Qld officials to look at distance races

Sunday 22 June 2014, 4:01pm

Racing Queensland will look at ways to strengthen the standard of Brisbane's winter carnival staying races.

The Group sprint races in Brisbane this winter have been of a high standard but the staying races have lacked depth.

It has been a long drop from the days when Australia's best stayers won the Brisbane Cup, Ipswich Cup, Tattersall's Cup and Caloundra Cup.

Saturday's Tattersall's Cup winner The Inventor was a class five horse before his Listed win.

Grafton officials have also made it clear they will be targeting horses which would usually race in Brisbane for their carnival.

RQ will look closely at all aspects of the carnival in a review and staying races will be one of the priorities.

The new wagering deal and a court case involving an alleged $150 million debt owed to Racing Queensland by TattsBet will be keys to improving the standard of staying races.

RQ's chief executive Darren Condon said one option was to increase prize money but the overall picture needed to be examined.

Meanwhile, RQ will also closely monitor Racing Victoria's decision to have nine races per meeting.

"It shouldn't impact us directly but having 35 minutes between races instead of 40 minutes could hit our slice of the wagering," Condon said.

"We looked at having nine race programs a few years back and decided it wouldn't work here."

– AAP

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