Spring carnival: Melbourne Racing Club won’t give up on major reshuffle
While Racing Victoria has locked in this year’s spring carnival schedule, the Melbourne Racing Club isn’t giving up its push for a shake-up next year. SEE THE 2020 SPRING SCHEDULE
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Undaunted by Racing Victoria’s 2020 spring carnival rebuff, Melbourne Racing Club will renew its ambitious push for change for next year.
MRC racing and membership director Jake Norton said the club believed November could be become a premium timeslot for races such as the Caulfield Cup despite RV blocking moves to shift the 2400m feature from October to the last week in spring.
“We believe November is under-utilised real estate as far as racing in Victoria is concerned,” Norton said. “For the various reasons we have outlined recently, but also for the reasons the likes of Danny O’Brien and other top trainers have explained about the benefit to horses. (It is) rationale that was ignored by their (Australian Trainers’) association in favour of some curious babble about tracks and other oddities. So we’ll be making a similar pursuit as soon as 2021-22 dates are on the agenda.”
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On Friday, Racing Victoria rejected a radical revamp of this year’s spring carnival, maintaining the status quo and snuffing out the MRC’s hopes of staging the Caulfield Cup in November.
The move infuriated MRC officials who said the decision demonstrated “myopic thinking” and was “gutless”. MRC chairman Peter Le Grand said on SEN that it was a weak and predictable decision.
Resisting the MRC’s push to extend the carnival to late November, RV’s board decided to follow a traditional format, starting with the August 29 staging of the Group 1 Memsie Stakes and finishing with the November 21 Ballarat Cup.
The trio of spring majors – Caulfield Cup (October 17), Cox Plate (October 24) and Melbourne Cup (November 3) – will be run as originally scheduled.
RV chairman Brian Kruger said a decision on when crowds would be allowed to return to racecourse – “possibly later this month or early July” – and spring prizemoney levels would come later amid official confirmation the Cox Plate would be staged during the day.
Kruger said the decision to keep the spring format in its original design was unanimous after the Australian Trainers’ Association and the Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners’ Association pushed back against the MRC’s proposal.
RV said the key areas of focus included “the unclear timeline for the easing of social restrictions and the potential for large gatherings, key commercial and media partnerships (and) both the local and national pattern of feature races.”
It also said “the need to maintain an exceptional standard of racing, expected clashes with other delayed competitions and events, potential competition for the wagering dollar and possible impacts on publicity and media coverage” were factors.
“Having considered the submissions and feedback, which were varied and not definitive, and acting upon all the information available at this time, the board ultimately determined that it is in the best overall interests of Victorian and Australian racing that the established program and dates be retained for 2020.”
The most significant programming tweak involves the Group 1 Underwood Stakes, which will be run on September 26 at Caulfield, a day earlier than scheduled because of the AFL Grand Final’s postponement.
Mornington’s Ansett Classic will be run on September 27.
“The Board has today determined that retaining the existing feature race program and traditional dates for the 2020 Spring Racing Carnival is in the best overall interests of Victorian and Australian racing,” Kruger said.
“The spring racing carnival is one of the world’s most successful racing events and an incredible asset for the state of Victoria. The board has been heartened to see the passion that has existed for it both from within our industry and the wider community in commentary over recent weeks over its best structure and timing for 2020.
“In making its decision, the board agreed that any case for major change owing to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic did not provide compelling outcomes with enough certainty to outweigh the benefits of retaining the existing structure, particularly when racing on mainland Australia has continued throughout the pandemic.
“While the potential for crowds has been central to the debate, whether we can have crowds during the spring racing carnival is unknown at this stage – we will be guided by the directions of the Chief Health Officer, as we have throughout the pandemic.
“Understanding that the situation will continue to evolve, the road to spring glory starts in June for the vast majority of our elite horses and that’s why we owed it to owners and trainers to make this decision now.
“Our core product is racing and we need to ensure that we continue to attract the very best horses, trainers and jockeys, where restrictions allow, to Victoria for our feature races. We noted that the Australian Trainers Association and Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners Association both supported the retention of our existing program.
“We considered the potential impacts on our Festival of Racing in February and March 2021 and whether a later carnival would encourage horses to bypass races here in late summer, early autumn to pursue later opportunities interstate.
“In making its decision today, the RV Board looks forward to all within the industry working together to ensure that the 2020 Spring Racing Carnival is the best that it can possibly be in a unique and compromised year.”
2020 SPRING SCHEDULE
SATURDAY, 29 AUGUST
Caulfield: Memsie Stakes
SATURDAY, 5 SEPTEMBER
The Valley: Feehan Stakes
SATURDAY, 12 SEPTEMBER
Flemington: Makybe Diva Stakes
SATURDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER
Caulfield: Rupert Clarke Stakes
FRIDAY NIGHT, 25 SEPTEMBER
The Valley: Moir Stakes
SATURDAY, 26 SEPTEMBER
Caulfield: Underwood Stakes
SUNDAY, 27 SEPTEMBER
Mornington: Ansett Classic
SATURDAY, 3 OCTOBER
Flemington: Turnbull Stakes
SATURDAY, 10 OCTOBER
Caulfield: Caulfield Guineas
WEDNESDAY, 14 OCTOBER
Caulfield: Blue Sapphire Stakes
SATURDAY, 17 OCTOBER
Caulfield: Caulfield Cup
WEDNESDAY, 21 OCTOBER
Geelong: Geelong Cup
FRIDAY NIGHT, 23 OCTOBER
The Valley: Manikato Stakes
SATURDAY, 24 OCTOBER
The Valley: Cox Plate
WEDNESDAY, 28 OCTOBER
Bendigo: Bendigo Cup
SATURDAY, 31 OCTOBER
Flemington: VRC Derby
TUESDAY, 3 NOVEMBER
Flemington: Melbourne Cup
THURSDAY, 5 NOVEMBER
Flemington: VRC Oaks
SATURDAY, 7 NOVEMBER
Flemington: Mackinnon Stakes
SATURDAY, 14 NOVEMBER
Sandown: Zipping Classic
SATURDAY, 21 NOVEMBER
Ballarat: Ballarat Cup
Originally published as Spring carnival: Melbourne Racing Club won’t give up on major reshuffle