I’m working at the Valley Nights meeting this Friday, hopeful that the Club (and our bookies business) can cash in on the hype generated by last week’s extraordinary roll-up for Black Caviar’s Australia Stakes romp. Sadly, yet unsurprisingly, the MVRC massively under catered with too few staff on gates/ bars/ food outlets and also with [Read more]

Imagine if, say, Delfin built a new estate (sorry – lifestyle possibility), then bought the first few lots on offer at inflated prices and crowed about the great returns and investment opportunities? Welcome to the wacky old world of Magic Millions.

Keen racing fans will know that this is Magic Millions time. This concept, driven by master-promoters Gerry Harvey and John Singleton, has been an unequivocal success. The prizemoney and the profile are huge and, from a P1 meeting, it is now a major racing “event” in Queensland with more Government money about to be pumped [Read more]

Within a month we will be cranking up for the early Autumn features, but for the present it is very much “off-peak” for an industry that never really stops. There are, of course, heaps of meetings of various charm, with the summer picnics probably still the most appealing. This Saturday, for example, the Gunbower Cup [Read more]

Just as well that this is a time of year when many people neither know nor care what day of the week it is – a look at the racing fixture would hardly help. This weekend offers an unusual cast of meetings. The regular Saturday afternoon habit is delayed to a NYE under lights at [Read more]

A long, long time ago, our family sat around the kitchen table on Christmas Eve. 5DN (Adelaide’s racing station) was doubtless droning in the background. Mum and Dad were quietly and totally tuckered and my siblings and I restless, when Mum suddenly soliloquized; “Of all nights, how could people even consider running, let alone going [Read more]

I need the work and the money and really like my job at the races. So I’ll be at the Valley on Friday night and also at Flemington on Saturday – but I struggle to mount a case for others to do likewise. Perhaps the fine forecast might encourage a night on the lawns or [Read more]

We have a ridiculously cluttered metropolitan racing schedule this weekend and, it would be fair to say, the quality of the local fields could not be the lure for attendance. I guess the 3 meetings- Valley Nights on Friday, HQ Saturday and a twilight at MV Sunday- each have their particular focus and we need [Read more]

The Brisbane Test formalises summer’s arrival and, with it, Racing’s requirement to relinquish theatre-goers’ interest. But, much like modern cricket schedules, racing grinds on away from the spotlight. Serious punters might be battling for cash to send around – all businesses are tight and, for punters, results have been dire of late. Last Friday night’s [Read more]

TVN have this week been reduced to “breathlessly” promoting Saturday’s feature meetings to be covered from..…Betfair Park and Canterbury! These are both terrific tracks for punting and watching, but the impression is of mid-weekers now being the best on offer. Last Sunday I was at the Ballarat Cup meeting and it seems pretty obvious that [Read more]

Punters will be flyblown after another pounding out at Sandown last Saturday….good meeting, good crowd, good results for the bookies. Looks like we’ll be back to the old regulars when we front at the Valley this Saturday and have to hope that Ballarat drags a Carnival crowd when we pitch our stand at their Cup [Read more]

Hmmm….the Saturday after “Final Day”. Tough to convince anyone that there’s still races on, let alone Sandown’s “Classic” meeting, strewn with highly competitive Group and Listed races. It’s a particularly hard sell to punters who copped a pounding last week and there will be little solace that the bookies who roll down Dandy Rd in [Read more]