Carnival programming continues to be a big issue for the Australian Racing Board.
The ARB was successful in curtailing the autumn rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne over dates for the Australian Guineas and Randwick Guineas.
It now needs to take a close look at the Sydney spring agenda, especially the lead-up program to the Epsom Handicap and the scheduling of the Flight Stakes.
The Epsom lead-up program is too tight. The Theo Marks Stakes, Cameron Handicap at Newcastle, George Main Stakes, Bill Ritchie Quality and Shannon Stakes were run within 14 days — a schedule that had an obvious impact on field sizes.
Then we have the situation of the Flight Stakes at Randwick and Thousand Guineas at Caulfield — the only two G1 races over 1600m for three-year-old fillies in Australia — being run just seven days apart.
Both races suffer and could be easily remedied if a new date is found for the Flight Stakes.
Moving the Flight to the autumn would be an obvious solution, but if it is to remain a spring feature a transfer to the Rosehill program held last Saturday in place of the Golden Pendant would make it a better fit with the Thousand Guineas.
The Golden Pendant – a race destined for Group One status – could become an Epsom or Champion Stakes day feature, or even become a part of the autumn schedule when Sydney offers Australia’s best series of races for the females.
The Golden Pendant is advertised as a fillies and mares race but it obviously holds little appeal for the younger age group in its current form – there wasn’t one three-year-old in the field of 12 last Saturday – so a calendar change should not be an issue.
The bottom line is something has to be done to remedy the close proximity of the Flight Stakes and Thousand Guineas as the current schedule has had an impact on the quality and quantity of other black type fillies races in recent weeks.
Of course any solution would mean a break with tradition, but respect for history has hardly been a priority for race clubs in recent times when it comes to race programming.
