“You’d be disappointed if it were a pride issue with Racing Victoria,” he said.
“You can swallow your pride and pat NSW on the back, and say, ‘well done’.”
The All-Star Mile’s appeal has already been diluted this year after Racing Victoria cut prize money from $5 million to $4 million, removed the public’s ability to vote horses into the field after it was manipulated last year to gain a start for a substandard runner, and slashed the race’s marketing budget by a third.
This year’s star quality falls on multiple group 1-winner Mr Brightside, the shortest-priced favourite in the race’s six-year history, and last year’s spring sensation Pride Of Jenni. The race was further weakened by an injury to Alligator Blood, while I’m Thunderstruck was euthanised in March last year because of injuries sustained in a post-surgery accident.
Champion trainer Chris Waller conceded last week his star mare Fangirl would probably be racing at Caulfield on Saturday if the All-Star Mile was worth $10 million.
“But I’m not asking for that,” Waller told SENTrack. “Yes [$10 million] would get Fangirl there, but I don’t think it’s for the better of racing, so she’s sticking to her path that we’ve set out which will now be the George Ryder on to the Queen Elizabeth.”
Kembla Grange trainer Kerry Parker said he was approached by Racing Victoria to bring Think It Over to Melbourne for the All-Star Mile but the horse’s owner opted to stay in Sydney on a four-start programme.
Racing Victoria CEO Andrew Jones said the All-Star Mile had “well and truly” been group 1 standard for the past five years, but said the governing body was open to the concept of a slot race.
Racing Victoria chief executive Andrew Jones.Credit: Getty Images
“If we thought that would deliver a bigger audience at a reasonable cost, we would look at it for sure,” he said.
“The slot race is a proven format around Australia. But there are other formats as well that can work as well. The All-Star Mile has been a really good race … for the past five or six years.”
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Irvine said he was interested in improving the concept even though he would be at Caulfield for this year’s All-Star Mile and expected it to be a great spectacle.
He said selling $1 million slots for a 12-horse field would create fascinating story lines over the wheeling and dealing between corporates, trainers and owners.
“I reckon you could sell it twice over,” he said.
The Everest’s 12 slot holders are James Harron Bloodstock, Max Whitby and Neil Werret, TAB, The Star & Arrowfield, Godolphin, Yulong Investments, John Camilleri, Coolmore, Australian Turf Club, Chris Waller Racing, Newgate & GPI Racing and Trackside Media.
A spokesman for betting giant Entain, which owns Ladbrokes, said the company was “a strong supporter of innovation in racing”.
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“Racing Victoria would be the first to concede that the All-Star Mile’s place in the racing schedule needs to be reviewed,” the Entain spokesman said.
“Whether a slot race model is the right one is ultimately for them to decide. But depending on the commercial structure, we’d certainly be interested to look at the model and how we could support.”
Yulong Investments and Coolmore were contacted by this masthead to see if they would support an All-Star Mile slot race but did not reply, while Waller declined to speak about the concept.
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Source Agencies
