Year in, year out, another boom horse explodes onto the scene. This year in Australia, it's Vancouver, the son of multiple G1 winner and sire of Rachel Alexander, Medaglia d’Oro. Unbeaten in four races, he's already amassed $2,362,000 and according to word out today, that may be just the beginning. Coolmore are expected to announce today they've taken a controlling interest in the horse, putting his value at $40,000,000. This is not a Coolmore deal only, they've taken on the China Horse Club, Ramsey Pastoral and Peters Investments as co-partners. All too often in these type of cases, the horse is retired and packed off to stud, but this will not be so for Vancouver. It seems that he'll return to the track next season to target the Guineas and the Cox Plate. Hats off to them. In a pointer to a possible winner of tomorrow's G1 Sires Produce, Coolmore have also splashed out and bought the Blue Diamond winner Pride Of Dubai, who will eventually stand alongside Vancouver at Coolmore Stud in the Hunter Valley. At the moment Pride Of Dubai is a 3-1 favourite for the 1400m event. It will be a hard race to win, but Coolmore must have some faith in the horse. The filly English will take some tossing though.
This is a very interesting development, Cyc. Not just that Coolmore are starting to buy up potential stallions in Australia whilst they are racing (as it would appear that Godolphin have been doing) but that they are doing so in co-operation with the China Horse Club and a couple of investment vehicles. I think I read something about this in the Racing Post (paper version) too as the name Vancouver does ring a bell. It is becoming apparent that the Southern Hemisphere racing nations such as Australia, Japan and Hong Kong are now viewed as the place to invest and expand now that the European and American racing scene are stagnating. We have known for quite a while that Japanese racing has become very valuable (prize money that puts France in the shade) and European horses have been targeting Australia’s plum prizes like the Melbourne Cup over the last couple of decades with some success. There is every prospect that horseracing could take off in a big way in China and, know what gambling addicts they are from visiting Hong Kong, they would dwarf even the Arabs if funded by a sport/state-controlled betting monopoly.
They've also seen how healthy racing in this part of the world is QM. In Sydney tomorrow some serious money is to be won. Prize money. R. 1. $200,000. R. 2, $200,000. R. 3. $300,000. R. 4. $291,000. R. 5. $200,000. R. 6. $1,000,000. R. 7. $2,000,000. R. 8. $2,500,000. R. 9. $3,000,000. R. 10, $200,000. Of course this is a special meeting, but a run of the mill Saturday meeting in Melbourne or Sydney will see prize money at about the $80,000 mark per race, and pay down to 8-10 places.
That sort of prize money puts France in the shade over here in Europe. They operate a betting monopoly with a huge cut going to prize money but they are not in that league. The only meeting in France that is well attended is Arc weekend when the Brits and the Irish invade. The French show up but head off home after the big race. Off course punters subsidise the whole thing. Coolmore and Godolphin and Co. will be delighted to take good prize money whilst the horses are still in training but the possibility of stallions that they can stand in two seasons by shipping them to the Northern Hemisphere as well as standing them in the Southern Hemisphere is the real attraction. I wonder if the negative effect from the point of view of the Aussie racing fan is that the top horses will start retiring earlier because of the lucrative stud fees. It is the commonest complaint here in the Old World.
It's tote funded Ron. Each state takes a cut of all betting. Don't hold me to it, but I think win and place pools lose about 14 percent. Exotics anywhere from the 14 percent to about 20. The real backbone when it comes to funding is the tote. Racing gets 5.5 cents from every dollar from the tote. Corporates chip in just 1.5 cents.
That explains it Cyc. And I expect, like here, you can wander into a local hotel, place a bet on the PM, sit down and have a drink while watching the racing on TV
Yep Ron, all pubs have a TAB and televised racing. With the exception of the small, out of the way hotels, most will have a sport channel running as well. QM, you're quite, racing for Coolmore and the like certainly centres around stud values. Coolmore Stud in the Hunter Valley is standing 11 sires at the moment, the most expensive of which is Fastnet Rock who stands at around the $275,000 mark.
People talk about the Blue Mountains or Uluru, but for me, this is the true wonder of Australia - the magic TAB sign. With sweltering heat outside, what could be more civilised that a few scoops of ice-cold VB, racing on the telly and the betting counter in the corner. Compare that to sitting in your local high street bookmakers with the Chavs on the slots I remember being in Sydney about 15 years ago, Saturday afternoon in such a bar. Got talking to this old fella from Tasmania (called himself Bluey), and he gave me the winners of the 2 big races of the day and I walked out of there about 300 bucks richer. Squandered the lot on dinner, wine and a loose woman happy days.
I had the "Australian Platter" - 6 Australian meats which, if I rememeber correctly were Croc, Emu, Wallaby, Kangaru, beef, and something else. Superb red from the Hunter Valley. I'd go for something like 30% food, 25% wine, 45% floozy. She was pretty cool though - told me she was married but a nymphomaniac and her old man couldn't keep her satisfied. Mad
Hi Cyc and company,pretty much the same over here ,except that you have to go down to the track or casino to bet on the horses,but you can go down the local corner store and bet on hockey, baseball, basketball etc.%of take are the same also,all profit goes to the aid of local hospitals, and children charities
