Mr McADAM - 2004-08-17
Can the minister inform the House about the success of this year’s Darwin Cup Carnival, and perhaps Picayune?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I would be delighted to, because I know the member for Barkly shares a strong interest in matters racing as, indeed, I do.
This year, the carnival was one of the best the Top End has ever seen. More than 45 000 people went through the gates at Fannie Bay over the eight days of the racing carnival and, in that 45 000, of course, were many thousands of interstate visitors. It was impossible to get a hotel room throughout that cup weekend, and visitation has stayed on a high since the carnival finished a fortnight ago.
Cup day featured on Sky Channel. What better advertisement than going to southern homes and hotels, where the temperature was 10oC or 12oC and pouring rain in many of those southern capitals throughout the cup carnival, to see Territorians and thousands of visitors alike, enjoying 29oC and 30oC heat at a race day. You cannot construct a better advertisement for the Northern Territory in August than that sort of picture going to the freezing southern states, so it was a great advertisement for the Territory.
Punters throughout Australia plunged quite heavily. Total TAB sales on cup day races throughout UNITAB pool - that is Queensland, South Australia and Northern Territory combined pool - were up more than 10%, from $1.7m last year to more than $1.88m this year. The UNITAB pool on the cup race was up 13.8%, up from $533 000 to more than $607 000.
TAB turnover on cup day was up slightly - on and off course . An extra 4.9% was bet, from $884 000 last year to $927 758 this year. Some of that was mine, Madam Speaker, that I did not get back.
Darwin had the honour of hosting legendary jockey, Arthur ‘Scobie’ Breasley this year. This man is a living legend. He turned 90 in May this year. He rode for 42 years across the UK and Europe, and he trained in the States. In that 42 years, he rode 3251 winners – that is a breathtaking achievement. He took the Caulfield Cup five times and the English Derby twice. He was 50 when he won his first English Derby. He thought he would never get there, but did. The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe – I have to go to Paris one day and see this race, and I am sure I will know how to pronounce it after that.
He was a delight to host. In fact, I escorted him to the toilet at dinner one night, to open the door with his little stroller. I got him hack through the door to be confronted by three women, who would have been in their 80s, and that was as far as I could get Scobie. I said: ‘I will leave you here Mr Breasley. I will come back and get you in 10 minutes if you need me’. They besieged him. They said: ‘You have just brought a twinkle to the eye of every person up here during this carnival and we love having you here’. He is so generous with his time and his stories.
At one point in his career, he went seven months out in eight months, because he used to think that there was only one place to be in a horse race, and that was on the rails, come what may; it was the shortest way home. It is a pretty good theory for a jockey to hold. However, a couple of times in his efforts to get to the rail, he has cut across the runners behind and paid quite severe penalties. He never had as bad a run again as that - that was in Melbourne at one stage. It was a delight to have him. He is a tremendous gent, and we would love to have him back again.
Also in town for the cup were the new Chairman of the Australian Racing Board, Andrew Ramsden, jockeys Darren Gauci, Michael Walker, Danny Nikolic, Nash Rawiller, and trainers Gary Kennewell and Ken Sweeney. The biggest stars, though, were our locals and that dynamic duo of trainer Stephen Brown and jockey Joel Hallam, taking out the Palmerston Sprint and the Darwin Cup double.
Mr Tambourineman, one of many interstate horses here for the carnival, lived up to expectations on the day, taking out the cup. There certainly were quality runners-up here, adding a stronger dimension to all of our events. Stephen Brown has been invited to Dubai with Mr Tambourineman, and will probably take another of his stable stars, Lord Harold. They race for serious money when they get to Dubai. We wish him the best of luck because he will be a great ambassador for Northern Territory racing over there.
Congratulations to the new Darwin Turf Club CEO, Des Friedrich, and his staff for a highly successful carnival. Des only knows one way, and that is full on flat out all the time. He carries an enormous workload, and so do his staff, out of loyalty to him and diligence for the job. They are only a small team, and it is an enormous effort to put on a carnival the size that they do.
