{"id":453741,"date":"2026-05-31T06:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T06:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/453741\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T06:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T06:58:11","slug":"horse-racing-world-calls-for-change-after-embarrassing-scenes-at-caulfield-not-good-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/453741\/","title":{"rendered":"Horse racing world calls for change after ’embarrassing’ scenes at Caulfield: ‘Not good enough’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Horse racing<\/a> fans and commentators are calling for something to be done about the Caulfield track after only one jockey dared to use the inside part in nine races on Saturday. There were bizarre scenes during the Caulfield Race Day at the iconic Aussie venue as the majority of the races were run on the outside part of the track.<\/p>\n

All but one jockey refused to run their horses near the rail because of how worn that part of the track was. It meant the horses were running much further than they needed to, but the jockeys appeared wary of having a slip and a nasty accident.<\/p>\n

\"Jason<\/p>\n

Jason Richardson (R) was critical after all but one jockey avoided the inside at Caulfield. Image: Channel 7<\/p>\n

Concerningly, it was the first race meeting at Caulfield in over a month but the track still wasn\u2019t in good shape. Speaking on Channel 7, leading commentator Jason Richardson said: \u201cAll the jockeys are getting 10-15 (metres) off the rail. Let\u2019s call it how it is, it\u2019s simply not good enough for a metropolitan Saturday at Caulfield. They haven\u2019t raced there for a while and this is craziness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legendary jockey Glen Boss said: \u201cIt just looks like a ploughed paddock to me. Soon they\u2019ll be riding in the bar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jockeys<\/p>\n

The majority of the jockeys refused to use the inside part of the track.<\/p>\n

(Vince Caligiuri)<\/p>\n

It took until the final race of the day for someone to take the inside track, but it actually proved a masterstroke. Jett Stanley steered Hezdarnhottoo to victory in Race 9, winning easily on the inside while everyone else took the outside track.<\/p>\n

Because the whole race day had been run on the outside section, the inside was lovely and firm for Stanley and Hezdarnhottoo. “You don’t become great by following people and being a sheep,” Stanley said afterwards. “You put your neck on the line. I thought I’d be a genius or an idiot and I turned out to be a genius.<\/p>\n

“I thought \u2018if they’re losing six or seven lengths going around I might as well sneak up, skip those five or six (lengths) on them and get the job done\u2019. Outside is chopped up all day now \u2026 we’re up to Race 9, the inside hasn’t been touched, it’s fresh grass \u2013 go there.”<\/p>\n

Racing world slams \u2018embarrassing\u2019 scenes at Caulfield<\/p>\n

On social media, fans and pundits thought it was a sad indictment on the track that only one jockey used the inside section all day. Trav Noonan of SEN radio wrote: \u201cCaulfield clearly a tired track in need of a break. Racing Victoria \/ Melbourne Racing Club need to look at moving some meetings to give it some time ahead of a busy Spring Carnival. Racing well below how it should be in 2026 with the increased workload.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another pundit wrote: \u201cThe Caulfield track wasn\u2019t just an embarrassment yesterday, it has been for three months.\u201d While a third added: \u201cI\u2019ve been watching the races since I was 18. Never seen them get out so far at Caulfield. Track is cooked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jett<\/p>\n

Jett Stanley was the only jockey to use the inside section at Caulfield.<\/p>\n

(Vince Caligiuri)<\/p>\n

After the Group 1 William Reid Stakes meeting on March 21 at Caulfield, the Melbourne Racing Club conceded the track \u201cdidn\u2019t perform to the standard we expected\u201d. Remedial works were carried out, and Caulfield\u2019s racecourse manager Sam Bennetts said last month he was confident the track was in good nick moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest difference between this period now and years gone past is the amount of racing we\u2019ve had,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was six race meets in nine weeks, so only three Saturdays off, so I think that just caught up to us in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Horse racing fans and commentators are calling for something to be done about the Caulfield track after only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[230826,230825,111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-453741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-caulfield-track","tag-jason-richardson","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}