Even by his own outrageous standards, Peter V'landys went all Oprah Winfrey this week.
You get a new race, you get a new race, you get a new race, everybody gets a new race!
High stakes: Racing NSW boss Peter V'Landys.Credit:Wolter Peeters
Who doesn't have a new race for the spring?
And so came NSW's latest turf grab, a raft of new million-dollar races for its own spring carnival . . . just a few months after the latest announcement of new races for its own spring carnival.
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It was like the latest twist in a little bit of old school imperialism, first inching into enemy territory then invading it before going full nuclear and blowing the whole thing to bits. NSW not only have million-dollar races before and during Melbourne Cup week, but now even after it.
Predictably, V'landys' phone rang from a variety of different people curious about it all during the week. Ever the opportunist, the calls were almost always answered or hastily returned.
One didn't bother to ring to ask why the latest need for change.
"I've got Peter's number," said Racing Victoria chief executive Giles Thompson when asked if he'd reached out to his adversarial NSW counterpart. "We've never been consulted about changes."
The latest move takes The Everest carnival, highlighted by the world's richest race on turf at $14 million and run on Caulfield Cup day this year, to $45 million overall. Almost every Saturday, NSW will boast a race worth at least $1 million. Newcastle and Wollongong now have their own million-dollar features.
Theyve got this unfortunate self-entitlement attitude that they need to get over.
Peter V'landys
It's outrageous money, most of which has been returned to the industry via the polarising Point of Consumption tax, which involves the state government levying a digital betting fee on corporate bookmakers.
There are so many new and remodelled races planted in the NSW spring carnival this year that it's hard to remember them all, let alone sniff a scent of tradition. An abrasive V'landys doesn't care.
"I dont know why people try to make it out as a rivalry between NSW and Victoria, its not," V'landys shrugs. "October and November are the best months to race because theres no competition and The Everest has proven that.
"When the spring carnival has been on in the past [in Victoria] we dont exist. Our race fields drop, our turnovers drop, our revenues drop . . . our whole commercial operation goes to sleep. It dies. All Im trying to do is to use the best time of the year to race to generate revenue.
"Its good for everybody in the end, but they cant see it because theyve got this unfortunate self-entitlement attitude that they need to get over. If they want to be in the commercial world, theyve got to get over this self-entitled approach theyve got."
Many of V'landys' previous encroachment tactics on the Melbourne spring carnival, once considered sacred ground, have irked Victorian officials. This one particularly rankled though.
It started as leading Western Australian owner-breeder Bob Peters, an understated man by nature, made it clear that the riches on offer in The Everest and newly created $7.5 million Golden Eagle for four-year-olds made it more attractive for his star mare Arcadia Queen to race in Sydney rather than target the Cox Plate.
Red-letter day: The Everest has proved a success in its first two runnings.Credit:AAP
The weight-for-age championship has basked in Winx's glow for the last four years. This year it's fighting for the country's best horseflesh, rather than the horseflesh automatically flocking to it.
So has Victoria been complacent with their own spring carnival?
"It is one of the best carnivals in the world, created over many decades, and I am not hearing anyone saying it's broken, not even Peter," Thompson says.
"I disagree that there is complacency with the spring carnival. It is not a history that shows complacency. We have to continue to grow and invest in that and I don't thiRead More – Source
Even by his own outrageous standards, Peter V'landys went all Oprah Winfrey this week.
You get a new race, you get a new race, you get a new race, everybody gets a new race!
High stakes: Racing NSW boss Peter V'Landys.Credit:Wolter Peeters
Who doesn't have a new race for the spring?
And so came NSW's latest turf grab, a raft of new million-dollar races for its own spring carnival . . . just a few months after the latest announcement of new races for its own spring carnival.
Advertisement
It was like the latest twist in a little bit of old school imperialism, first inching into enemy territory then invading it before going full nuclear and blowing the whole thing to bits. NSW not only have million-dollar races before and during Melbourne Cup week, but now even after it.
Predictably, V'landys' phone rang from a variety of different people curious about it all during the week. Ever the opportunist, the calls were almost always answered or hastily returned.
One didn't bother to ring to ask why the latest need for change.
"I've got Peter's number," said Racing Victoria chief executive Giles Thompson when asked if he'd reached out to his adversarial NSW counterpart. "We've never been consulted about changes."
The latest move takes The Everest carnival, highlighted by the world's richest race on turf at $14 million and run on Caulfield Cup day this year, to $45 million overall. Almost every Saturday, NSW will boast a race worth at least $1 million. Newcastle and Wollongong now have their own million-dollar features.
Theyve got this unfortunate self-entitlement attitude that they need to get over.
Peter V'landys
It's outrageous money, most of which has been returned to the industry via the polarising Point of Consumption tax, which involves the state government levying a digital betting fee on corporate bookmakers.
There are so many new and remodelled races planted in the NSW spring carnival this year that it's hard to remember them all, let alone sniff a scent of tradition. An abrasive V'landys doesn't care.
"I dont know why people try to make it out as a rivalry between NSW and Victoria, its not," V'landys shrugs. "October and November are the best months to race because theres no competition and The Everest has proven that.
"When the spring carnival has been on in the past [in Victoria] we dont exist. Our race fields drop, our turnovers drop, our revenues drop . . . our whole commercial operation goes to sleep. It dies. All Im trying to do is to use the best time of the year to race to generate revenue.
"Its good for everybody in the end, but they cant see it because theyve got this unfortunate self-entitlement attitude that they need to get over. If they want to be in the commercial world, theyve got to get over this self-entitled approach theyve got."
Many of V'landys' previous encroachment tactics on the Melbourne spring carnival, once considered sacred ground, have irked Victorian officials. This one particularly rankled though.
It started as leading Western Australian owner-breeder Bob Peters, an understated man by nature, made it clear that the riches on offer in The Everest and newly created $7.5 million Golden Eagle for four-year-olds made it more attractive for his star mare Arcadia Queen to race in Sydney rather than target the Cox Plate.
Red-letter day: The Everest has proved a success in its first two runnings.Credit:AAP
The weight-for-age championship has basked in Winx's glow for the last four years. This year it's fighting for the country's best horseflesh, rather than the horseflesh automatically flocking to it.
So has Victoria been complacent with their own spring carnival?
"It is one of the best carnivals in the world, created over many decades, and I am not hearing anyone saying it's broken, not even Peter," Thompson says.
"I disagree that there is complacency with the spring carnival. It is not a history that shows complacency. We have to continue to grow and invest in that and I don't thiRead More – Source
