Perfect storm for Victorian tracks
Is Victorian racing facing a shortage of quality tracks?
The pressure facing Racing Victoria to sustain racing on tracks punters like to engage with is growing every day.
A quick look at the track situation in Victoria clearly raises concerns.
Caulfield’s issues are well documented as the Melbourne Racing Club meets to ascertain what has gone wrong and to make sure their June 27 meeting races perfectly. God knows what happens if it doesn’t.
As revealed by Betsy on Tuesday, the MRC is also keeping an eye on Sandown too, not ruling out switching meetings away from the track if it doesn’t race up to expectations. Betsy’s Matt Welsh said on Wednesday he thought the Lakeside track played well.
After a tough few weeks for the MRC, credit where it’s due. The Sandown Lakeside track has played pretty well today.
— Matt Welsh (@Matt__Welsh_) June 3, 2026
To complicate things even further, there are major concerns that the Ballarat synthetic track won’t be able to be used this winter as every attempt is made to remedy the surface that is again struggling.
A meeting due for next week has already been shifted, a worry considering the importance of the facility to carry to load during winter racing.
Much of this is exasperated by the fact Moonee Valley is obviously closed for their major renovations, forcing other clubs to pick up the slack.
There is also industry speculation that Pakenham has not performed as well this season – something Southside Racing CEO Neil Bainbridge was quick to reject. He told Betsy the surface had raced ”incredibly well” considering its workload as it has absorbed additional meetings from The Valley and was used more heavily through the first half of the year as its kikuyu surface emerged from winter dormancy.
Historically, Pakenham was used more sparingly during this period, as kikuyu requires warmer conditions to grow, recover and establish strength.
It could mean tracks racing well like Geelong could be forced to take extra racing.
Racing heads to HQ (Flemington) this week – punters no doubt rejoicing at the prospect of some Flemington action.
But with a big week of rain predicted in the dreary state – there will be prayers to the racing gods the track drains like it should and provide a fair racing surface.
It’s junket season for racing
It’s officially junket season where the board members of our race clubs take a break from their cosy committee rooms to travel the world thanks to those of us who pay our member dues.
Word around town is that plenty of the usual types are dusting off their top-hats or fascinators to somehow justify to the racing world that their attendance at Royal Ascot is for the benefit of racing.
Even a few club executives have managed to jump on the gravy train we are told – there is nothing like a luxury paid holiday.
Clubs spend tens of thousands of dollars [a conservative estimate] to fly its representatives up the pointy end to attend a week of drinking, eating, punting and mingling.
Good work [not that there is much of that done] if you can get it.
But in a time where clubs will soon release their financials [and there is enough noise that a few ain’t looking great] and the industry is again forced to cut costs – the optics are extremely poor.
There are famous stories too of deals for chairman votes, life memberships and the such being secured on the promise of business class travel around the world.
All paid for by club members of course, who are stung $15 for beer and long waits for the privilege of ordering a chicken sandwich.
As an aside, any club who tells you their junkets are an important part of securing good horses and participation during our spring is having it on – that work is left to some racing folk who are actually employed to do such tasks.
Punters love it up north
There was a fair bit of fall-out for the Foxcatcher boys this week, who used PointsBet data to illustrate the drop-off in wagering at Caulfield following their track troubles.
All the major bookies we spoke to during the week said that while Caulfield was in fact down, it is important to note they are coming off a big base after the Queensland Derby was washed out on the correlating weekend in 2025, meaning punters dived into Caulfield with gusto.
But the real story is the incredible performance of Queensland racing.
One major bookie said wagering last weekend in the sunny state was up a staggering 65%.
Others said their numbers on Queensland racing were huge given the competitive and large fields.
Another also said that Queensland offers attractive incentives for operators to get their customers to bet on their products, meaning they can offer punters more generosities.
The result? Massive numbers.
Who would have thought states looking after punters is good for business…
Forget the Valley, the real story is Melton
A bill slipped through parliament on Wednesday that has impacts on all three racing codes.
Racing Victoria will get clearer legal powers, the racing integrity commissioner too – plus the office will receive greater oversight.
But the changes to the Victorian Greyhound and Harness Racing industries are bigger deals and intriguing.
Racing Minister Anthony Carbines has changed both codes from statuary bodies to essentially companies. They will still have essentially the same government oversight. It is similar structure to Racing Victoria.
Betsy is told the changes to the structures all happened reasonably quickly – it is reporting season soon of course, not to mention a state election in November.
But why are the changes important? Well for one, they can now both sell land and keep the cash. Any money made previously under the old arrangements essentially went into government coffers.
According to Greyhounds Victoria, the ”change when enacted, will move GRV out of the public sector”.
”The revised entity form will provide GRV with greater flexibility to innovate and operate in accordance with the demands of its commercial and stakeholder environments without being bound by specific government policies applicable to public sector entities, such as those that regulate procurement, media buying and advertising placement, finance and borrowings and asset ownership,” it said on their website post the relesae.
Asset ownership? Those words and the changes help paint a bigger picture, especially for Harness Racing. The code is still facing significant financial pressures but owns heaps of land at its Melton facilities. It is known to be a key discussion point in government circles.
There has been talk around the state government and racing around desires to at least sell parts of Melton for much needed cash. Now under these changes, that can happen far easier.
While there had been chatter that the trots wanted to land at Moonee Valley, it was always seen as unlikely, which the club confirmed this week.
Dogs get behind FightMND
Racing is doing their part to raise much needed cash for FightMND, which is always well supported across the Queen’s Birthday Weekend.
The team at Greyhound Racing Victoria are set to have their own fundraiser this weeken.
Married At First Sight personality Jeff Gobbels and Brisbane Lions premiership ruckman Oscar McInerney will headline the fundraiser at Healesville Greyhounds this Sunday.
More than 20 well-known personalities are set to take part in the event, including former Melbourne footballer Russell Robertson and representatives from across the greyhound racing industry.
The fundraiser has already generated more than $30,000, with organisers aiming to reach $60,000.
Participants will brave a 4.5-metre slide dressed as their favourite movie characters in a Big Freeze-inspired spectacle, helping raise vital funds and awareness for FightMND, the cause championed by the late Neale Daniher.
Adding to the entertainment, Robertson will perform live music during the event, which is free to attend and gets underway from 10.30am.
Not going to hop to it
Word has it that there could be some imminent changes to the MRC board. Given the groundswell to bring back popular former chairman John Kanga, we asked the man himself whether he has any interest in coming back. None what so ever, he told Betsy.
As we said months ago given his popularity, we still feel it’s only a matter of time before he’s back in racing somewhere.
Punting tales don’t get much sicker than this
Henry Dwyer can train horses and tell a great tale.
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