First, Benalla Racing Club was forced to shift the track’s signature event because of the changes coronavirus restrictions forced on the AFL and its grand final.
Running the cup on the grand final eve public holiday has proved a major success for the club, and loath to lose the slot it moved its marquee day to October 23.
It was a move club chief executive Cam Symes had hoped would also get it past the current restrictions and allow members and sponsors — at the very least — to attend cup day.
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But last week Symes said they got the word there would be no crowd on cup day.
“It’s a real blow, a setback we had hoped we would not have to deal with,” Symes said.
“Racing has done a fantastic job to keep the whole industry going; but for our biggest day of the year we really wanted to get our most loyal supporters — members and sponsors — through the gate to share in the occasion.
“Under current restrictions we will be able to rotate people — owners, for example — and they can be on the track for an hour to watch their race and have a little celebration if they have a winner, but it’s not really the same thing.
“I know we are lucky to even be running our cup day, and it will all be onracing.com, but to have even a small crowd would have made such a difference.”
Club chairman Greg McNulty said with less than two weeks until cup day, and no certainty restrictions would be eased, “we’ve had to make the tough decision”.
“We tried everything, and have left it as late as possible to make a final call,” McNulty said.
“But with arranging all personnel for the day, catering in particular, we’ve just run out of time. We wanted to inform our members, sponsors and racegoers as early as possible, so they could plan their day.”
Another big change for the bet365 Benalla Gold Cup will be the distance.
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Traditionally a 2050 m event for stayers, in 2020 the cup will be a 1400 m race.
Symes said because of the new date Benalla simply could not compete with the big drawcards the same day — and the next.
Moonee Valley has a night meeting set for the grand final eve holiday and the Saturday is Cox Plate day.
“While at $125,000 the bet365 Benalla Gold Cup is one of the richest on the regional cup circuit, it can’t really compete with a series of big bucks 2050 m events at the Valley on Friday night and Saturday — even the Cox Plate is a 2050m run,” Symes said.
“But at 1400 m it probably opens up an opportunity for more horses and we also have the $50,000 Ryan McNulty Weary Dunlop over 2046 m. I reckon with the cup and the Weary a lot of quality horses will still be headed our way.”
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