Domestic turnover has reached an all-time high for the Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas meeting, with Racing Victoria (RV) announcing today that a record $98.9 million was wagered across all operators last Saturday, 13 October.
This represents a 20.2 per cent increase on turnover from the same meeting in 2017, and reflects the current upwards turnover trend for the 2018 Spring Racing Carnival.
Prior to Saturday’s meeting, wagering had seen a 13 per cent increase across the seven feature meetings held from Memsie Stakes Day at Caulfield on 1 September to Turnbull Stakes Day at Flemington on 6 October.
Five of the six Saturday metropolitan meetings conducted during this year’s Spring Racing Carnival have now witnessed turnover growth in excess of 16 per cent.
Whilst customer engagement is at record levels, revenue returned to the industry has not achieved the same level of growth with punters enjoying considerably more success this year compared to the longshot winners of 2017.
Ahead of this year’s feature meetings at The Valley and Flemington, the record result for the Caulfield Guineas meeting would see it move from seventh to fifth position on the list of Victoria’s highest turnover meetings, surpassing the 2017 figures for Oaks Day and Stakes Day.
Flemington’s Melbourne Cup remains the biggest wagering meeting in Australian racing by a considerable margin, with a record $334.5 million wagered domestically on the meeting in 2017 – some $207.2 million of that on the Cup alone – with a further $50 million wagered internationally on it.
Completing the top five meetings on turnover based on 2017 figures are Victoria Derby Day (second), Caulfield Cup Day (third) and Cox Plate Day (fourth).
RV Chief Executive, Giles Thompson, said, “We’re delighted to see punters continuing to embrace this year’s Spring Racing Carnival and the fantastic racing that is being delivered on Melbourne tracks.
“The trend of significant turnover growth throughout this year’s Carnival continued at Caulfield on Saturday with the Guineas meeting delivering record results off the back of a terrific card of racing and more favourable conditions than other states.
“This increase in turnover is being driven in part by wagering operators who have been very active in their promotions and offers to customers which has further stimulated wagering at this peak time.
“It is also worth noting that the abandonment of Saturday’s Doomben meeting and the fact that the Randwick meeting was run on a heavy track have both contributed to the uplift in turnover at Caulfield above the current Carnival trend.
“While turnover growth has been significant, we haven’t seen that reflected in our revenue from wagering operators with punters enjoying far more favourable results this year compared to 12 months ago when many upsets were being witnessed.
“Guineas Day last year recorded huge revenue growth off the back of Mighty Boss’ win at $101 in the Caulfield Guineas and the Group 1 wins of Aloisia and Tosen Stardom at double figure odds. With $1.60 favourite The Autumn Sun winning this year’s Caulfield Guineas we haven’t seen Saturday’s huge turnover growth parlay into equivalent revenue growth.”