Despite a strong push from Peter V’Landys and Racing NSW to try and encroach, with some levels of success, there is no denying that the Melbourne Spring Carnival is the place to be for the end of the year.
The best horses, the best trainers and best jockeys want to be seen in Melbourne and want to win the big races in Melbourne. There is no denying that the revamped Sydney Spring Carnival, headlined by The Everest, has helped enhance the quality of the Melbourne Spring.
But, the program needs a severe update. It’s stuck in the 20th century and it’s all over the place in terms of what races are set down for certain times, clashing, up in trip then a week later back in trip…it’s a mess.
Here is how I’d fix the Melbourne Spring program.
First, push the entire Carnival back a month. Group l racing in August stinks. The Memsie in late August just doesn’t work and it’s essentially a barrier trial for most runners. Pushing the Carnival to the first week of October allows good horses extra time to get ready for the Spring and pushing back means you should get much better weather and firmer tracks, which allows for the best racing.
The other key is gradually increase the distances. None of this up in trip/back in trip, same trip in a week rubbish. Good example of this is the Feehan over the mile, which is followed seven days later by the Makybe Diva. It’s just madness how that can eventuate.
The Caulfield Cup/Cox Plate/Melbourne Cup program has been set in stone since Moses parted the sea. It’s quite obvious that it should be Cox Plate into the Caulfield Cup and then into the Melbourne Cup. Go to 2040m, then into the 2400m and then the 3200m grand final of the race that stops a nation.
If I was given a blank piece of paper, this is how I would have programmed the Spring this year. In an ideal world, you’d have a six feature race scenario of 1400m/1600m/1800m/2000m/2400m/3200m, but there would be a kick up and complaints. Connections need options and I think this list down below would provide that.
October 1: Memsie Stakes – WFA horses that are kicking off
October 8: Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes – Handicap horses
October 15: Feehan Stakes – Get the Memsie horses and bulks up quality compared to recent years
October 22: Toorak Handicap/Caulfield Guineas/Thousand Guineas – Rupert Clarke/Runners from the Memsie re Toorak
October 29: Makybe Diva Stakes – Gets the Cox Plate horses from the Feehan
November 5: Underwood – Potential Feehan/Toorak runners
November 12: Turnbull Stakes – Makybe Diva/Toorak potentially
November 19: Manikato – Give it clear air, make it a Saturday meeting, plus you’d get Everest runners. Friday night doesn’t work.
November 26: Cox Plate – Underwood/Turnbull
December 3: Caulfield Cup Day – Cox Plate/Turnbull
December 10: Derby Day
December 13: Melbourne Cup Day, but take away the Empire Rose from Derby Day and bring it here to add quality to the meeting
December 15: Oaks Day
December 17: Champions Day
