So the thin veneer of the Jockey Club's simulcast policy has crumbled and fallen away, but we can't see for a minute why it had to be this way.
As we recall it, simulcasts of overseas races were expanded on the basis of bringing quality events; important classics, major races including the participation of our horses, or events with reference to Sha Tin's international meetings helping to familiarise fans with leading horses.
And that was all fine and dandy. That policy certainly assisted turnover on the December international races, which had struggled to gain real traction as anything but a sporting spectacle - something to watch but not something on which to wager.
Until perhaps the past few seasons, support races on international day usually held more betting turnover than any of the majors, unless there was a Group One where local horses clearly held the balance of power and fans were less concerned about being surprised by an unknown quantity.
The policy held good for most of the time, although the odd support race of little consequence was included for continuity on the foreign Group One days. Which was all good until the covenant was broken this week.
Why on earth does Saturday's eight-race simulcasting from Australia include two rubbish races from Rosehill in Sydney, when the Victoria Derby meeting in Melbourne consists of nine Group races and is regarded as one of the year's highest-quality race cards?
Oddly enough, there was one Rosehill race which might have passed muster - an open sprint handicap featuring Happy Galaxy, a horse owned here and an intended visitor for the Hong Kong Sprint. It is not one of the two races being simulcast from Sydney, however, presumably because there are only 10 entries and potentially a small field after declarations. Instead, we will take in the equivalent of two Class Three races from Rosehill, and there will be a boatload of hats eaten, first-born given away and left testicles cut off if any horse from either race ever lands here for an international.
Somewhere, quality control on the simulcasts has gone to hell.
The club was unable to simulcast Lucky Nine's attempt on the Group One Manikato Stakes last Friday due to restrictions on simulcast dates but the Group Minus Three Fred Nurk's Halloween Birthday Handicap will be offered for your punting delight on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the whole promise of relevant simulcasts has been tipped upside down by an extraordinary exclusion from the six-race Flemington simulcast (given that we will also have a Melbourne Cup coverage here): the Group Three Hotham Handicap, this year branded the Lexus Stakes, a 2,500m race with nearly 80 years of history as one of the traditional Cup lead-ups.
It's a race where horses often run to make a last-ditch qualification for the great race and winners and placegetters can play prominent roles in the Melbourne Cup - think recent winners like Kellini, Maluckyday and Shocking.
The best information now suggests commingling will begin - yes, we know - in the second half of November, with Australia's betting operator one of the first, and the only reason we can imagine for including two Sydney races this weekend might have something to do with systems being testing ahead of that.
Any more detail than that wild guess and we're grasping.
