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Thread: Why is the SA Pacing Cup a group 1 Event?

  1. #1
    Senior Member 4YO Fan of Jate will become famous soon enough
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    Pat O'Boyle
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    Why is the SA Pacing Cup a group 1 Event?

    Compare the Fremantle Cup field to the SA cup run tonight which is also a Group 1 race but should be a Group 3 race IMO. Apart from Smolda the rest seemed to be good claimers. I am not sure how the Group races are sanctioned-Is it based on prizemoney or each states biggest race in the calendar year?

  2. #2
    Super Moderator Stallion Messenger will become famous soon enough Messenger's Avatar
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    Pat, ideally you want the sport healthy throughout Australia and thus the Grand 'Circuit'
    per un PUGNO di DOLLARI

  3. #3
    aussiebreno
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    Quote Originally Posted by Messenger View Post
    Pat, ideally you want the sport healthy throughout Australia and thus the Grand 'Circuit'
    So are you saying SA, QLD and Tas should have races on the Grand Circuit?

    I like that they've changed the Grand Circuit to no longer include the SA and Tas races.

  4. #4
    Super Moderator Stallion Messenger will become famous soon enough Messenger's Avatar
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    You got me on the Grand Circuit not being Aus/NZ wide Brendan but I do think that ideally it would be good for the sport if SA and QLD had Grand Circuit races - well at least a good sign. IMO the fact that they dont just indicates the decline in the sport. Not that the Grand Circuit stands for anything more than - the best Gp1 races. The gallops don't use a grand circuit label and NSW and VIC with their greater population density are likely to remain the strongest states in both codes but I see Perth & Brisbane still having true Metro tracks as a big advantage (but I don't want to open up that argument again)
    per un PUGNO di DOLLARI

  5. #5
    Senior Member 4YO Fan of Jate will become famous soon enough
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    I don't have any problem with where they are held and Tas, Qld and SA can be part of a grand circuit as long as the horsepower is there to race in their nominated group 1. You don't have grand prix races with half the good drivers out do you? The Horsham cup had a much better field and for less money and a Group 2 race. I cant work that out. I feel the administrators have got the process wrong with this. But it did look like a good crowd at the SA cup which is healthy and good to see.

  6. #6
    Super Moderator Stallion Messenger will become famous soon enough Messenger's Avatar
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    Money generally talks Pat and normally the best horses are going to be in the races with the best prizemoney (provided it does not harm their chances in another targeted race)
    But sometimes a few extra grand is not going to be enough to motivate a stable to travel interstate or maybe the presence of a horse like Smolda can put a few off?
    per un PUGNO di DOLLARI

  7. #7
    Junior Member Foal Butchers Hook will become famous soon enough
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    The powers that be would like to make SA harness racing appear relevant.....it is dead but not buried. Having a group 1 race on its calendar helps to make it appear so. A case in point are the following stats based on a 10 year time lapse. Yesterdays meeting at gdp (9/1) garnered the following numbers. 8 race programme, 62 horses, 45 trainers, 29 drivers. 10 years prior 15/1 (8/1 was a junior drivers title so figures not relevant) 9 race programme, 85 horses, 68 trainers, 41 drivers. I dare not alarm anyone by making note of what these figures may have been another 10 years prior. It is with much sorrow that I watch Adelaide harness racing fall into a deeper abyss of insignificance by the day.

  8. #8
    Super Moderator Stallion Messenger will become famous soon enough Messenger's Avatar
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    It is happening in Vic too Darryl, to cover up the fact that we have had numerous 6 race meetings due to lack of numbers, we are soon to have less meetings
    per un PUGNO di DOLLARI

  9. #9
    Senior Member 4YO Fan of Jate will become famous soon enough
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    This is happening in other sports as well, football teams are folding etc etc, so it is basically a natural attrition of this day and age. I am not sure if Darryl's figures mean much because their is nothing in the post to suggest why their is a reduction in numbers in SA and how this associates with the SA pacing cup being a Group 1. I am not sure that owners/trainers may not travel to race against a top FFA like Smolda, this is like handing all your candy to the bully and not fighting back. Kev, I can definitely see less meetings being the go in the future.


    I would like to hear aussiebrenos reasons as to why he likes the Grand circuit not including SA and Tas.

  10. #10
    aussiebreno
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fan of Jate View Post
    This is happening in other sports as well, football teams are folding etc etc, so it is basically a natural attrition of this day and age. I am not sure if Darryl's figures mean much because their is nothing in the post to suggest why their is a reduction in numbers in SA and how this associates with the SA pacing cup being a Group 1. I am not sure that owners/trainers may not travel to race against a top FFA like Smolda, this is like handing all your candy to the bully and not fighting back. Kev, I can definitely see less meetings being the go in the future.


    I would like to hear aussiebrenos reasons as to why he likes the Grand circuit not including SA and Tas.
    Grand circuit is reserved for the best of the best and the SA Cup, Tas Cup, Truer Memorial were diminishing the value of the grand circuit. The class of the winners may not have been much difference, but the class of the placegetters and also runs are significant.

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