Everybody else probably already knew this but it just dawned on me tonight that with paying prizemoney so far down, when the fields are small - the advertised stake is not actually paid out.

My heading refers to R5 at Bendigo as an example. Because there was only 6 starters and the distribution is calculated on 10, the payout was only $4480 not $5000 - that is a 10% saving

No doubt, when the sums are done at the end of the season it will simply state what is actually paid out but with a high requirement of 10 starters it just strikes me that we are often not racing for what we actually state we are. It does not effect the winners % (which is generally half for $3500 races and an increasing % the higher the stakes) nor the % for any other runner but I wondered whether the unpaid amount when fields are small could not be split between 2nd and 3rd or some other scheme

With the largest race at Bendigo tonight being a field of 9, not one race paid out what it claims its stakemoney is

Nitpicking?