OUR SYDNEY contributor PETER MAIR makes an interesting observation
ahead of the weekend racing:
‘THERE is apparently unlimited creative-writing talent among professionals paid to extol the cultural virtues and economic relevance of racing across the States.
Now, reading the fairy-tales, commissioned and paid for by racing industry administrators, one wonders ‘what to do’.
Looking to Jerry Maguire for advice, Jerry said, ask them to ‘show me the money’.
So, that question is put ahead of Saturday’s racing at Randwick and Caulfield.
On Monday, will RNSW and RVL please ‘show me the money’ the industry made on betting turnover that can be directly attributed to running apparent no-hopers in inflated fields?
Conversely, the Corporates will be gleefully showing their owners the money they made — savouring their ‘take’ from punters’ losing bets on the favoured runners that cluttered fields denied a fair chance to “obtain their best possible placing”. [Jockeys get suspended for that].
As for punters, what is routinely happening, and will likely happen again on Saturday, is plainly and simply unfair — it is poison in the well!
On a quick look at the Caulfied race-fields, some 30 have accepted to start at today’s pre-post odds of 20/1 or more – including a dozen at odds of 50/1 or more.
Of the 50 accepted to run in the main Melbourne Quadrella races, 20 are showing pre-post odds of 25/1 or much more.
Sharpening the focus to races 8&9, where inside barriers in both can be critical – in race 8, six of the 15 at long-odds are ‘well drawn’ at the expense of better performed runners. In Race 9, of the 15 accepted to run, half the field are apparently ‘no-hopers’ and five of those have ‘drawn well’ at the expense of better chances.
The pre-post situation, on Wednesday, for the Sydney Saturday races is worse.
Putting well aside the first four ‘raffle races’ — in races 5 to10, some 30 of the 110 accepted to run are at pre-post odds of 20/1 or more – in the four main Quadrella races, 25 of the 55 accepted are given ‘no hope’ in pre-post markets.
In the 9th in both Melbourne and Sydney there is an even money favourite. More generally, many favoured runners in other races would be banking on getting a fair run in an inflated field.
………….. perhaps RVL and RNSW could make use of an assistant administrator appointed by the ‘fair-trading’ authorities………….. and possibly also an accountant to analyze the sense of paying $3000 to no-hopers finishing 10th or better.’
