Racing springs into Cups conversations and public consciousness early

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This was published 4 years ago

Racing springs into Cups conversations and public consciousness early

By Michael Cox

The internationalisation of the Melbourne Cup and foreign raiders running first-up in the race has not only taken spots from locally prepared horses – runners that once generated turnover and interest in lead-up races – but robbed the event of some of its media build-up.

Saturday’s revamped Andrew Ramsden Stakes not only provides a win-and-you’re-in pathway for young local stayers, but with that prized spot in the Cup on offer, also a low-season talking point for a race nearly six months away.

Before the proliferation of visitors for the Melbourne Cup, the race’s impact wasn’t felt for the three-and-a-half minutes the nation stops, but reverberated across a tried-and-true progression of spring features.

Flashback: Dunaden held on by the narrowest of margins to win the 2011 Melbourne Cup.

Flashback: Dunaden held on by the narrowest of margins to win the 2011 Melbourne Cup.Credit: ninevms

Every lead-up race – all with names that signalled to fans that the big races had arrived – was a chance to watch replays and check sectionals, looking for the fifth placegetter flashing home with an eye-catching Cup trial. But the fabric of the Cup has been torn up and restitched. The Mackinnon Stakes isn’t even before the Cup, let alone called that any more, and pre-post punters looking for an edge are better served scanning obscure blogs or sliding into the Twitter DMs of Godolphin stable staff for clues about which northern hemisphere horses might be put on a plane.

The conversation around Cup runners has changed from: ‘‘What did you make of the Memsie Stakes run?’’ to ‘‘How do you think that horse has handled the flight?’’ (The answer to which, from trainers or grooms, only ever varies from, ‘‘The horse is thriving’’ to, at worst, ‘‘The horse lost a bit of weight on the way over but he has put it all back on’’, but never, funnily enough, ‘‘The horse is terrible, he clearly hates the place and hasn’t eaten in days’’.)

Leaving aside the pointless argument about whether the Cup is better for the current level of international participation, the race has radically changed and, for many, it has lost the essence of what made it great; that anybody could win it.

When Sheikh Mohammed or Lloyd Williams win the Cup, as they have done the past threes, it doesn’t feel the ‘‘people’s race’’. In recent years it has been hard enough for local trainers to get into the race via traditional routes – let alone win it – and Saturday’s feature for three, four, and five-year-olds is a valuable opportunity.

The risk is that ‘‘golden-ticket’’ races – especially one nearly six months from race day – can create a rod for the handicapper’s back. The in-form runner now can easily be November’s rank outsider, hopelessly out of form and taking up wasted space in the 24-horse field.

Hopefully Saturday’s winner produces a genuine contender but if not, it at least creates a conversation about local racing when usually there is none.

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It’s all about the narrative and staying in the news cycle. You don’t have to watch a game to be an NBA fan – just catch a few highlights and follow the complex drama of trade demands, draft picks and off-season free agency. The AFL’s trade period and draft have similarly extended AFL’s time in the media spotlight – extending well into spring.

That spring window – from the grand final siren to the first Tuesday in November, after the football finishes and before the cricket clicks into gear – used to be owned by racing in Melbourne.

The spotlight isn’t something Melbourne racing can take for granted any more – even Sydney racing want a piece of it these days – but at least Saturday’s race can claim some space back and hopefully provide a horse we can follow into the big one.

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