The Everest 2023: Peter V’landys bold dream to change racing has been realised

For V’landys, those measures are crowd figures and wagering turnover.

Last year, more than 46,000 people attended the race – the largest crowd at Randwick in half a century – and a similar figure is expected on Saturday. At the corresponding meeting in 2016, the figure posted was 9000.

Most of the crowd on Saturday will be under 35, which is the demographic V’landys has targeted.

If you’re going to be a successful race these days, you need a song to go with it. Just as Daryl Braithwaite’s The Horses has become the anthem of the Cox Plate, so has Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline with The Everest.

Frankly, I’d be happy if I never heard either song again, but V’landys isn’t trying to entice washed-up sportswriters who prefer to watch their racing from the lounge, alone, judiciously picking the slowest horses.

He’s after the tens of thousands of young’uns who take great delight in belting out the songs of washed-up singers so loud that jockeys can hear them from the barriers on the other side of the course. Do-do-do!

Wagering on The Everest meeting, meanwhile, is through the roof.

Previously, the good trainers and owners would take their good horses to Melbourne for all the good races, turning Sydney racing into a wasteland of mediocre horses with shallow wagering pools.

Punters would stop betting on Sydney and focus on Melbourne and wouldn’t return until the following autumn.

The Everest instantly became the most wagered race in NSW and second in Australia to the Melbourne Cup. The last race on Everest Day last year was the 11th most wagered race in NSW for the year.

All that additional turnover has allowed V’landys to beef up the prizemoney for The Everest from $10 million to $20 million, while also coming up with new feature races.

Some reckon he’s gone mad throwing so much money at races like the Golden Eagle ($10 million), the Kosciuszko ($2 million), the Invitation ($2 million), the Five Diamonds ($2 million), the Big Dance ($2 million) and the remodelled King Charles III Stakes ($5 million).

But there’s a method behind this ostensibly reckless spending: under the race-fields legislation V’landys fought so hard for in 2008, bookmakers must pay extra fees for any meeting in NSW that has a feature race worth $1 million or more.

The problem with evaluating The Everest’s success is people want you to pick a side: Sydney or Melbourne? The Everest or Melbourne Cup? V’landys or The World?

It’s also problematic when Racing NSW pays both News Corp and Nine Newspapers (publisher of this masthead) to run its fields and promote its race meetings.

Admonish V’landys and you’re a hater. Praise him and you’re in his pocket. You can’t win when, in truth, you can be both critic and admirer.

Turf romantics will always consider the Melbourne Cup to be the country’s biggest race – but it’s lost its shine in the past decade, becoming a haven for third-tier European stayers.

The Everest is the biggest sprint race in the world – but it’s pretty much on par with the TJ Smith, which is run in the autumn and worth $3 million. You could argue this year’s Everest is weaker than the TJ Smith following the retirements last month of Nature Strip and Eduardo.

Then there’s the money: a $20 million bonanza that confounds people inside and outside the industry.

The nature of this race means almost half the prizemoney is funded by 12 slot owners, who pay $700,000 each year to have a starter.

But the slot owner can’t really lose: every place getter from 7th to 12th gets their money back depending on the deals struck with owners to race their horse.

For that reason, you won’t hear many people complain about The Everest. Jockeys, who earn 5 per cent of prizemoney, are guaranteed $35,000 if they finish last.

It was weirdly refreshing this week when billionaire breeder Gerry Harvey, who joins up with John Singleton and Ray Hadley as owners of 15-to-1 shot Hawaii Five Oh, declared: “People go on it’s not all about money – yes it is!”

Some believe the money could be better spent, like lowering the cost of a beer and pie and entry to the course. Those in country racing are screaming out for funding to improve infrastructure.

Nevertheless, even V’landys’ most ardent critics would admit The Everest is changing the face of the sport.

There was a belief it would fizzle out after a few years, but the winds of change are only getting stronger.

Believe the hype: the David Beckham docuseries on Netflix is just as good as The Last Dance, the 2020 series on Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

The central theme of Beckham is a love story involving two of the world’s most famous people who seem totally unaffected by their fame and fortune.

Beckham falls so hard for Victoria Adams (AKA Posh Spice) he will drive four hours from Manchester to London to spend seven minutes with her, much to the chagrin of Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who didn’t want his star player distracted by silly little emotions like love.

The documentary is directed by Fisher Stevens, who plays Hugo Baker, the slimy spin doctor in the HBO series Succession.

Stevens has come under fire for not pressing hard enough on Beckham’s alleged infidelities while playing for Real Madrid, although I reckon he struck the right tone. I faced a similar dilemma while writing a recent book about Wayne Bennett and his affair with Dale Cage.

Stevens defended his approach in a recent interview.

“In terms of the cheating question I told David when I agreed to do the film that we would have to discuss the accusations of infidelity they faced in Madrid,” he told IndieWire. “I am interested in how it affected his marriage and his family and his playing. How did he keep it together? All of it. How did they get through it? That is the theme of the series. This series is not some tabloid show.”

THE QUOTE
“Bullshit and gossip.” – Remember these words from Wallabies coach Eddie Jones a month ago when this masthead reported he was in discussion with Japanese rugby? Now numerous media outlets, including Japanese media, are reporting that a deal is about to be struck.

THUMBS UP
Shane van Gisbergen became the first driver in 15 years to defend a Bathurst 1000 title, combining with Richie Stanaway to claim the iconic vroom-vroom race. The victory keeps him in the hunt for the Supercars title before he heads off to NASCAR. If you’re not first, you’re last.

THUMBS DOWN
A sure way to trigger an avalanche of hate is to suggest a sport shouldn’t be in the Olympics but here goes: is the IOC seriously thinking of introducing flag football (an American football derivate of OzTag, basically) at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles? Yes, it is. Never underestimate the power of the NFL.

It’s a big weekend for … Timofei Konstantinovich Tszyu as he puts his WBO super-welterweight belt on the line against American Brian Mendoza on the Gold Coast on Sunday. “I’ll feel like a world champion once this fight is done,” said Tszyu, who was handed the title after Jermell Charlo fought, and lost, to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

It’s an even bigger weekend for … the Socceroos as they take on England at a sold-out Wembley on Saturday morning AEDT. Graham Arnold’s men are rank outsiders, which is OK because that will make it even sweeter when Jackson Irvine buries the winning goal into the back of the onion bag. You heard it here first.