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1. The concept of match racing shifts the emphasis away from smart race dogs to heavy hitters. They can be a great idea for a special once-off deal with two fine dogs but masses of them one after the other can be confusing.

2. Most races are won by smart beginners. For example, even in the Shootout (4 dogs) it is rare for the leader to get run down.

3. The prize money is not spectacular.

4. Some dogs are not optimised at Sandown, particularly two-out.

5. Sunday night is not a great puller.

6. Three city meetings in four days soaks up too many dogs.

7. I am going to go and watch - but betting is too problematical.

8. I applaud the effort to create some variety but maybe some alternatives could be considered.

aa provincial stake meeting last year where facilities were shut and trainers had issues with purchasing food and access to other facilities. kevin wright was demanding "please explains" with every second post. sandown spin doctors were no where to be found. more recently rearing facilities and spollys syndications were the topic of the day. sections of the industry were quite hostile toward sandown club. again spin doctors were no where to be found. seems if its not "look at me" they dont want to talk about it. But they could be just on holidays

1. From a limited sample, TAB patrons were totally confused by the format. Some tried to collect after each race.

2. Lots of comment on SKY2 but with dinnertime noise you could not hear what was said and SKY1 racing got preference anyway. Use of sub-titling might have been a help.

3. TAB Win turnover averaged $5,706 (NSW) and $8,078 (Vic) which is pretty poor given the quality of dogs competing. Interest died off after 6pm. Thursday night would have done much better.

4. Interesting that the inside box and/or a good start were influential, even in two-dog races.

5. Also interesting that youngster Blue Striker took out the last at $14 - despite having form as good as any in the race. (Class and experience do not mean much if there are only two of you).

6. Hard to see the point in nonstop racing from 5:30p to 8:30p. That's when people eat.

7. Very shrewd placement by Britton.

BTW Some of us can Multi skill, pie & beer in hand, and still able to place bets. lol.......Make it more even....ban the Fernando's

My only issue was the relatively poor prizemoney. Given the class of the dogs competing & the turnover, & interest it generated then they should be paying out a bit more to the participants.

"Turnover on fixed betting was huge! Please ignore the tote pools as nearly all the money was placed on multis for individual match races".

How do we know? Do you have figures or can authorities publish them?

Typically, the non-tote business is about one third of the total.

Every 595m dog broke 34 and every 715m dog broke 42. That would not happen on an ordinary night but that would be a feature of two-out racing.

As I said originally, I applaud the effort to offer something different. As a post mortem, I imagine there are two matters to address: Did it make money? Did it encourage more support in general (which means off-course)?

In both cases the answer is no.

Betting was "off" based on comparisons with a normal SPK meeting. (I will stand corrected if someone produces amazing figures from corporates etc). Totes are only a part of the action but they can be compared on a like for like basis.

I pointed out that ClubTab patrons were confused by the format and could not be better informed on the night due to SKY1/SKY2 clashes. Some outlets would be closed on Sunday nights anyway, others affected by noisy dinner crowds or entertainment or competing races.
All that is consistent with lower tote figures.

What could be better?

First, do it on the usual night - Thursday - when people expect to bet on Sandown. Sunday night is a no-no for serious punting. It is also a different clientele.

Second, it was too much of a good thing. The odd match race is a nice change, 20 in machine gun frequency is too much.

Third, add other speciality races while reducing the two-out frequency. Emphasise it is a variety night - something different.

Fourth, advertising on the usual (in-house) media is irrelevant - the public does not read that. If we are really serious, the industry would get together with TABCORP and circulate small brochures to every outlet explaining what is about to happen. A couple of extra bets in each would pay for the printing.

Fifth, clubs tend to promote only to people who might attend and buy dinner packages, etc., but they do that very narrowly, if at all. State authorities tend not to promote to anyone. The public is forgotten.

PS: I have no idea what Herald Sun did as I do not subscribe.
PS2: The SMH is running almost daily pars and form tips on the Million Dollar country heats, mainly because GRNSW is sending them handouts. It usually does not do that.

Interesting quotes. As I said, I would stand to be corrected about the unpublished money (ie not published by anyone, including TABCORP).

Those big bets certainly supported the concept of match racing.

My other queries remain. Could it have been done more profitably and better pitched to the wide world? I think yes.