Staying Downturn Laid Bare In The 715 Response

THE industry's dearth of top quality staying talent has been laid bare yet again with just 22 nominations received for The Ladbrokes 715 which gets underway at The Gardens on Thursday night.

Now in its fourth year, The 715 was brought to life in 2022 at the height of the COVID wagering boom, and with a first prize of $500,000, was announced amid much fanfare as the world's richest staying race.

The emergence of the race coincided with concerns about its long term financial sustainability given its eye-watering purse, at a time when the three racing codes were generating revenue like never before.

FIELDS AND FORM THE GARDENS THURSDAY NIGHT

And those concerns were realised last year when Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) announced that, as part of a reset to all feature race prize money, The 715 would reduce to a winner's purse of $250,000 in 2025, half of what it had boasted previously.

Yet despite the stake money cut, the race still carries a winner's purse which has it firmly perched as the richest staying race in the country, and as such, should command the best stayers the sport has to offer.

But with just 22 nominations received for Thursday night's heats, resulting in three heats with vacant boxes, the magnitude of the downturn in staying talent has never been more evident.

Remarkably, not one Victorian-trained stayer will contest Thursday night's heats.

Once considered the home of the country's best stayers given its substantial prize money and seemingly limitless opportunities, Victoria hasn't been immune from the downturn in the staying ranks in recent years.

Thursday night's interstate contingent for The 715 starts and stops with two South Australian's, a Queenslander and a Taswegian.

Of the 22 hopefuls, just 10 have won over 700 metres, making many of their prospects speculative at best.

In its first three years, The 715 has been won by Miss Ezmae, Zipping Orlando and most recently Valpolicella in track record fashion.

All of which were grand group winning stayers.

Thursday's night's lacklustre response isn't a scheduling issue, or a prizemoney issue, it's just simply the world we now live in.

The future of staying racing is on a knife's edge with any number of factors contributing to the current plight.

It's a situation that needs intervention or it will erode further.

If the response to this year's The 715 isn't the circuit breaker that's needed, it's hard to imagine anything that will be.