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How to fix Australian racing's long-standing issue
Connor Scanlon • January 4th, 2026 11:27 am
There has been a long-standing issue in Australian racing regarding the quantity of long-distance staying horses in the country compared to the sprinters and middle-distance horses.
There is a myriad of reasons as to why this is the case, but in particular there is a lack of staying races, especially two-mile races.
SENTrack’s Cam Luke believes he has a solution to the problem at hand, suggesting that all major metropolitan Cups across Australia should be two miles and grant the winners golden tickets into the Melbourne Cup.
“All major metropolitan cups should be two miles, and they should be automatic golden tickets (into the Melbourne Cup),” Luke said on SENTrack's Saturday Trackside.
Taggart: “I agree with you.”
However, Josh Jenkins rebutted that suggestion by explaining that there would be too many metropolitan Cups with little runners in them.
Luke admitted that would be true for the short-term, but his suggestion would greatly help the problem across the next 40 years.
Jenkins: “Isn't that too many golden tickets?”
Luke: “No, you just take the ones away that we've got now.
“And then in 15 or 20 years' time, it'll strengthen those races.
Jenkins: “But surely you'd end up, if they're (all) two miles, a lot of cups that have got next to no runners.
“It's a fairly, specific journey.
Luke: “It is, but we are a nation that continues to cry poor on distance staying and the ability to breed these horses.
“It's not gonna happen in the next year or two, but in 30, 40 years' time if we've got more opportunities for these horses, there's more of a suggestion for these people to breed them and want to do it.”
David Taggart then brought up another issue with the breeding of staying horses in Australia, explaining that it is mainly castrated European horses who are being imported into the country, along with the Australian breeding focus mainly focusing on fast monetary turnover with two-year-old races.
“The thing is we're getting the European stayers, but they're geldings. We're not bringing out any European stallions,” Taggart said.
“Problem is Australia haven't got the patience, we want these horses up and running.
“Instead of a three-year-old staying out in the paddock until it’s three, (they try to race them earlier).”