I particularly acknowledge all of the sponsors, especially Carlton & United Beverages, who have been there for year after year and continue to support our carnival. We thank them for that. My congratulations to everyone involved. It was a tremendous cup carnival and I look forward to next year.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I would be delighted to, because I know the member for Barkly shares a strong interest in matters racing as, indeed, I do.
This year, the carnival was one of the best the Top End has ever seen. More than 45 000 people went through the gates at Fannie Bay over the eight days of the racing carnival and, in that 45 000, of course, were many thousands of interstate visitors. It was impossible to get a hotel room throughout that cup weekend, and visitation has stayed on a high since the carnival finished a fortnight ago.
Cup day featured on Sky Channel. What better advertisement than going to southern homes and hotels, where the temperature was 10oC or 12oC and pouring rain in many of those southern capitals throughout the cup carnival, to see Territorians and thousands of visitors alike, enjoying 29oC and 30oC heat at a race day. You cannot construct a better advertisement for the Northern Territory in August than that sort of picture going to the freezing southern states, so it was a great advertisement for the Territory.
Punters throughout Australia plunged quite heavily. Total TAB sales on cup day races throughout UNITAB pool - that is Queensland, South Australia and Northern Territory combined pool - were up more than 10%, from $1.7m last year to more than $1.88m this year. The UNITAB pool on the cup race was up 13.8%, up from $533 000 to more than $607 000.
TAB turnover on cup day was up slightly - on and off course . An extra 4.9% was bet, from $884 000 last year to $927 758 this year. Some of that was mine, Madam Speaker, that I did not get back.
Darwin had the honour of hosting legendary jockey, Arthur ‘Scobie’ Breasley this year. This man is a living legend. He turned 90 in May this year. He rode for 42 years across the UK and Europe, and he trained in the States. In that 42 years, he rode 3251 winners – that is a breathtaking achievement. He took the Caulfield Cup five times and the English Derby twice. He was 50 when he won his first English Derby. He thought he would never get there, but did. The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe – I have to go to Paris one day and see this race, and I am sure I will know how to pronounce it after that.
He was a delight to host. In fact, I escorted him to the toilet at dinner one night, to open the door with his little stroller. I got him hack through the door to be confronted by three women, who would have been in their 80s, and that was as far as I could get Scobie. I said: ‘I will leave you here Mr Breasley. I will come back and get you in 10 minutes if you need me’. They besieged him. They said: ‘You have just brought a twinkle to the eye of every person up here during this carnival and we love having you here’. He is so generous with his time and his stories.
At one point in his career, he went seven months out in eight months, because he used to think that there was only one place to be in a horse race, and that was on the rails, come what may; it was the shortest way home. It is a pretty good theory for a jockey to hold. However, a couple of times in his efforts to get to the rail, he has cut across the runners behind and paid quite severe penalties. He never had as bad a run again as that - that was in Melbourne at one stage. It was a delight to have him. He is a tremendous gent, and we would love to have him back again.
Also in town for the cup were the new Chairman of the Australian Racing Board, Andrew Ramsden, jockeys Darren Gauci, Michael Walker, Danny Nikolic, Nash Rawiller, and trainers Gary Kennewell and Ken Sweeney. The biggest stars, though, were our locals and that dynamic duo of trainer Stephen Brown and jockey Joel Hallam, taking out the Palmerston Sprint and the Darwin Cup double.
Mr Tambourineman, one of many interstate horses here for the carnival, lived up to expectations on the day, taking out the cup. There certainly were quality runners-up here, adding a stronger dimension to all of our events. Stephen Brown has been invited to Dubai with Mr Tambourineman, and will probably take another of his stable stars, Lord Harold. They race for serious money when they get to Dubai. We wish him the best of luck because he will be a great ambassador for Northern Territory racing over there.
Congratulations to the new Darwin Turf Club CEO, Des Friedrich, and his staff for a highly successful carnival. Des only knows one way, and that is full on flat out all the time. He carries an enormous workload, and so do his staff, out of loyalty to him and diligence for the job. They are only a small team, and it is an enormous effort to put on a carnival the size that they do.
I particularly acknowledge all of the sponsors, especially Carlton & United Beverages, who have been there for year after year and continue to support our carnival. We thank them for that. My congratulations to everyone involved. It was a tremendous cup carnival and I look forward to next year.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016