NO surprise that all the Sydney racing ‘spin doctors’ want to talk about is how the ‘house full’ sign is already up for The Everest meeting.
Racing NSW and the Australian Turf Club have confirmed that general admission tickets for the 10th running of The Everest on October 17 have sold out with Randwick on track for its biggest crowd ever for the $20mn blockbuster. Officials say the capacity is just over 50,000 – a far cry from the 100,000-plus that Flemington can accommodate on Cup week.
The General Admission sell-out follows unprecedented demand to be trackside for the world’s richest race on turf, with racegoers snapping up an additional 1,000 tickets after Racing NSW and the ATC expanded event capacity.
The only remaining way to be on track for the historic day is through ATC Membership, or by securing a place in the TAB Clubhouse, the exclusive new hospitality destination created in response to overwhelming demand.
While the focus has not surprisingly been on promoting Everest Day, little has been said about the disaster that continues to occur with the main Midweek race meeting in Sydney.
Wednesday was another farce when the powerful Chris Waller stable had six of the 10 runners in the first; four of the six in the second; and four of the nine in the fifth.
Waller had a third of the runners on the card and without his runners it would arguably have been a four-race program for a major midweek meeting in Sydney. That’s apart from the 14 acceptances that his stable scratched.
It’s not as though this was a one-off but of course the Sydney ‘spin doctors’ aren’t interested in asking the question why it is happening. One suspects because of the Waller domination which is simply no good for a major racing venue.
