Picnic club joins racing's turf war with cheeky riposte to The Everest
The ever-escalating prizemoney row between Victoria and New South Wales, sparked by the inception of The Everest, seems to know no bounds.
New races have been created – such as Flemington's upcoming All Star Mile worth $5 million – while the ever adventurous NSW racing chief Peter V'landys plans even more radical innovations with new events like the $7.5 million Golden Eagle and the shifting of NSW's major races to go head to head with the jewels of Victoria's spring carnival.
It's unlikely, however, that V'landys will be quaking in his boots over the latest initiative to come out of Victoria, the Mansfield Diamond.
The 1200 metre race, to be staged at the country venue in April, is billing itself as the richest picnic race meeting in the country.
This tongue-in-cheek move shows that the country club has a sense of humour but also illustrates the old truism, that all is fair in love and war.
The Diamond, which will be staged over the same trip as the $13 million Everest, is closely modelled on the iconoclastic Sydney event which has made such an impression in the two years in which it has been staged.
It's all, however, a matter of scale. The Diamond will have 10 slots which sponsors can purchase for $3000 – a bit of a discount on the $600,000 it costs to get one of the 12 slots available for the Everest.
For that the winning slot holder could pick up a cheque for $5000.
But the big winners will be the winning connections of the horse who triumphs. They will earn $10,000 in cash plus an $8000 diamond.
It's a fraction of the largesse on offer at Randwick, but again, it's all relative.
The Hygain Mansfield Cup will be staged on the same day: hitherto the centrepiece of the track's annual programme, that is worth just $5000, while the average picnic race prize is around $3000.
In picnic terms, that makes the Diamond a game-changer, although not to quite the same extent as the Everest where the city class gallopers are concerned.
Susan Kinloch, secretary of the club, says the move is designed to boost interest and reward the small trainers and heavyweight riders who regularly support the picnic racing circuit.
"There are all these new types of races coming on, and we thought it would be good to put something like this on, attract interest and try to build up the crowds as well."