Victorian trainers are yet to see mooted spring carnival programming changes that could lead to the Caulfield Cup being run after the Melbourne Cup.
The Melbourne Racing Club is investigating changing the date of the Caulfield Cup from mid-October to November 28 while also moving their entire three-day carnival post-Flemington.
The Caulfield Cup has traditionally been one of the lead up races to the Melbourne Cup.
Racing Victoria has said any changes to the program of races for the Melbourne spring carnival won’t be announced until June.
A number of trainers are against any change of program, however a spring carnival running through to the first week of December is seen by Danny O’Brien and David Hayes as beneficial for the horses.
Australian Trainers’ Association chief executive Andrew Nicholl said his members had not seen the draft proposal of how a new spring carnival may look.
“Racing Victoria have been debating this at a high level with the race clubs,” Nicholl told RSN.
“At the right time, Racing Victoria will communicate with the ATA and the ATA Board and we’ll provide our input.
“We will give RVL our views from a trainers viewpoint.”
Nicholl said trainers are concerned with the mapping of spring races.
“The program people are looking at, it talks about changes to 50 different races, the introduction of races to fill voids,” he said.
“Ultimately if a trainer can achieve a pattern, or mapping, in the program with a move, they will probably be happy.”
However, Nicholl said other issues needed addressing including how potential date changes may affect other jurisdictions.
He wondered what affect a later Caulfield Cup date may have on the Hong Kong international meeting in December along with the Perth summer carnival that runs in late November and early December.
