The Victorian Jockeys Association (VJA) is pushing for earlier ending times for many night meetings, following the announcement by Racing Victoria (RV) of a trial period introducing a tenth race in Melbourne every Saturday.
VJA CEO Matt Hyland suggests that the additional race could lead to a revision of finishing times for up to 75% of night meetings to alleviate work pressures for jockeys, especially towards the end of each week.
“It’s not so much the extra race on the Saturday that is the issue. It’s probably more the lead-in to it.” Hyland explained.
“There’s Wednesday twilights into Thursday into Thursday night, into Friday morning jumpouts into the races that day, into Friday night and then into the big day on Saturday.”
RV’s proposal for a 12-month trial of an additional Saturday race aims to compensate for the reduced revenue due to a betting downturn in the second half of the current season.
This new race could potentially generate up to $5 million, helping to offset the need for further prize money cuts.
However, Hyland believes that the late finishing times for night meetings, sometimes as late as 9:45 pm in the summer, are stretching the participants.
“If you add on, sometimes you need to bring something off. So, let’s tighten up those finishing times.” Hyland said, advocating for an 8:30 pm finish for most night meetings
“We should have a trial for the same 12-month period of trimming back those finishing times and then have a good look at the data.”