Ben Dorries’ take: It’s time to postpone the spring carnival
Verry Elegant and James McDonald after winning the 2021 Melbourne Cup. Photo: Racing Photos.The race continues to lose a trick with the ridiculously early starts of the Melbourne and Sydney spring carnivals, while the footy codes are in full blast.
Why doesn’t the race open its shoulders and dare to be different, starting the spring races later and pushing some of its best races until November and even December?
Apart from tradition, is there any reason why the supposed sacred date of the Melbourne Cup cannot be moved to the last Tuesday in November or even the first Tuesday in December?
Verry Elegant ridden by James McDonald crosses the line to win the 2021 Melbourne Cup: Photo: Michael Klein.
If you object to that, how about moving other races to late November or even bringing February’s Group 1 CF Orr Stakes to be raced in early December?
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At the moment, racing is failing to capitalize on the months of November and December and these are times when it would have a golden chance to shine in a sleepy time for most other sports.
Surely we should try to engage people in racing when the weather is better and there are fewer other major sports to distract from?
And now take time to ponder this.
How many people outside the racing bubble do you think would realize it’s the first Group 1 of the season on Saturday?
I’d bet good money that most people who don’t race wouldn’t even know the Winx Stakes is active.
What about last Saturday?
We had the traditional early spring race of the PB Lawrence Stakes raced at Caulfield.
It was freezing and the attention of many Melbourne sports fans was drawn to the AFL at the end of its season.
Now racing marketing gurus need to pull a rabbit out of a hat and take a look at the Group 1 Memsie Stakes on Saturday week week.
Let’s not forget that the races don’t sell themselves apart from the main draw cards of Everest and the Melbourne Cup.
Melbourne Racing Club tried to innovate a few years ago – proposing to move a segment of the spring carnival to include the Caulfield Cup.
But their plea for change was drowned out by other administrators who stood like statues and took the easy way out to maintain the status quo.
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It is high time that the races look from the outside and not from the inside.
Being customer focused is what has made Everest such a raging success.
Photo: Jonathan Ng.
Being customer focused and moving the spring carnival pieces to a more desirable time frame should be the next step.
We put a man on the moon more than 50 years ago, so please don’t tell me it’s too hard to move a few pieces of the Spring Carnival jigsaw to get a more attractive racing product.
