What can Victorian harness racing do to try and craft something like the magic of the Warrnambool May Carnival?
During the three-hour drive back, between the Bendigo trots and some old-school music, a mate and I discussed that very question.
There must be something, albeit on a smaller scale.
Warrnambool is amazing. It’s a real celebration of racing, shared by largely diehards, who enjoy the social side of it as much as the racing. Every year I go I’m reunited with people I’ve otherwise lost contact with.
In its heyday, that’s what the Mildura Cup Carnival was to harness racing, but those days are long gone.
Don’t get me wrong, the Mildura Cup is still a fantastic experience, but through the 1990s and 2000s, it was a mecca for not just harness, but broader racing fans. The Calcutta, boat cruise, karaoke and a few nights of exciting racing across the week.
In some ways, it rivalled the Inter Dominion, when it was at its prime, as THE annual social getaway for harness fans.
Maybe we can resurrect it?
The racing may not be of the highest standard, but it’s up with the most exciting and action-packed in the land.
But these days we don’t get the big name horses and only a few big name stables head to the Mildura carnival.
Everyone is so busy these days and Mildura is so far away, making it our ‘Bool would seem a stretch.
The fact Warrnambool is three hours from Melbourne is a sweet spot. It’s not a daunting drive, but it’s far enough to not want to drive down and back.
And with three terrific race days in a row, why wouldn’t you camp in town or somewhere nearby like Port Fairy, where we did this year?
So, that casts my mind back to the Breeders Crown in its embryonic days.
That’s when it was run at Bendigo.
As the event grew, which it did astronomically in those early years, it seemingly became too attractive to leave in the bush.
“It’s become our biggest event and it simply must be run at Melton,” a HRV board member told me at the time.
I can understand the thinking, but in many ways that move turned the Breeders Crown back into just one of the many big race days at Melton.
It lost the unique identity and charm it was built on.
So, could the Breeders Crown be the event to take back to the bush in a quest to build our own ‘Bool?
It’s worth thinking about.
You’d have to tighten things up, maybe run heats on the Tuesday into Saturday night finals – at least for certain age groups and gaits.
And you’d need a meeting in between.
Those last few months of the season are an evolving space, especially in Victorian harness racing.
It was always going to be with the sensible but disruptive change to a calendar racing season.
We’ve moved the Vicbred series (hooray) forward this year and tinkered with a few other things.
Would it be crazy to move the crunch stage of the Breeders Crown – the main three meetings – back to one of our strongest country tracks and try to make something of a destination event?
I just think it would be a shame if we didn’t have a deep think about how we can create something like the ‘Bool – especially given harness racing’s roots are even more deeply entrenched in regional Victoria than our thoroughbred cousins.