Vic Breeders Crown 2023

[Messenger]

Nice place dividend there for The Bigboss Brendan. The horse is VERY green (paced roughly down back) and may make a better 3yo
Amazingly short Timmy Rictor - that was only his 6th start
Modern Art is known for Lochinvar Art and I can see this fella following in his footsteps

[Messenger]

4 Gp1 Pacing Finals - 4 Wins Emma Stewart
I wonder if she is there? I don't think she was there last week

[aussiebreno]

N Jack you star. You know what I think of trotters and Vol Thorens has as bad a galloping record as any but it had talent and N Jack aboard and was too good.

[Messenger]

The Trotting Gp1's from 4 different stables - refreshing

[Messenger]

The other thing with the pacing finals is the fact that to any other than the rusted on (plus some of those) - they would be boring. Three leaders and one outside the leader won. Economically it may not be the right time But maybe we need to look at lengthening the track by at least 100m = 50m+ more straight.
Whatever happened to the supposed development of the infield?

[Messenger]

I know you cannot keep them all but I do wonder why Tubbs & Sugars sold Not As Promised

[Yabbie]

I don't know whether my favourite viewing spot - the Scotch Notch cafe, is open to the public tonight (I actually attended last week because I was afraid it might not be) but I have noticed from the TrotsVision coverage that there seems to be a marque right in front of my favourite end of the glass wall - surely they haven't obscured the view of the track!

Scotch Notch Cafe was not open to public. Used as an owners function area for those who had runners. There was a choice for owners between Scotch Notch or dining in Telern Room

[Messenger]

Thanks for the heads up Carol
With all 5 function rooms empty last week, I would have thought they could still find room this week without closing off the true 'viewing' publics favourite - I anticipated it and thus why I went last week not last night

[trish]

https://www.thetrots.com.au/news/the...served-revamp/

"no one single factor has driven the decline".

I disagree.

[Messenger]

Here are some quotes from the above Adam Hamilton article

there is no disputing the once great event is nowhere near what it used to be.

It had a real point of difference in those formative years when held at Bendigo from 1998 to 2004. Cranbourne had a crack in 2005, then Ballarat in 2006 and ’07 before returning to its spiritual home at Bendigo in 2008.
Then, for reasons still largely unknown, it was moved to Melton.
The Breeders Crown lost its soul. It became just another big race (and in its case series) run amongst many others at Melton.

Then, 2019 saw another fork in the road.
Running Crown qualifying heats in all Australian states and both islands of New Zealand were scrapped.
It wasn’t a huge shock because the system wasn’t a good look for the industry with small fields, sometimes just two or three runners, and we even had a few walkovers with just one runner accepting for a heat.
But abolishing those heats had a marked impact on the broad reach and interest in the Breeders Crown.
And the number of horses being paid-up for it.

Make it a “Grand Finals” series for eligible, paid-up horses. They collect points along the way through a variety of races and qualifying clauses across Australia and NZ and the top point scorers go straight into the finals.

with the number of horses being paid-up dwindling, the Crown is – or many would say already has – becoming non-viable.
The "brand" of the Breeders Crown still has value so let’s be daring and try something different to save what was once one of the sport’s biggest and most exciting events.