WOULD SHORTENED THOROUGHBRED RACE DAY FORMATS BE ENOUGH TO SUIT TODAY’S ATTENTION SPANS?
ACCORDING to the Racing Victoria Limited website, the state body in charge of running thoroughbred horse events remains committed to working towards its 2020 goals to ensure "continued vitality, growth and sustainability" for the sport.
Among the key pillars that are supposed to uphold that aim is customer satisfaction - or providing an innovative, excellent and world-leading product for patrons and industry figures alike.
But will shortening the gaps between races – from 40 minutes all the way down to as low as 30 minutes – be the single step that can achieve that goal?
The idea - apparently borrowed by RVL after keen observation of the newly-revamped domestic Twenty20 Big Bash cricket competition - may have merit, but would also need facilities that make its implementation suitable.
Although nights would seem the logical place to try out the 30-minute gaps, daytime meets - including the ones held at Easter and Boxing Day at Kerang’s Alexandra Park and nearby at Gunbower - could equally find the shorter format useful in the future as just one way of ensuring that thoroughbred racing keeps pace with the busy nature of modern life.
“I can assure you the real die-hards would turn over in their graves,” Kerang Turf Club president Alan Shields said when asked whether there could be such a thing as too much innovation when it comes to presenting a thoroughbred race meet.
“But they’ve changed every other sport. Change is going to happen, no doubt about it, but it’s not always going to be digestible”.
While he acknowledged that in Kerang’s case, a move to 30 or 20-minute intervals wasn’t an option, a twilight meeting, run between 3-7pm might work.
However, choices for race day clock management were limited for country clubs as such directives had to come from the top down, via RVL and then Country Racing Victoria.
CRV representative Darren Galley also seemed prepared to acknowledge that a shortened race day might have merit in some cases.
For Shields’ Gunbower Racing Club counterpart Mick Farrant, though, any shortening of the gaps between races would be more about ensuring that trainers still had enough time to prepare their horses.
He doubted that fans would even notice a subtle five-minute shift here or there - and that it wouldn’t make enough of a different to be worthwhile anyway.
By way of example, the British Horseracing Authority had four mid-week meets on Wednesday at Kempton Park, Lingfield Park, Newbury and Southwell.
Across a total of 28 races – all meets included seven fields – 15 intervals lasted 30 minutes, while nine took 35 minutes. So almost two-thirds of the gaps between races went for not longer than half an hour. Of that group of four race days, one was a twilight meet, while the other three began prior to 1pm in the afternoon and finished running no later than 4.30pm. Clearly, it’s possible to co-ordinate multiple race days with a variety of start time intervals – some as low as 30 minutes.
At first, the relationship between cricket and horse racing may seem extremely tenuous. But consider these points - both usually involve ovals, coloured clothing and a mix of local and imported talent. Both can include unusual names for the participants and be held under lights. And both use video replay systems if required to dissect decision-making and uphold the sport's laws - the third umpire in cricket and the photo-finish in racing.
But is this particular cricket-derived suggestion worthwhile? The simple answer is yes. It's one way forward. But is it the only thing that RVL could do to sustain or revitalise interest in the sport across Victoria? How about cheerleaders - male and female - at the finishing straight? Fireworks as the field turns for home? Allowance of a heavy roller on the turf between each race? Maybe when Racing Victoria said it was "Racing To 2020", it didn't quite envisage the competition that might come from cricket's slam-bam format over the summer months - or that it would be giving correct weight to copying one of its key attraction elements?
Picture Kerang’s Alexandra Park at the end of this year...Shane Warne would make for a terrific guest star jockey. And fiancee Liz Hurley could judge the Fashions On The Field competition, then present the Summer Cup to the winning trainer. After their horse crosses the line to take the honours in the 2012 Boxing Day Big Dash.
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