Kilmore Cup Heaven

Who said long races are boring? Love 'em to death. The Kilmore committee would be feeling pretty chuffed with themselves after the two big 2 mile races produced two of the best, toughest and grittiest, down to the wire finishes we have seen in a while. I Didnt Do It needed every bit of the 3150m to nail Mr Zion right on the peg in the trot in a two horse war and then the comeback horse and defending champion Bitobliss sat outside of Carribean Blaster and stared him down all the way down the straight before he started to edge away just before the line. Just fantastic racing, looked like another big crowd with great weather to boot.

Nothing boring about these races. As a spectacle we have lost a lot, with these mile races dominating the scene. Damn the TAB.

Quote:

Originally Posted by broncobrad

Who said long races are boring? Love 'em to death. The Kilmore committee would be feeling pretty chuffed with themselves after the two big 2 mile races produced two of the best, toughest and grittiest, down to the wire finishes we have seen in a while. I Didnt Do It needed every bit of the 3150m to nail Mr Zion right on the peg in the trot in a two horse war and then the comeback horse and defending champion Bitobliss sat outside of Carribean Blaster and stared him down all the way down the straight before he started to edge away just before the line. Just fantastic racing, looked like another big crowd with great weather to boot.

Nothing boring about these races. As a spectacle we have lost a lot, with these mile races dominating the scene. Damn the TAB.

We should never lose the variety in our races,s/s,distance/mobiles etc. Eating white bread all the time sure get's pretty boring. Just watch 1600m races from the USA.

Apparently another 2 mile race stops the nation.

Not only do differing race conditions add variety they also create some other spin offs like

a) less certainty and hence more "genuine chances" in the race.
b) therefore a more open betting race,
c) therefore a more "interesting" thought provoking option for punters.
d) wider scope for the owners/trainer of the horses to place them in conditions they feel might suit their horse better.
e) therefore improving the viability of each individual horse, rather than forcing the owner to cough up for another before he's had a bit of fun with this one.
f) therefore creating less disgruntled owners who refuse to invest in another horse.

these are just a couple of examples of how our game, (through copying the US racing/wagering model whilst being mislead by self serving groups) has declined steadily over the last 25 or so years.

As I have said before on this forum, the answer has never been making our product more predictable! if you listen to the punters they will all tell you they want certainty about the bet,in the same breath they will tell you they want big juicy odds about those certainties, that is mathematically impossible if the returns to the punters are going to continue to be less than 200%!!! The facts are 80 odd percent is going back to the punters, so if there is a great degree of certainty then the winners are going to pay $1.20 or thereabouts and how many small punters want to risk their few $$$ at those prices? so what happens? fewer people have a flutter! fewer having a flutter means a smaller pool.

it's not rocket science, however getting the disgruntled owners and the disenchanted punters back to our game must be the #1 priority for our administrators and by taking the action they have with regards to integrity in recent times I believe they are heading in the right direction.

Cheers,
Dan

A copy of all these posts should be placed on ALL CEO's desks asap.

Well done fellas, great comments!!!!!!!!!!

Couldnt agree more Brad..the longer races are by far my favourite races to watch especially races like the Hunter Cup.
They also give the punters alot more options in my opinion as Dan outlined.

Like Brenno said, there is another 3200m race and its going to be a cracker. Pencil in the 13 November, the New Zealand Cup at Addington which is shaping up to be a beauty with Terror To Love, Auckland Reactor, Franco Ledger, Major Mark along with Sushi Sushi who won well at Kaikoura yesterday after sprint laning and Fly Like An Eagle who was still a bit scratchy off the stand but powered home and is looking a real threat to TTL. Harvey would have been filled with confidence after that effort, although I see that Mark Purdon will be putting another driver on him for that race.

Growing up I always enjoyed watching the truer memorial over the miracle mile. Yeah seeing a quick mile rate was exciting but seeing horses stay over longer distances making moves is just amazing. My two favorite races are the NZ Cup and the Hunter Cup which produce suspense and excitement just like the Kilmore Cup and other longer distance events. There is a place for the miracle mile for sure and other sprint races but we need balance.

Bring on NZ Cup Npvember 13