Revealed: Racing Victoria’s radical plan to shake up horse racing

Racenet can exclusively reveal details of the summer racing series which is proposed for under lights at Moonee Valley and aimed to capture the 18-35 age group of fans just like cricket’s Twenty20 Big Bash once did.

It is understood the top six or seven trainers in Victoria have been invited to compete in the radical series and they have signed strict non-disclosure agreements which forbid them divulging any information.

Racenet has learned big names such as Ciaron Maher and Dave Eustace, Peter Moody, Mick Price and JD and Ben Hayes have all been approached.

Top jockeys have also been briefed and signed the legally binding NDA’s.

The potential for whip-free racing, exclusively revealed by Racenet on Thursday, is part of the concept for the racing series mooted for late November and December.

But at the heart of the proposal is a teams-based concept where the top trainers all select two horses each per race and pick the jockeys they want to ride for their team on the night.

The races are understood to be worth $150,000 in stake money but points will add up over the series and there will be a $1.5m booty to be dispersed among the top-placed teams with money to also go to charity and also to stable staff.

First prize could potentially be $500,000 for the winning team.

A radical, left-field concept being considered is the use of interactive jockey earpieces where the team trainer, or team coach, could speak ‘live’ to jockeys to deliver tactics during a race.

However it is hard to see this receiving approval from stewards, with the potential safety implications of such a move given that jockeys operate on instinct.

As part of the proposed series, it is understood there would be captains and vice captains of each racing team and there could also be a female quota.

Shorter gaps between races have been proposed in the fast racing format.

The concept is heavily based on cricket’s Big Bash which was designed to capture new, younger fans at a time when cricket was stagnant and the game was viewed as pale, male and stale.

Racing Victoria CEO Andrew Jones and key RV executive Ben Amarfio are both former high-profile cricket administrators.

The summer series could feature free racecourse entry and cheap entertainment for the younger brigade.

The elite racing trainers and jockeys will be marketed as the heroes of the sport.

It is aimed to get people engaged in racing who wouldn’t normally embrace the code.

The whip-free concept is a key plank of that as RV view the whip as a barrier for many young people who are not currently interested in racing and oppose the sport.

There is a view in the corridors of powers at RV that whips, other than for safety use, are unnecessary in racing and only provide a barrier to fan engagement.

It is understood RV is prepared to lose money on the proposed concept for three years in a bid to try to grow the sport, particularly among young people, in the future.

It has been pointed out that the elite series, still at the conceptual stage and yet to be green-lighted, is likely to have to be tweaked.

It is highly probable that during the series there will be races that some stables may not be able to field two runners in and there could be a quasi draft system as a result.

The mooted competition is also likely to cause angst among the participants not invited to compete.

But the message to those participants from RV appears to be they must improve and charge up the premiership ladder to receive invites in future years.

Another headache could be major logistics issues with getting the series up and running so quickly this year.

Racing Victoria has not provided any comment, other than to say, to Racenet on Thursday: “We’re always workshopping ideas internally and with stakeholders on how best to grow racing and engage our next generation of fans, but we don’t have any announcements to make at this time.”

If it gets off the ground, RV would hope the series would get fresh eyeballs on racing in a month which is traditionally a quiet time for the industry, particularly in the southern states.

Originally published as Revealed: Racing Victoria’s radical plan to shake up horse racing