October
MayLighting up
Congratulations to Cranbourne Turf Club for progressive race programming.
The club recently revealed that it was earning extra income from French punters betting on Cranbourne’s Friday night product. It’s breakfast time Friday in Europe, yet they still bet on Cranbourne races.
This suggests more Aussie race clubs should add an income stream by lighting up and doing deals with offshore TABs, especially within the closer Asian timezone.
Obviously we don’t want to alienate our local racing participants but if clubs can gain many more new fans than they lose, and if the extra income stream makes it feasible, surely change is worth considering.
Number one on my revamp list would be Gold Coast Turf Club. They race every Saturday, which is way too much for a turf track to handle — not surprisingly the surface is often maligned.
An inner synthetic racetrack would be too small, so I would bite the bullet and make the course proper synthetic, and install lights. Then the club could race every Friday and Saturday evening in front of many regulars, building a tourist/party crowd and an offshore market.
Randwick’s Kensington also seems a logical lit synthetic racetrack in waiting. Its inner Sydney location seems ideal for Friday or Saturday evening party-crowd racing.
The ATC could then fully utilise its new grandstand facilities, and when it’s too wet, instead of losing meetings Sydney would have an all-weather alternative racing venue.
Morphetville Parks seems another obvious lit synthetic option. Adelaide could build a party crowd on Friday or Saturday evenings, if not up against the footy.
In Perth and/or Brisbane the clubs could close one track and consolidate the facilities of the other with a synthetic inner (or main) racetrack, preferably lit.
The MRC could save a fortune by closing Sandown after building an inner synthetic racetrack at Caulfield, if it isn’t too small.
Being a lover of synthetic I’d rip up the turf and go synthetic on the main track, but with many still nostalgic about turf and historic racetracks, that may not happen any time soon.
Warm locations are ideal for evening racing, while the colder areas can do it in summer.
Progressive clubs in warm areas may therefore be interested in fully utilising the investment and going year round — Newcastle, Gosford, Hawkesbury, Darwin, anyone?
If race clubs are at least considering these type of things, and not just same old, same old, I’m confident Aussie racing will not only survive, but prosper.
Gold Coast (Qld)