SYDNEY contributor PETER MAIR has an interesting take on the Product Integrity of Melbourne Metropolitan Racing.
‘THIS morning the ‘mail’ seems to be getting through to
<integrityservices@racingvictoria.net.au.>
So, the message, refreshed, and now re-sent has deleted:
[Well, it will be and may have been — but — alas … the mail server responded: The recipient address <integrityservices@racingvictoria.net.au.> is not a valid address.]
As I read it:
The objective of Racing Victoria’s Integrity Services Department is to ensure that Victorian thoroughbred racing is managed and conducted with the highest integrity.
………..a concern is reported — integrityservices@racingvictoria.net.au.
[Well, it will be and may have been — but — alas … the mail server responded: The recipient address <integrityservices@racingvictoria.net.au.> is not a valid address.]
Looking to the program and acceptances for Saturday at Flemington — an interested, basically informed observer might question the ‘integrity’ of this Saturday’s offering.
Similar concerns have been put to RVL before with no response — so, a fundamental concern is that the ‘integrity’ team at RVL is apparently precluded from assessing the integrity of the actual racing product presented to punters.
As recently as last Thursday, an integrity concern was copied to RVL – https://letsgohorseracing.com.au/show-me-the-money-made-from-no-hopers-that-race-at-weekend/
……..as usual, it went through to the keeper.
More is the pity – it was ‘on the money’ as evidenced by the dividends ‘declared’ for the main Quadrella races and the associated F4’s [an $11k Quadrella and two $16k first-fours].
Saturday at Flemington is looming. God help us!
Put aside the early 1 to 3, ‘sighter’ races, – races 4,5,8 are over the ‘notorious’ 1400 ‘cd’ while the 6th – over the 1600 ‘cd’ is equally fraught.
As ‘Gemini’ says – inside barriers are an advantage most notably from the 1400m and 1600m starts.
So what are the punters offered: R4 over 1400, 15 + 4 emergencies; R5 over 1400, 15 + an emergency: R6 over 1600, 15 + 3 emergencies and R8 over 1400 – mercifully only 12 accepted.
There is a determination to inflate the fields.
Interested observers are not fortune-tellers.………… most punters may/would/should be very sensibly advised to give a miss to this offering of, very likely horse-shit, as a punting proposition.
The foregoing generously refrains from noting the predictions implicit in the pre-post odds for these four races. The impact ‘no hopers’ will have on the outcome of these four races is an integrity concern — even worse if ‘a winner’ is smoked in, undercover, to an inflated-field.
Check it out: the pre-post prices for these four races — littered with ‘long priced’ chances — say few of those accepted to run have any hope of winning, or placing. Frankly, most have no-hope, bar finishing 10th or a bit better.
Spare my days — RVL will be paying out more than $60,000 for the 25+ runners, congesting these fields, before finishing 4th to 10th, possibly unfairly.
OK …. wait for Saturday .. scratchings of initially favoured runners drawn wide will only make the check to overall integrity a more pressing concern.
