THE figures from racing in Australia were quite something last week. The four-day Melbourne Carnival saw over 286,000 people going racing, the largest crowd since 2018 attending Flemington.

Anyone who looked on social media or viewed the coverage from Australia in the early morning would be quite staggered by the interest in racing, in comparison to anything in Britain, France or Ireland.

Crown Oaks Day on the Thursday welcomed 51,239, and TAB Champions Stakes Day on Saturday, when it lashed rain, closed the week with 65,012 racegoers present.

It’s quite astonishing that 53% of all general admission tickets for the Melbourne Cup Carnival were purchased by people under the age of 35, and up 17% year-on-year.

The Melbourne Cup broadcast on TV had a total audience of over two million for the first time since 2018, while some of us here scoff that it’s only a big handicap.

The Melbourne Cup Day meeting set a new wagering record, with turnover reaching $382.5 million across the meeting - an 11.1% year-on-year increase and surpassed the previous record.

The race itself also broke records, generating $247.4 million in turnover, a 16.4% increase from last year and exceeding the previous record from 2021.

Across Meta and TikTok, Melbourne Cup Carnival content reached more than 31.6 million people, exceeding Australia’s entire population. And that on the back of some negative concerns and protests a few years back.

We can hesitate at the notion that Via Sistina is now a world superstar but the prize money and level of interest is incredible.

We saw thousands of young racefans singing her name in the lashing rain last Saturday! There was simply no negativity around the meeting.

While we go on that it’s all about the horse, much of the interest did seem to fit around the stories of those on the track, horse and human. We might think we have better horses here, but horses like Pride Of Jenni and Via Sistina herself, running much more regularly, coming back from defeats, seems to capture the interest.

Our broadcasters seem to have gone drone-mad here and every race now features a (pointless) aerial view. Showing off a practically deserted Sandown stand for a jumps meeting last Sunday was very depressing.

Yes, it’s winter and the feature flat fixtures held their own this season, but mid-week jumps racing is very poor. The points of interest, competition, decent horses, are not there. We might have the horses but not the prize money.

New role

It might be a small positive move but Cheltenham announced this week that Rachael Blackmore will have a new ambassadorial role as Head of Ladies Day at the Festival, in a move to encourage more women to come racing. The Jockey Club data shows that, on average, only a quarter of visitors at Cheltenham during the season are women.

This will involve fronting a series of pop-up activations in major cities. It’s a positive initiative. It is curious that when you look at our paper’s sport horse section and see the extent of female interest and participation in all things equine, that female racegoers are a small section at the races. Why does the interest not continue?

WHAT was the first thing I did after seeing that State Man was sadly out for the season?

Look at the Champion Hurdle betting and take the 40/1 about Kopek Des Bordes. By the following day he was half those odds!

There are plenty of things to consider before his chase debut, even if he is reported to have schooled really well. A keen horse may, as Willie Mullins suggested, settle better when faced with bigger obstacles. But dare I mention Dysart Dynamo?

The current Champion Hurdle betting will have a totally different look come March.

The New Lion is too short, having to prove he has the speed for two miles. Lossiemouth may go for the Mares’ Hurdle, Anzadam at 6/1 still has to step up to Grade 1 class and I can’t have Constitution Hill over hurdles until I see a few clear rounds from him.

Even though they are Grade 1 winners, Lulamba, Salvator Mundi and Irancy still have to step up to championship level, should they stay hurdling.

Hardy Eustace, Hurricane Fly, Faugheen, Honeysuckle, State Man were seven when they won the Champion Hurdle. Kopek will be six come March, plenty of time to have one crack and still go chasing in 2027.

X Marks the Spot

Neil Watson@WattyRacing

If Quixall Crossett was racing now he’d have potentially won a stack of novice chases without needing to leave his stable!