Weekend Wisdom 1st May 2016

Reflections for Rudy

The Hawkesbury stand-alone appears an idiosyncratic article. How is it best appraised, in both micro and macro terms?

We need look no further than raw turnover to perceive its status as a loss-leader for the racing industry.

The weekend prior witnessed a generic offering at Rosehill; $720k purse generated win pools totalling just over $2 million, $2.87 wagered per dollar of prize. The visible drizzle for the programme’s duration was surely a minor hindrance.

Benign conditions greeted a Hawkesbury card with an $1165k purse designed to retain some of the northbound caravan class, if only as far as the upper Hunter in a fortnight. Alas the flashier candidates just failed to match their inferiors of seven days previous with win pools tallying just under $2 million. A wagering return of $1.71 per dollar of prize looks decidedly wan.

After eleven years and a radical track modification, Hawkesbury clearly cannot earn its keep as a betting offering.

The value of Hawkesbury’s feature must therefore reside as a showpiece.

In this light, RacingNSW’s decision to grant the wishes of an endlessly supplicating Hawkesbury Race Club has some merit.

RacingNSW is charged by Act of Parliament as guardian of the public interest in the cherished institution of Thoroughbred Horse Racing. A Clarendon showcase of the marvels of the Turf for the denizens of the Hawkesbury certainly fits the bill.

Imagine then, that the Hawkesbury feature race meeting each year is “our” opportunity to inspire a passionate response from the local community offering the potential for lifelong engagement with a wonderfully intriguing pursuit.

As a showcase, the medium is the message. We are not selling nostalgia.

Hawkesbury’s atmosphere is redolent of a community festival, its homespun food stalls charming. Now the serious work begins.

Mr Rudolph, that old shed, with its terrible acoustics, dilapidated semaphore, banks of old Cathode Ray Tube TVs impossible to see from a distance, and Sky screens seconds behind the action, must come down. Please.

Make the bookies look good. Stick them on the lawn in front of the grandstand. Their shambolic appearance is deceptive for they are a prized asset of the Racing entity.

And it is no longer OK for important functions to fail. That is barely 20th century behaviour. Kindly renovate the Electronic Timer. Your timepiece asserted Danish Twist to be a length and a half superior to Nancy when the reverse is true.

Most importantly, position the cameras so that your patrons are not befuddled by the sight of horses head-on until the winning post looms.

The enthusiasts we need you to attract will learn quickly that these are important considerations.

We all carry the responsibility of demonstrating Thoroughbred racing in an attractive, modern and accessible fashion. The “Easter Show” look is inappropriate.

Clarendon Capers

The racing that was conducted Saturday last is best described as enigmatically inscrutable.

Race One, the Highway, saw the winner make all, close enough to the running rail, pursued by a resumer who had fenced up throughout.

Two races later, the winner of the 2yo is skirting the outside fence. In the subsequent flying, the strong tempo is such that the almost indian file configuration processes in an orderly fashion to the grandstand side of the home straight.

Next we are greeted with the sight of Better Not Blue being crowded for room on the outside running rail. Riders in their haste to track wide allowed the inside division to accompany them easily into the preferred ground.

Eerily, the Mares feature appears conducted at a different track. The previous four results are set aside as Two Blue struts her stuff in front, railing confidently. The chattering classes have had their fill of Big Brown’s daughter, Nancy, but winning punters unerringly target her. She fences up, peels off the leaders back and finds the line. Barriers 1-4 monopolize the finish.

The Hawkesbury Cup ignores what it has witnessed, to resume normal transmission. Running line runs one-three, sandwiching Mighty Lucky who has become a Super-Equine with the removal of his lifetime rider.

Finally, the penultimate and the nightcap are processions for their respective leaders.

It would seem that all Saturday’s contestants endured a robust hit-out, but the finishing orders appear fragile for future consideration.

Warrnambool / Wagga Wagga week

The first week in May has long hosted the traditional observance in rural NSW and Victoria, accompanied in sympathy by a brace of eastern seaboard programmes.

May 2016 has opened with Kembla Tuesday; 8 races – 84 acceptors, Warwick Farm Wednesday; 7 races – 84 acceptors, and Gosford; 8 races – 70 acceptors. Busy eh?

We appear to have well and truly dispensed with Labor Day in Queensland, the home state itself offering a “couldn’t be bothered” Ipswich card.

May 1989 saw a period of inclemency that threatened cancellation of race meetings. Nonetheless, we began that week on the Monday at Randwick, allied with the feature Doomben meeting; 9 races – 162 acceptors, journeyed to Kembla on Tuesday for 10 races – 133 acceptors, back to Canterbury on Wednesday; 9 races – 128 acceptors, thence to Wyong, another 10 races – 158 acceptances.

There would appear no prospect of a return to such buoyant times.

Interestingly, all meetings were run on Heavy surfaces, with mostly the emergencies not required. Canterbury for example put the pen through only 20 runners. Today’s rain-affected meetings suffer a decimation foreign to earlier times.

Remember the Equitrack

The following article appeared in the Autumn of 1989, extolling the virtues of Rosehill’s outer artificial surface, the “Equitrack”.