The alarm bells are beginning to ring about the decline of racing in Victoria.
Throughout the 20th Century Victoria reigned supreme but this situation has changed dramatically over last decade.
These days New South Wales, under the direction of Peter V’landys is now, definitely, the premier racing state.
Since V’landys was appointed Racing New South Wales chief executive in 2004 racing in Sydney and country areas has been on an upward spiral.
This has led to racing prize money increasing to unprecedented levels, which has been welcomed by all.
With the inspiration provided by V’landys the introduction of the now $13m The Everest has quickly become an absolute winner in attracting the attention of the general public.
So has this year’s first running of the $1.3m The Kosciusko, for country performers.
On the other hand the pre-race day coverage of the iconic Melbourne Cup is not what it once was.
This is the direct result of the ever-increasing international involvement, which is squeezing Australian and New Zealand stayers out of the race.
While the international invasion is embraced by the hierarchy it has not been well received by seasoned punters.
However, it probably does not matter much to those who bet once a year and are happy enough betting on names, colours or numbers at Melbourne Cup Day race meetings or parties around the nation.
Although Victoria’s racing administrators are seemingly content to bask in the success of Melbourne Cup week and on past glories positive action is needed urgently.
The implementation of cost savings should be a priority and one way of achieving this would be to amalgamate the Victoria Racing Club, Melbourne Racing Club and Moonee Valley Racing Club.
The V.R.C. was founded in 1864, the V.A.T.C./M.R.C. in 1875 and the M.V.R.C. in 1882 so each club has a long and distinguished history.
But combining the three entities would certainly save a lot of money and would, most likely, lead to more productive style of racing administration in Victoria.
And, once again N.S.W. has shown the way by merging the Australian Jockey Club and Sydney Turf Club into the Australian Turf Club on February 7 of 2011.