Alleluia! Someone talking sense about Prize Money distribution.

[Chief Stipe]

Freedman: "This gives racing a chance to reset its prizemoney thinking"

Richard Freedman. Photo: Daily Telegraph

 

Trainer and media personality Richard Freedman believes the huge prizemoney slashes to elite Sydney races caused by the coronavirus pandemic gives racing an opportunity to "reset its thinking."

In incredibly tough, challenging and worrying times, there will be few complaints that the top ten rich races at The Championships over the next two Saturdays have had their prizemoney slashed by 50 percent.

But Freedman thinks there could be some learnings for racing going forward - he believes that when racing comes through the other side of the current covid-19 disaster that racing prizemoney needs to be less top-heavy.

He feels less prizemoney should be spread across the top-tier races, with lower level races and maidens receiving more of the cream than they currently do.

"We are being forced to re-think everything because of an external force that we never saw coming, but we should take the opportunity to reset the way we do things for the good," Freedman told Racenet.

"If we are going to take money off the top races, for a very good reason, and we are able to do that and everybody says that's OK, then don't just go back to the previous system after this is finished.

"I think racing going forward should take money off the top (races) and spread it along the bottom.

"If you pump up the top of the market, it funnels huge numbers of dollars into the smallest amount of pockets.

"A very small number of people are going to access that - it's like a lottery.

"But if you put more money into smaller races then everybody gets a little lick.

"If a maiden anywhere was worth $50,000, you get a good chunk of money back the first time you win a race.

"Surely we have got to return the money to the people who actually pay for the animals, who keep the whole sport going.

"And we have got to get it back in their pockets as quickly as we possibly can, to as many as we possibly can. 

"Let's not give it back to them as slowly as we can and to as few of them as we can." 

Like every other industry, racing is likely to look completely different when it comes out the other side of the coronavirus pandemic.

Racing has done an incredible job to be the only major sport to push ahead but there have now been massive prizemoney cuts to The Championships over the next two Saturdays and you can read about that HERE.

Freedman says the prizemoney is being cut with the best intentions but it should also give racing pause for thought about its prizemoney structure in the years to come.

"Yes, we have to cut the dollars at the moment for a very good reason, the revenues aren't there and we are in desperate times," Freedman said.

"But I think there is a positive that could come out of it, and that is there was never an opportunity to cut those (rich) races before.

"There was no political way to do it - there was no administrator who was going to waltz into a state regulator and say I'm cutting all the races back.

"That was never ever a possibility.

"Now it is a possibility for a very good reason.

"And it gives us the opportunity to reset our thinking."

[Rusty]

Makes a lot of sense. 

A lot, if not all, of the top tier races, will attract the exact same horses, irrespective if the prize money is $2m or $1m. $500k or $250k, it wouldn't make any difference. 

[Freda]

Absolutely,  even before the Covid-19 situation,  the drop in turnover at Melbourne in spring should have been a wake-up call that excessive levies and penalties to take money from the punter would, eventually, produce a backlash.

Good call,  Richard.

[nomates]

Far too much commonsense being used by Mr Freedman . We are in the same position but at a different level , none the less we should also spread our money around better . More of a return at the lower level will keep and attract more people in the game rather than drift away dispirited . Will it happen ???