Anyone who has been to a picnic race meeting in Victoria knows it is an example of grassroots racing at its finest.
The popular circuit, which runs between October and April, showcases the best of country hospitality, a place where Mum, Dad and the kids can dress down, BYO and take in the sights, sounds and smell of some of the slowest horses in Victoria from an up-close and personal vantage.
All while mixing and mingling with the locals, who come together to support both their community and the lowest rung on the thoroughbred ladder.
Former trackside New Zealand presenter Elizabeth Whelan has seen first-hand the positives of picnic racing in her role as Media & Communications Manager for Country Racing Victoria.
“We’ve got 66 clubs under our umbrella at Country Racing Victoria and 12 of them are picnic clubs, with the rest professional clubs, albeit, some of them are only once or twice a year meetings.
“I help support their media and communication needs. My role is to get them as much coverage as we can as all we are trying to do is increase attendances at the racetrack.
“We have quite a small office and small marketing team but at present we are doing marketing roadshows at four different regional Victorian racetracks where we invite the different clubs from the region along where we do presentations to show the support we can offer from a marketing perspective.”
With experience on both sides of the Tasman, Whelan believes there are already a number of similarities between picnic racing in Victoria and the smaller, regional courses in New Zealand, but there is more of a united front in Victoria across the tiered racing system.
“The picnic clubs are all volunteer run,” Whelan said. “It is very much like a big family, whereas I think in New Zealand it is a bit fragmented.
“We have about 33 picnic meetings a year and they take place between Cox Plate day and Easter.
“All of them are non-tab meetings, but if you go to the track there are bookies you can bet with and an on-course tote. All of them, with the exception of Buchan recently, are non-televised.
“Picnic clubs get a lot of support from Country Racing Victoria and also the government. Another fundamental difference between New Zealand and Victoria is the level of government support for racing.
“The clubs get greater support here to make sure that their infrastructure is well presented and safe.”
Whelan also points to community engagement as one of the key drivers of success of picnic meetings, in addition to being a touchpoint for the next generation of racing fans.
“Racing as a whole I think is more socially acceptable in Australia but the level of community engagement that you get here, especially at the picnics, is just incredible,” she said.
“At every picnic race meeting there are kids’ activities, without exception.
“The clubs that have a raceday during summer are all provided with free Country Racing Victoria backpacks and all of the kids that turn up on track receive one. There are free kids’ activities put on, so there is immediately a drawcard for families.
“A lot of the clubs have ongoing relationships with charities and local community groups. Quite often you will see charity racedays or community racedays where the local rotary club work the gate or the local footy club runs the bar.
“When you have the anti-racing groups come out, as we saw following the ABC report just before the spring carnival, it did some damage to the professional and metro circuit, whereas the picnics continued to thrive and maintain that level of community engagement and showcase all that is great about racing.”
The majority of picnic meetings are BYO, but Whelan said that luxury isn’t abused.
“While the hens and bucks parties are pretty common, no one really exploits the BYO license and most people are pretty sensible and we have a really good relationship with TAC (Transport Accident Commission).
“Quite often they will give grants to the clubs towards buses and have activation sites on track with breath testing.”
The industry’s attitude towards regional racing in Victoria are also in stark contrast to New Zealand.
“I love New Zealand Racing, but I have been devastated by the proposed closure of tracks and the discussions,” Whelan said.
“Picnic racing is completely bucking the trend here. Revenues and attendances continue to grow and if attendances are down, instead of writing them off we look at doing everything we possibly can to support them.”
One of those things includes using popular mainstream sports radio stations and their personalities and former sports stars to help promote regional racing.
Prizemoney for picnic races is generally between $3,500 and $4,000, with Cup races run for around $6,0000. The average programme tends to have six races, with field size averaging 6.8 runners.
“The prizemoney has steadily increased over the years but it is a fine balancing act because if you increase it too much, you risk more professional horses coming in and that does occasionally happen,” Whelan said.
“The field numbers have gradually increased and we have drawcard picnic horses like Howling Wolf or Nankervis who have their own little cult following. You can get up close and personal with the horses which is great and Howling Wolf recently carried 77kgs to victory at Woolamai.”
Kiwi horseman Don Dwyer, who previously trained at Pukekohe and Byerley Park is the reigning champion picnic trainer, having made the move to Victoria five years ago.
Dwyer prepares around 10 horses from his Seymour base, competing at picnic, country, provincial and metropolitan level, but it is at the former where he has really made a name.
“I won last season’s Victorian Picnic trainers’ premiership and had wins at the other levels as well,” Dwyer said.
“It has actually got quite strong the picnic scene. It is common to get crowds of 2000 people plus, particularly at places like Balnarring where a number of people camp over the weekend.
“You can get on anywhere and the bookie rings are still pretty strong, even at the remote places.
“I went to Buchan a few weeks ago and there were seven or eight bookies there. I have had a few decent collects along the way.”
Dwyer is not afraid to travel to some of the more remote picnic meetings.
“We go to Hinnomunjie which is in East Gippsland and you go over Mount Hotham to get there. It probably takes us eight hours to get there.
“Because it is so far away, it doesn’t attract the biggest or strongest fields.”
Dwyer said there is a different rating system between the picnic and TAB systems.
“What I do with most of my TAB horses, when they’re ready to trial I take them to the picnics and it doesn’t matter if they win or get beaten. Their picnic ratings don’t affect their TAB ratings.”
A number of picnic horses are owned by their trainers, but there is also a pool of owners happy to pay training fees on the lower end gallopers.
“We’ve got owners that are happy to be involved as they just want to have a bit of fun,” Dwyer said.
“I had one group that sponsor a race on Woolamai Cup Day, which they have done for the past ten years.
“My job was to get their horse there on the day and they didn’t care if they won or ran last. They just wanted to be represented on the day and the horse ran a really respectable race out of his class and they were over the moon.”
The hands-on trainer, who rides his horses in work, as well as playing farrier and float driver said a number of the jockeys are amateurs or work riders.
“Some of them use it as a stepping stone as it is very hard to get an apprenticeship in Victoria.
“A lot of them start at the picnics and then go interstate, but also the jumps jockeys can also use it as a launching pad.
“My main jockey is Shaun Cooper from Taranaki. He had his first season of riding last season at the picnics and won the premiership.”
With picnic racing thriving in Victoria and providing the ideal platform to promote the sport to new and future racing fans, the questions begs, why wouldn’t New Zealand follow their lead?
