Railway a World Pool hook for Karaka Millions night
Among the raft of changes and innovations announced yesterday by New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing, arguably the most significant is the moving of The Railway (Gr 1, 1200m) to Karaka Millions night.
While capturing the headlines was the NZ$3.5 million three-year-old NZB Kiwi (1500m) slot race, which will increase to NZ$4.5 million in 2027, the transfer of the traditional New Year’s Day Railway to the twilight Karaka Millions card at Ellerslie will give NZTR the impetus to push for the meeting’s inclusion on the sought after World Pool calendar.
It is now up to wagering giant Entain, which was last year awarded a 25-year contract to run the NZ TAB, to negotiate with the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s powerful CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Breges on the New Zealand industry’s behalf for that to happen, with the Railway seen as the Group 1 drawcard required to receive the Jockey Club’s approval.
“The reality is, Karaka Millions is a world-class racing night and, in terms of taking it to another level, it potentially allows the global pool [World Pool] to bet on that with a Group 1 [race],” NZTR chief executive Bruce Sharrock told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“It allows us to at least knock on that door, so that’s part of the strategic move there, but it also highlights the night even further.”
Sharrock also confirmed yesterday that NZ TAB was bucking wagering trends of trans–Tasman neighbour Australia with turnover increasing year-on-year and recognition that the Entain partnership was so far paying dividends in the early stages of the long-term deal.
However, in a country of just 5.12 million people, New Zealand’s racing industry revenue depends heavily on co-mingling into other jurisdictions, particularly Australia, and a potential alignment with World Pool would provide an enormous boost to turnover, even if it’s for one night only.
“I am going off last week’s [numbers] as I haven’t seen this week’s yet, but turnover on thoroughbred racing is up circa four to five per cent on last year, which was a pretty good year as well,” Sharrock said.
“So, we are seeing some uptick and I think there is a lot more left in the [wagering] economy here, but in saying that, it’s a challenge across the world coming out of a recessionary time.
“If we can see an interest rate decline over the next 12 months and things return to normal then I really do think we’re set for some increases in that space.”
During the Australian spring carnival, World Pool bet on a number of Sydney and Melbourne meetings, such as the last five races on Turnbull Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) day at Flemington last October, The Everest card at Randwick, the Caulfield Cup card and the Cox Plate meeting.
With Hong Kong’s Romantic Warrior (Acclamation) in the Turnbull Stakes, Hong Kong punters clearly showed their allegiances, ensuring Danny Shum’s superstar started an odds-on pari-mutuel favourite, but with fixed odds corporate bookmakers his starting price was $2.45. The five races at Flemington on October 7 generated $6,545,489.82 in turnover on the Victorian tote, almost nine times the turnover on the five non-World Pool races run that day.
Randwick’s $20 million The Everest meeting, which featured the $5 million King Charles III Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) on the undercard, also set new World Pool wagering records with $10.43 million bet through the merged pools, a figure surpassed a week later on the Caulfield Cup meeting when $10.98 million was bet.
In an earnings call last week, Australia’s dominant corporate bookmaker Sportsbet’s parent company Flutter revealed revenue was down eight per cent for its market-leading brand Down Under, which is consistent with the wagering industry generally reporting declines of up to ten per cent.