Anyone who thinks money doesn’t trump tradition only has to look to both the Might And Power Stakes and Hill Stakes on Saturday.
One is worth $1 million, the other $2 million.
The first had been the the pathway for good horses to get into the Caulfield Cup, the second has been moved three times in the past decade, diluting its true value.
But come Saturday, the Hill Stakes winner will take home more than the prize pool available at Caulfield.
That’s why it’s 14-4 in terms of runners.
Racing NSW has said the states are in competition, mainly for punters, who fund the industry. That means getting the horses to stay or, in Kingswood and Light Infantry Man’s case, come north and it is their only measuring stick.
Congratulations, it’s a victory but a hollow one.
As a contest, the clash of Treasurethe Moment and Buckaroo will thrill the purist. Both are in the top 10 horses in the country.
But as a betting medium, the Group 1 will plummet compared to Sydney’s Group 2.
There are many illustrations of how spring racing has changed in the past decade, but the Hill Stakes is the most stark and damning.
This century, when it was run in its traditional mid-September date, Desert War won the Hill on his way to Epsom glory and Descarado won it before his Caulfield Cup success.
Hartnell put six lengths into his Hill rivals before his Turnbull win in 2017. He was then humbled by Winx in the Cox Plate before running third in the Melbourne Cup.
That’s what the Hill is, and should be.
But things have changed. The Hill Stakes, a Group 2 which was a lead-up to the Epsom, is now worth more than the time-honoured spring mile and run after it.
It is afterthought for most trainers as well.
It steals horses from the Epsom, because why take on a star like Autumn Glow when you can run against an even field at weight-for-age in second-tier company.
Since it moved to its present date and prizemoney level, Montefilia and Atrittion have won it, both Group 1 winners but hardly legends of the turf.
It has gone from $500,000 to $1 million and then $2 million as Racing NSW have pushed back against the Victoria carnival. But the quality of the race has lessened.
It served a purpose in September. A staging point, a true Group 2 where you proved your worth before taking on the challenge of Group 1 racing.
Now it is a Group 2 by name only.
It hasn’t affected the quality of the winners of Might And Power Stakes or Caulfield Stakes. Arcadian Queen, Probabeel, Anamoe, Alligator Blood and Deny Knowledge are the past five winners at Caulfield.
The Hill was the way the pattern of black type racing worked in the past, now it is a blight on the carnival.
Take a $1 million off the Hill and give it to the Epsom, so we once again see the next Winx, Desert War, Shogun Lodge, Super Impose and Gunsynd test themselves against the best milers in a handicap.
Tradition dicatates the Randwick mile is the ultimate test in Sydney racing, and the Epsom was only second to the Doncaster.
That fact the Epsom is worth less than the Big Dance and the Villiers Stakes, sorry Ingham, is embarrassing.
Money might get you 14 runners but it can’t cover the emptiness of a once proper race.
