THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN: SEDUCED BY THE SPIN OF THE MAGIC MILLIONS MONEY MERRY-GO-AROUND

By Graham Potter | Sunday, January 12, 2014

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily

For all the differences racing participants have between themselves, the undeniable fact is that they all have one characteristic in common.

They are all huge optimists!

How else would you explain the fact that while times are tough an amount predicted to be in the region of $80 million will change hands at the Magic Millions Yearling Sales currently being conducted at the Gold Coast.

What happens at the sales comes down to a gamble. From the vendors, who carry the horses to the sale, to the purchasers who dip deep into their pockets, there is no guaranteed return on their investment … but there are also no limits to their dreams of what their horse can achieve.

So it is that one lot after another, the optimist’s voice triumphs over the logical sense, the hammer falls and another yearling steps out into a racing career … and racing has to be thankful for that over-riding factor.

It’s an old cliché that without the breeders there will be no racehorses. Without racehorses there would be no owners and without those three pieces there would be no racing puzzle for the trainers, jockeys and punters to try to piece together.

So we have to congratulate those who had a go and wish them good luck moving forward but we should also spare a thought for the smaller players who were excluded from the final call because the strength of the sale moved beyond their budgets.

A strong sale is not a good sale for everybody.

A few statistics of interest relative to this discussion …
According to the Australian Racing Board’s Fact Book, last season there were 19 626 races in Australia. The racehorse population for the season was 30 489 and between then they started on 188 326 occasions.

Whichever way you do the maths, the answer highlights the financial risk versus return scenario for owners.

The twist is nobody knows who is going to come up with the next star performer and that’s when another figure catches attention.

Last season $553 100 109 was returned to owners via stakes and incentive schemes. That’s a big carrot and you can only earn a share of it if you take part in the game, hence the temptation to compete.

While stake levels have improved overall, the breeding statistics survey a different trend.

In the 1993/94 season Australia registered 2091 stallions. By the 2000/01 season that figure had dropped to 1241 (down forty percent) and it had been further reduced to read 790 in the 2011/12 season.
The mares covered in 2000/01 numbered 26 272 compared to 22 563 in the 2011/12 season. Live foals for the same periods were 18 244 and 14 603 respectively.

All of the above goes to show just how much racing remains in a state of flux, not really subject to any hard and fast rules or guided by any necessary logic.

It is a game of win or lose and you got to be in it to win it.

That’s why so many came out to play this week.

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