The Everest World Pool betting not as rewarding as first may seem
Rob Crabtree is sure glad he kept “a fetlock” in promising colt Scampi, a first crop son of Darley shuttler Blue Point from his stakes-performed Sistonic, herself a three-quarter sister to Black Caviar.
The Dorrington Farm breeder sold the colt for $750,000 at the Magic Millions in January to trainer Ciaron Maher and it’s the Gold Coast where Scampi could end up 12 months later.
The two-year-old, whose sire is taking all before him in the northern hemisphere where he has a stunning 37 first crop winners, created his own headlines at the first official two-year-old barrier trial session in Sydney on Monday when he scooted to a soft but decisive win in heat nine.
The Breeders’ Plate on September 30 at Randwick remains well and truly on the agenda before a likely campaign is mapped out to have the colt in peak order for the $3 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic early in the New Year.
“What I was particularly impressed about in that trial was, as a colt, his head was there. He’s not a crazy, roaring thing, he’s a nice, strong, calm animal,” Crabtree told us yesterday.
While Scampi still has to progress from trial star to a bona fide bombproof two-year-old at the races, the early encouraging signs are also validation for Victorian breeder Crabtree who put his faith in the Darley shuttler.
“It is a big step, but there are a couple of factors with Blue Point that were different to other shuttle stallions, and for the whole century actually, and that’s he won the races that we value,” he said.
“He won the King’s Stand twice and the Diamond Jubilee. He won the races that we can relate to and respect and I thought that would probably translate, and it has.
“As of (yesterday) morning he’s had 37 individual winners and eight stakes horses, four of them stakes winners and four stakes-placed.
“They’re unbelievable figures and the big thing is, over 90 per cent of his winners have won at five to six furlongs, so they’re true to type.”
Crabtree’s Blue Diamond Stakes–winning filly Catchy has already been served by Blue Point this season while Sistonic, whose second dam is Dorrington Farm’s great producer Scandinavia, is also going to him this season.
A Capitalist yearling half-sister to Scampi will be offered at the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast.
“Catchy has the most superb Pinatubo filly foal I think I’ve ever seen, and she also has a three-year-old filly called Floozie who I am racing with Mick Price,” he said.
“She’s a bit slow to mature. She’s run two seconds, but as she matures she’ll certainly be a stakes-class horse.”
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The Everest is fast approaching and World Pool is betting on the ten-race Randwick spectacular – great, you might say.
More revenue for Racing NSW. Everyone wins, except for the poor Australian punters, the ones betting on the sport week in, week out, who have to pay more for the privilege.
As a result of the World Pool alignment with The Everest – and any Australian meeting they choose to – the percentages go up in the tote win pool (as in the take out) from a rounded down 118 per cent to approximately 121 to 122 per cent.
In essence, racing is taking more from more, instead of less from more. World Pool is hailed by many administrators as the Holy Grail.
But for the punters who backed the winner of, say, the Tea Rose last week (Tiz Invincible) at $3.10 on the NSW tote will on Everest day receive about $3 instead (started $3.20 fixed). For their $100 win bet, that’s $10 less in their pocket. Or $20 if the real dividend should be $2.99 and is rounded down. It might not sound like much, but it’s a couple of extra beers at the pub during Happy Hour.
The takeout for those who love a trifecta or a quinella, it is higher again and blatant thievery.
This is happening when all administrators admit turnover is plummeting and trumpet the importance of its number one customer, the punter.
It’s a disgrace, but few administrators even understand the difference, let alone wanting to tackle the issue. As for Tabcorp’s so-called innovation for the tote, forget it.
When the Tabcorp pools are merged for Hong Kong racing, who would think it was possible for the TAB to offer tote odds in five cent increments, but lo and behold, they do!
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This columnist understands there’s a pay dispute going on in NSW between some of the state’s barrier attendants, the race clubs and Racing NSW.
Unlike the jockeys, who get paid the same amount per ride whether it’s at Rosehill or Randwick, Grafton or Griffith ($268.52 including superannuation in 2022/23), it seems the barrier attendants are paid differently. Those barrier attendants working, for instance, at the Goulburn race meetings will get paid more than those doing the same job at, say, Albury or Corowa.
It doesn’t make much sense. They also have to pay for the first 100 kilometres of travel costs (the Australian Tax Office recommends 85 cents per kilometre) out of their own pockets to get to the race meetings and as industry participants know, they’re often hours long journeys each way to get to the races.
Racing NSW, we continue to hear, is flush with cash – how could it not be given the oodles of million-dollar races – but the state’s barrier attendants, the majority are casuals who have other jobs, aren’t paid enough and a proportion certainly aren’t afforded the same as their peers in the same state, let alone compared to their counterparts interstate.
The proverbial punching bag, Racing Victoria, does have many full-time barrier attendants and that has to make a difference as those experienced gatemen and women know the horses inside out and that can make all the difference in helping jockeys avoid serious injuries and better race starts for owners, trainers and punters.
There’s paperwork, we hear, sitting on a desk somewhere at RNSW headquarters that’s been gathering dust for many months that could bring the barrier attendants’ pay into line with their NSW colleagues but no action has been taken.