Flemington’s summer experiment draws qualified approval
Flemington’s twilight experiment passed an important first test despite doomsayer carping and broad scepticism. However, there is room for improvement.
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Still in its infancy, Flemington’s twilight experiment passed an important first test despite doomsayer carping and broad scepticism.
Headquarters’ sprawling lawns are seldom packed to the gunnels outside the four days of the Melbourne Cup carnival and a smattering of autumn features and that was the case again on Saturday for the VRC’s summer twilight fixture.
The grand old course’s strength – the capacity to accommodate crowds of more than 100,000 – can emerge as a depressing echo on days of lesser import because of its sheer scale.
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Impressions aside, first-glance judgments, not to mention racing metrics are sometimes disingenuously employed.
There was no argument on year-on-year crowd comparisons as the old course exuded a relaxed ambience, echoing the meeting’s ‘Say Hello to Summer’ theme.
The 2018 meeting drew just over 5800 spectators.
Saturday’s program still had five races to run when close to 7000 people had passed through the turnstiles.
Betting turnover, racing’s river of gold, was solid as it grew steadily through the day.
Once free of the national racing clock, the slot which separates start times in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide from Melbourne, Flemington’s turnover climbed.
Betting on the opening race, which featured several unraced two-year-olds, was predictably sparse with $258,909 invested in win, place and exotic pools.
Those pools continued to swell with individual race figures staying above $430,000 for the rest of the meeting, peaking at $666,556 for race seven.
The VRC is to stage three more twilight fixtures and, depending on feedback from trainers, jockeys, owners and other relevant groups, tweaks are likely.
If there is change, it is likely to involve an earlier finishing time instead of Saturday’s 8pm close.
Jockey safety in terms of visibility might dictate as much.
Country trainers are obliged to drive up to three hours — and longer — with horses in tow.
The sun dipped low before the second last race, complicating issue for jockeys as they raced down the straight into the glare.
The February 9 meeting is slated to start at 4pm, finishing at 7pm.
The “Rapid Racing” challenge is a feature of the program with all seven races, restricted to 12 horses per event, held down the straight at 30-minute intervals.
Adding another dimension, two six-rider teams will clash in a metropolitan versus country format.
Team selection will be based on premiership positions in the city and regional ladders on January 1.
There will be a fourth and final twilight meeting for the season on March 4, sandwiched between the Australian Guineas and Super Saturday.
There is an intriguing twist to that 3pm-7pm meeting as it marks the 180th anniversary of Flemington’s first meeting in 1840 – an extravaganza which lasted three days.
The relaxed vibe of Saturday’s attendees aside, the mood of the jockey and trainer cohort was more clinical. The prevailing sentiment was that for the twilight trend to continue, there needed to be significant wagering growth with residual benefits flowing to participants.
The VRC will review all aspects once the figures are in.
There will be further analysis after all four of the summer meetings are complete but the signs are positive the experiment might be transformed into a fixture.
Gear change seals the Dream
Trainer Mitch Freedman and jockey Ben Melham believe blinkers have made a difference for Living The Dream who has secured back-to-back city wins.
Living The Dream ($4) wound up after getting a split late in Saturday’s Christmas Giving Tree Plate (1720m) at Flemington under Melham and capitalised to win the Benchmark 70 race for three and four-year-olds by a long neck over a luckless Dogmatic.
Imperial Dawn fought on for a close third in a bunched finish. Living The Dream has won a Benchmark 64 at The Valley and Saturday’s Flemington race since blinkers have been applied, taking his record to three wins and four placings from nine starts.
“I think he’s starting to run to his true potential now with the blinkers on,” Melham said.
“He’s progressive. He’s put a couple together now in town and I think he’ll continue to improve.”
Freedman agreed.
“He’s always been a nice enough horse but the blinkers have improved him a lot ... he’s starting to put it together now,” he said.