metric Conversion Board came down on him and threatened serious consequences. For peace’s sake, Bert relented. But he was not happy.
Moonee Valley’s famous “six furlongs less 20 yards” was consigned to history. Race distances had to be converted to the nearest 100-metre equivalent — NO odd amounts.
What a joke that turned out to be. Now we can have races run over 1118 metres or some other non-standard distance, usually caused by rail movements — which did not exist in Bert’s day.
Personally, I reckon they should never have fiddled with the Melbourne Cup distance. It’s iconic: two miles (3218m). No sense of history, some people.
Bah, humbug!
Geelong West (Vic)