The Racing Victoria press release about Sir Delius not being allowed to run in the Melbourne Cup was missing one crucial line to protect punters.
The Melbourne Cup favourite was ruled out of the biggest race of the year last Friday because it failed veterinary protocols, so he was never going to be at Flemington on the first Tuesday of November.
A condition of entry is to be cleared by the scans, which means the nomination should never have existed if you fail the scans.
If a horse shouldn’t have been entered, then punters should get their money.
In the end, prizemoney comes from betting revenues, so protect those who support your sport.
The RV release should finish with a line that says “Racing Victoria instructs wagering operators to refund any bets placed on, in this case, Sir Delius, in the Melbourne Cup.”
It should only be for the Cup because other races do not have the veterinary protocols.
Ladbrokes gave punters their money back for Sir Delius in the Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup in a gesture of goodwill. Other operators haven’t.
Pre-post and the Melbourne Cup have gone hand-in-hand for more than 100 years, and it is a risk-and-reward game. There are a number of horses that are not permitted to run solely because of the vets.
But Racing Victoria is missing a trick by not protecting punters for the Melbourne Cup when you consider punters get refunds for horses not selected for slots in The Everest.
The slots-based sprint is fast closing the gap on the Melbourne Cup and punters love the Everest because they know the horses and can have an opinion and they have protection from losing their money.
There is much guesswork with the Melbourne Cup because of the international influence and the veterinary protocols. We accept that the vetting is part of the race, but you shouldn’t do your dough if a horse is assessed not fit to run by the Racing Victoria vets.
Then you get a horse like Gold Trip that fails the vet one year and wins the Melbourne Cup the next. It’s a great game.
