By Glen Atwell
CRANBOURNE Turf Club has passed the winning post in full stride after Racing Victoria Limited (RVL) recently announced the club would race exclusively on Sundays under a revamped 2008-2009 event calendar.
But the changes have not pleased all, with country racing authority, Country Racing Victoria (CRV), concerned at the schedule shake-up.
Cranbourne and Geelong were locked together in a photo-finish as the clear country racing winners after the changes – designed to increase wagering revenue and club profitability – were announced last week.
Cranbourne will host 22 fortnightly Sunday meetings in 2008-2009, an increase of one on the current schedule.
Geelong was allocated an additional 13 meetings.
Cranbourne chief executive Neil Bainbridge applauded the RVL’s commitment to the growth of country racing in the City of Casey.
“Cranbourne has one of the highest off-course wagering turnovers of any Victorian country racing club,” he said.
“Our training facility is the biggest in the southern hemisphere and about 800 horses are worked every single day.
“It only makes sense to allow the club to continue growing,” Mr Bainbridge said.
Mr Bainbridge said while other clubs were concerned about Cranbourne’s dominance of the Sunday market, it was merely an extension of the existing agreement.
“Sunday is a very successful day for country racing, it’s number one for attendance, number one for prize money and number one for wagering revenue,” he said.
“Cranbourne already hosted the most Sunday meetings before the reallocation.”
“There is a perception that we’ve stripped other country clubs of racedays, but that is not the case, we’ve only picked up one extra meeting,” he said.
On the flip-side, nearby Pakenham Racing Club lost one meeting, a crucial Sunday fixture.
Club chief executive Terry Macdonald said the revamped calendar featured ‘radical changes’.
“The changes are quite dramatic and will definitely cause a stir amongst the industry,” he said.
“Pakenham lost two Monday meetings, lost one Sunday and picked up two Saturdays.”
Mr Macdonald said Pakenham had not raced on a Saturday for a number of years.
“We’ll be going up against the metropolitan meeting, it’s a new direction and we’ll need to look closely at how to make it work. From an attendance point of view, any day is better than a Monday, so that helps,” he said.
Mr Macdonald described RVL’s decision to allocate Cranbourne 22 Sunday meetings as ‘very innovative’.
“We’ll wait and see how successful it is.
“Sunday is a key day for country clubs, and every club wants to race on the days that will maximise revenue,” he said.
CRV chief executive Scott Whiteman said the allocation of 22 race meetings to Cranbourne was not supported by CRV, with the preference for Cranbourne to race on a mixture of Thursdays and Sundays.
“With Cranbourne monopolising Sunday it restricts the opportunities for other racing clubs to share in the Sunday success,” Mr Whiteman said.
“Country racing has successfully built a strategy around event days on Sundays in the country and we’d like all clubs to benefit from that.”
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