The breakthrough ... Gai Waterhouse celebrates after winning her maiden Melbourne Cup. Picture: William West Source: AFP THE carnival is over. MATT STEWART takes a deep breath and assesses the successes and failures of a dramatic spring.
HITS
THE VRC CARNIVAL
It just gets bigger and bigger. Oaks Day was a minor aberration, and the weather seemed to kick Stakes Day in the guts, but the week was another overwhelming success. If anything, the first two days were so big that perhaps the last two suffered a little. No sporting event can match the sheer volume of Cup Week; the swarming crowds, the colour, the magnificence of beautiful Flemington, the sense of an international epicentre provided by the swarm of raiders and their exotic entourages. This Cup was the best ever, not just because it attracted its best field but because it also seemed to have gained unprecedented world stage importance.
World stage ... Michael Owen was one of many foreign raiders at the spring carnival. Picture: Ryan Pierse. Source: Getty Images ROBBIE LAING
The best Derby story of recent times; Polanski, the $4000 colt by the mad, unfashionable, dead sire, trained by one of racing's great survivors and most versatile horsemen. For good measure, Laing won the two-year-old race on Stakes Day as well. Laing, never fazed by anything, including bouts of crippling debt, stood in the mounting yard after the Derby, the hero of more than 95,000 on course and millions off it. He looked about and quipped in typical who-cares style: "I suppose this is one of the big ones.''
Against all odds ... Hugh Bowman and trainer Robbie Laing pose with the trophy after Polanski won. Picture: Vince Caligiuri. Source: Getty Images GAI WATERHOUSE/DAMIEN OLIVER
Given the grand stage of the Cup, it would have been a travesty if Gai had never won it. She stood on that platform near the famous old members' stand steps and waved royally to an adoring crowd - an unforgettable image. She became just the second woman to train a Cup winner and the victory, combined with the back story of an often tough journey in what was once called the sport of kings, resonated beyond the racecourse. And Oliver, the irrepressible legend. Our greatest ever jockey, surely, off the canvas yet again. Oh, and the Cup was run at 3pm. Perfect.
Australia's first lady of racing, Gai Waterhouse, has won her maiden Melbourne Cup with Fiorente, but not before a summons to the Stewards sent a scare through the camp.CAULFIELD OCCASIONAL FREE ENTRY
The Melbourne Racing Club has big ideas. The ones that float are often fantastic and few clubs are game enough to match strides with it. The bluff of the spring, when the crowds pour in, is that racing is a consistent attraction. Of course it isn't and the MRC realises that olive branches, such as throwing open the gates to win a few back, are a necessity.
Gai Waterhouse has claimed her first Melbourne Cup win with Fiorente taking out Aust racing's biggest prize.MISSES
MOONEE VALLEY SPLIT MEETING
A failure. To the club's credit, it is prepared to reassess. Splitting Cox Plate in two may earn it some revenue - although the TAB isn't clicking its heels - yet it has damaged the brand. If the Valley continues with this for another year, that damage may be irreparable. A crowd of 7000 watched Buffering win a Group 1 at 10pm the night before the club's biggest day. Ridiculous. The Cox Plate crowd was down, a bit because Atlantic Jewel was scratched, a bit because the ever-growing Flemington giant was a week away and a lot because the club had diluted what should have been prime product.
LAST RACE AS FEATURE
The MRC and the MVRC seem obsessed that dramatic change must be immediate or racing will collapse. Running the feature as the last race out of season early in the spring served only to frustrate and annoy. Second-last race, then brought back a half-hour, would seem a reasonable compromise, and likely. The MRC might have earned a few bucks from international betting markets but at the expense of racegoers who were left in unnecessary holding patterns as these races lurched closer. It didn't work for the Caulfield Guineas or Caulfield Cup either, even though the club will this week release a proud balance sheet. The crowds dashed for the gates before anyone could absorb the main event. Racing has a prime time and it's between 3pm and 4pm on a Saturday. David Hayes, for one, said it was depressing watching Chad Schofield step on to the victory stage after the Cox Plate as cars exited the car parks. Racing does need to plot a new, imaginative course, but history and traditions sometimes stand the test of time for a reason.
Oaks Day flop ... 'Buddy' and Campbell at the Emirates marquee. Picture: Scott Barbour. Source: Getty Images OAKS DAY
The phenomenon of the early-mid 2000s, when Oaks Day crowds soared above 100,000, has become the modern day head-scratcher. Oaks Day this year attracted just 66,000 - it felt smaller - and it was the most sparse Oaks crowd since 1995. Stakes Day, knocked about by the wet, also seemed down. Oaks Day culprits may include economic factors. How many can still justify a midweek "sickie''? How many employers tolerate it? Oaks Day also lacks quality racing. Maybe even party crowds are too discerning to cop pedestrian race cards such as last Thursday's. Could the Mackinnon Stakes, or Myer Classic, which would fit the "girls' day out theme", be moved to Oaks Day?
COUNTRY CUPS
One of racing's saddest declines. The Geelong Cup meeting used to run over two days. The weather was unkind this year, but it was a sad and sparsely attended event. The Werribee Cup used to have parked cars running a kilometre down the railway side. Now the Werribee Cup, at that basket-case track, is virtually extinct. Kyneton is a shadow of its former self. The reason? Probably too much racing at the sport's prime time of year, leading to too much diluting. Some of these cups had only a handful of runners.
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