Crowds up, wagering down: Mixed Spring Carnival results

Crowds were up but wagering was down for the recently completed Victorian Spring Racing Carnival.

The revamped Spring Carnival saw Group 1 racing held over 11 weekends with the transfer of the Thousand Guineas to November 18 from its previous date in October that resulted in an increase in turnover of 41% which bucked the wagering trend from the start of the Carnival on September 2.

Total turnover for the Carnival reached $2.9 billion, a 12% downturn year-on-year which Racing Victoria said was due to macroeconomic pressures, favourable results for bookmakers and a 33% decline in free bet turnover, however the figure was 14% higher than the pre-COVID figures of 2019.

The Carnival’s three major races – Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate – produced $300 million in domestic turnover, in line with COVID peaks and largely unaffected by the wagering downturn.

RV said more than 566,000 people attended racing during the Spring Carnival, an increase of 12.5% on 2022 numbers.

The four meetings of the Melbourne Cup Carnival at Flemington were the most attended in Australia during the spring while having restricted capacity due to ongoing works, the Caulfield Cup had 25,121 patrons, up 2.6% on last year, while Cox Plate Day saw 21,021 attendees, up 10%.

Country crowds were also up at feature meetings, while Dunkeld and Avoca welcomed crowds back to their Cup meetings.

The Cox Plate, the Memsie Stakes and Champions Mile were provisionally the three highest rating races of the Carnival with the Melbourne Cup and Caulfield, among others, to also provisionally achieve an increased race rating on the previous year.

RV Chief Executive, Andrew Jones, said this year’s Spring Racing Carnival delivered high quality, safe and competitive racing along with excellent crowds.

“We thank racing fans for their support through Spring, from the feature Group 1 meetings to our iconic Country Cups,” Jones said.

“We thank our Clubs for delivering spectacular race day experiences and the punters, owners, breeders, trainers, jockeys and stable staff, locally and internationally, for their continued support of this fantastic carnival.”