Racing can learn from the biggest show in town
It’s not often you can honestly say Melbourne isn’t a bad place to be in early September.
But there is no doubt this week the city is buzzing.
On the back of some big AFL finals – and looking at a cracking Makybe Diva Stakes on Saturday featuring many of racing’s stars – the atmosphere has been real [not to mention the weather cracked a balmy 20C].
But the arrival of the biggest show of all – the NFL – is nothing short of electric.
And there are plenty of learnings for racing.
The access to NFL talent, from the journalists who have been lucky enough to cover the week, have said it is like a new world.
From presidents, CEO’s and especially, star players from the San Francisco 49ers – everyone has been made available.
The talent were honest, engaging, funny but crucially, accessible.
We’ve heard stories about primary school kids playing gridiron at lunch times, other stories about kids demanding 49ers merch. The impact is real.
And these are some of the biggest stars in the world. One sports journo reckons they’ve had better access to NFL stars and leaders than they’ve ever had in any Australian sport this week, racing included.
Racing still has a long way to go until it can even get close to this kind of access to the stars of our sport.
It’s important to note here there are many who are accessible, friendly and understand the need to grow the sport. The emergence of some young, fun and media friendly riders too has seen some veterans do more media.
But there is still work to be done.
In a crowded sporting space, racing needs to do anything it can to compete and show off a variety of talented athletes – some who would make up some of the highest paid athletes in the country.
Some, rightly or wrongly, view any outside appearances as work that should be paid for.
It’s a position that needs to evolve.
A ‘pretty badass’ new series
Racing Victoria last week released a new-look mini-series called Silks, smartly following three young but engaging jockeys.
Jett Stanley, Ben Allen and Celine Gaudray all took part. The series will look at the sacrifices of all three, and the first episode is great.
Directed by Bill Blakey, who is new to the sport, said he was blown away by the sacrifices jockeys must make to compete.
‘’I learned just how hard being a jockey is, just how much weight they’ve got to lose in a week, how much water they’ve got to lose, how disciplined they have to be with their diet, and also riding a horse at such speed and being fearless about it is pretty badass,’’ he said.
You can also watch the first episode here and the trailer is below.
Welcome, Premier
Racing contributes billions to the coffers of the economy, but alas, getting politicians to engage in racing can be difficult.
That’s why it was great to see the South Australian Premier, Peter Malinauskas, attend the South Australian Racing awards last week.
It’s a clear sign that the state has done the hard work to ensure it is again an important part of the political landscape. It’s a significant win for South Australian racing, who were there to toast the life time achievements of Bruce McAvaney.
On Tuesday night, Racing Victoria hosted a Friends of Racing event at state parliament.
Guests included Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Calvin McEvoy, star jockey Damian Lane, group 1 winning trainer Cindy Alderson and RV CEO Aaron Morrison plus his chairman Tim Eddy. All the club leaders, including VRC CEO Kylie Rogers and MRC vice-chairman Jonathan Munz were also in attendance as was a variety of MPs and their staff.
Unfortunately, newly minted Victorian Premier Ben Carroll was a no-show, but his good mate, Racing Minister Anthony Carbines was there. Opposition leader Jess Wilson was briefly in attendance, whose party has close relationships with a number of racing powerbrokers.
Sandown barriers get a fresh start after swim
On the back of sending the barriers at Sandown into the drink, a fresh-looking set was spotted on Wednesday.
Sandown is carrying a fair extra load this spring, picking up several meetings for Moonee Valley as they undertake renovations.
Famously, a set of barriers ended up in the water in June, luckily there were no injuries.
Fast forward to the spring and they look as good as new. In fact, they are new.
The Melbourne Racing Club too will give the Sandown tracks a much need renovation at the end of the year.
Is that you Gai?
She is undoubtedly the most iconic figure in racing, so when Gai Waterhouse says something, the sporting community stands up and listens.
Gai’s X [formerly twitter] account posted a long and passionate defence of the Victoria Derby this week, leading to a few ‘reporting’ about her views.
But reading the fine print – or the last line – and it’s signed off from her husband, Robbie.
Some of those reports have disappeared.
So whose views were they?
Robbie told Betsy they are his, which are also shared by Gai. So there you go.
Vale, Paddy
There were plenty of tributes to Paddy Payne Snr this week, following his death aged 90.
Payne somehow raised 10 children on his own following the tragic death of his wife, Mary.
Of course, the Payne name is now one of racing’s most famous, especially following the Melbourne Cup heroics of Michelle.
And of all the anecdotes we read post Paddy’s death this week, it was this from Michelle that was particularly touching.
‘’I remember being really young and Dad would have about five or six of us kids lined up and he used to piggyback us all to bed.
“We’d all wait on the couch and he’d take one and come back and take the next one.
“It would have been a big job for him, but it was a lot of fun.
“We had a very happy childhood, at the time we thought we were a bit hard done by because we had to work so hard, especially at the dairy farm.
“But when we look back, we had so much fun, obviously it wasn’t always easy but instilled hard work into us, a lot of good memories.”
What a legacy.
Nothing to see here
Given the number of publications dedicated to covering the breeding sector, surely one story bubbling away won’t be a look away job?
