Jockey frustration over Racing.com experiment
A number of Victorian jockeys are unhappy with how post-race interviews are being conducted after changes made by industry broadcaster racing.com.
Betsy is told a cohort jockeys have expressed their frustrations with how the interviews are conducted as part of a racing.com initiated trial – with a small number now refusing to participate if they ride a winner.
Participants are being asked to share and wear headphones, then look down the camera to chat to whoever is hosting from the racing.com studios in the Docklands studios, not far from the Melbourne CBD.
Some are unhappy with the arrangement and optics – including senior riders and Group 1 winners.
The change is instead of the traditional model where an on-course talent would usually ask the questions.
Racing Victoria didn’t want to comment on the record on Wednesday, but told Betsy that jockeys are required to do post-race interviews as part of their riding licence but at this stage, because it is a trial, no action is being taken on any who refuse.
The issue played out across Monday and Tuesday this week, with outgoing racing.com host Terry Bailey voicing his criticism of the jockeys who wouldn’t participate.
‘’Just got to say something. Some of the riders don’t want to come and speak because we’re doing it remotely from the studio,’’ he said on Tuesday.
‘’I’ll be honest with you, folks, punters pay their wages, that’s how they’re paid.
‘’And we need to know how that track played. We need to see a rider come out and give us some indication. It’s their responsibility to help the punter, not just say close shop, we’re not going to come out and do it.
‘’It’d be nice to see what some of the jockeys say about the track or the one that won the race. That would be user friendly.’’
Certainly going to miss TB on Tuesdays on @Racing – most engaging of the raceday shows – but got to disagree here – if industry station can’t be bothered or “afford” to send their own “talent” to the track, why should jockeys – who are not directly paid by punters of course – be… pic.twitter.com/DQnMMiaiTL
— Bruce Clark (@snowyclark) June 16, 2026
But in private, several jockeys have complained about the difficulties of the exercise, how they look and the awkwardness of the interviews.
There were a few of those moments across the broadcast this week – and that is without criticism of either the hosts or participant.
After issues with getting jockeys to do the interviews on Monday, the Victorian Jockeys’ Association on Tuesday implored its members to participate in the arrangement from Ballarat. Only one refused.
Racing Victoria, who own and operate racing.com, have rejected the move is to save cash despite it being suggested to Betsy the arrangements if made permanent would save anywhere up to $100,000 a year.
The boss of racing.com, Andy Hoad, took to social media to reject suggestions the move was about cost-cutting, but rather an opportunity ‘’to get people like Terry interacting directly with the participants’’. Bailey, as it happens, was recently told his time at racing.com is up.
Hoad also posted on social media that the new arrangements has ‘’nothing to do with cuts yet more uninformed X commentary’’.
Standard practice to do remote interviews in sport.
It’s a trial to try and freshen up the coverage and get people like Terry interacting directly with the participants.
Or should we just do what we’ve always done?
Nothing to do with cuts yet more uninformed X commentary pic.twitter.com/5knu1JMX2d
— Andy Hoad (@HoadAndThat) June 16, 2026
To be fair, if it was indeed a cost-cutting measure it would make sense given the pressures racing.com faces from outsiders to save money.
We also don’t mind Hoad’s attempts to innovate, the notion to try something in the dark months of winter too, but we’re not sure it has worked.
Betsy also asked Racing Victoria if they had any concerns about not having talent on course in case an event or fall or any information outside of a direct race that was relevant to punters occurred, but that was not addressed.
The VJA told Betsy it was working through the issues with the members and would meet with Racing Victoria once the trial finishes, which is at the end of the month.
Racing Victoria say it is too early say whether the trial is a success.
Wax on, wax off: questions mount over troubled track
It is seemingly one track, despite the millions of dollars invested, Racing Victoria just can’t get right.
The synthetic track at Ballarat has been plagued with problems for years, and going by racing at the track on Tuesday, doubts remain about its short-term future.
And going by the feedback from jockeys on Tuesday, punters have every reason to be nervous about getting involved, with suggestions that because of the kick back, some runners ”aren’t running into it”.
Kick back from the track continues to be a major problem, despite the track given extra time to recover from its latest round of works.
It’s a situation that has been described to Betsy as ‘’clearly not good enough’’ and ‘’totally unacceptable’’.
The blame from some has been put at the feet of Racing Victoria’s Jamie McGuiness and the contractor of choice, Martin Collins.
Take this feedback from Alana Kelly post her win on Tuesday.
‘’I can promise … you can definitely can feel it,’’ she told racing.com post-race.
‘’It’s coming up. Obviously, it’s not spraying as much as it was last season, but it’s definitely coming back like pebbles.
‘’And you know, you can definitely feel it’s coming in your face. And the gear is coming back covered in it. And I can understand why these horses aren’t running into it.’’
There are other riders and stables [especially those local to the track], however, who say that while not ideal, the track is still suitable to be raced on.
Betsy has previously reported the contractor was urgently attempting to fix the issue in May and had assured the Ballarat Turf Club things would be fine. They definitely haven’t been.
At this stage, racing is due to return to the track on Sunday. Around 110 horses are also due to jump-out there on Thursday.
Racing Victoria declined to comment on the record on Wednesday but rejected assertions on background that the track is dangerous, but conceded the contractor has indicated the track will improve with time as it is used more often. Racing Victoria also said this Sunday’s meeting will proceed as programmed.
It is a place that is crucial to the winter racing circuit in Victoria. It alleviates pressure on grass facilities around the state, giving them an important rest. The large number of horses due to jump-out has been put down to a lack of grass options currently.
There is speculation a synthetic track at Geelong could be revisited, especially if Pakenham achieve their goal of turning their synthetic track in grass.
For the record, the Pakenham synthetic races perfectly – which raises the question, why can’t Racing Victoria and Martin Collins get Ballarat right? Is it the extreme weather at times in Ballarat, bad luck or something everyone is missing?
All made even more bizarre by the fact the same contractor does both Pakenham and Ballarat.
Interesting comments from Alana Kelly on the Ballarat kickback after winning r3 today. pic.twitter.com/SpTUMmDf1p
— Betsy (@betsy_com_au) June 16, 2026
Can racing handle criticism?
Talking of participant access, analyst Nick Foot had this to say after an Instagram post from top rider Mark Zahra.
We agree with Foot’s overall thesis that for whatever reason, racing is still a sport that is incredibly sensitive to criticism. That especially includes those who run the sport and clubs.
But we also don’t mind Zahra cracking back and engaging, as long as it doesn’t mean a loss of access to one of our best jockeys to those making the comments. We’ve always found Zahra to be one of the more accessible riders, for what it’s worth.
Here is Foot’s take:
View this post on Instagram
You can’t park there
We couldn’t quite believe it when photos emerged of the barriers finding their way into water at Sandown on Saturday.
Thankfully, there were no injuries to the workers.
What has been put down an accident, two workers managed to escape unharmed after being checked over by on-course medical staff.
Word has it the Melbourne Racing Club will need a crane to get the barriers out of the drink.
Who said winter racing was boring.
They’ve genuinely just driven the barriers into the lake here at Sandown. pic.twitter.com/EbohZXsg9X
— Jackson Oldham (@Jackson_Oldham1) June 13, 2026
Heath a hit
The tracks within the Melbourne Racing Club remit have attracted a bit of criticism of late, for good reason.
But their Heath track continues to race impressively and deserves more metro racing.
Guess who?
We are not one to promote other outlets, but this take from the weekend’s Herald Sun gossip pages has people talking. But who?
