V’landys: Everest race the ‘most open’ field in five years

Racing NSW CEO Peter V’Landys says the latest iteration of the Everest is “the most open” field in the last five years. “It’s the most open Everest we’ve had in the last five [years], anyone could win, and I wouldn’t be surprised,” he told Sky News Australia. “The speed's out wide, I think the barrier draws have thrown a bit of a curveball because you’ve got the two speedsters out the back so we’ll just see what happens.” Mr V’landys said the larger field sizes and increased revenue has allowed the governing body to increase prize money for participants. “Unfortunately, October, November, when it came around, we were getting six and seven horse fields,” he added. “What this carnival has done is invigorate all our other races and now we’re averaging 12 a field and that’s good for our revenue so our revenues have gone up substantially which enables us to increase prize money to our participants. “Our dividends for our participants is our prize money so the more revenue you can generate, the more you can give to the participants and what this carnival’s done for us is enabled us to generate substantial new revenues which we’re distributing back as prize money.” Sponsored content by Racing NSW