Wall of silence over record
THE Chris Waller stable passed the national prizemoney record for a season when Lewis won at Rosehill Gardens last Saturday but there was no recognition of the trainer’s feat.
With just under three weeks of the 2019-20 season, Waller has already trained the winners of $43.84 million, breaking the record he set last season of $43.76 million.
Even in this area of megarich races, this is a significant achievement particularly as prizemoney was reduced for three months during the COVID-19 outbreak.
But the racing industry has again missed an opportunity to celebrate an outstanding performance, something it makes a habit of doing.
Unlike other sports, racing does not have a central body which collates statistics to advise the media and public of milestones and records.
There are a few racing websites and individual journalists who try to maintain recordkeeping but with limited resources. Maybe Racing Australia can take the lead on this issue and create a one-stop shop of records and statistics.
There is every likelihood another of racing’s national records will be broken by the end of the season but will anyone know?
Willie Pike rode at treble at Perth’s Belmont track last Saturday to take his tally of wins this season to 225 and he needs just 10 more winners to break his national riding record of 234 wins set last year.