Transcript of AE 1094 - The Goss: Australia's Most Dangerous Race is Cancelled

G'day, you mob. Pete here, and this is another episode of Aussie English. The number one place for anyone and everyone wanting to learn Australian English. So, today I have a Goss' episode for you where I sit down with my old man, my father, Ian Smissen, and we talk about the week's news whether locally down under here in Australia or non-locally overseas in other parts of the world.

Okay, and we sometimes also talk about whatever comes to mind, right. If we can think of something interesting to share with you guys related to us or Australia, we also talk about that in the Goss'. So, these episodes are specifically designed to try and give you content about many different topics where we're obviously speaking in English and there are multiple people having a natural and spontaneous conversation in English.

So, it is particularly good to improve your listening skills. In order to complement that, though, I really recommend that you join the podcast membership or the academy membership at AussieEnglish.com.au, where you will get access to the full transcripts of these episodes, the PDFs, the downloads, and you can also use the online PDF reader to read and listen at the same time.

Okay, so if you really, really want to improve your listening skills fast, get the transcript, listen and read at the same time, keep practising, and that is the quickest way to level up your English. Anyway, I've been rabbiting on a bit, I've been talking a bit. Let's just get into this episode, guys. Smack the bird, and let's get into it.

All right, dad, what's up?

Hey, Pete, how are you going?

I need to change the backgrounds for each of these episodes, so it looks like...

Yeah, my God, it's too much fiddling around to do it on the fly, so.

I know. Yeah, not much. Not much is up. I mean, there's not really much...

Hang on. Hang on. I'm in San Francisco. There you go.

Cool. Got the Golden Gate Bridge behind you. I never got why it's called that, though, when it's painted red.

The Red Bridge- The Golden Gate was that gap into the inner bay before the bridge was built. So, which is the bridge over the Golden Gate. It's not the Golden Gate Bridge, if that makes sense.

No, I think we've been there, right? We've stood in that spot.

You have, this exact spot. Pretty much. Yeah.

Yeah. Geez, those were the days. That was 22 years ago, maybe?

Yeah, exactly 22 years ago. Well, within a few months.

Anyway, so today's story, the Wallabadah... I don't even know how to pronounce this...

Wallabadah, yeah, I presume- It's obviously an Aboriginal word, so. And neither of us being indigenous or having any experience in pronunciation of indigenous words, we apologise to our indigenous friends for the bastardisation we do to their languages.

I'm not sure too, if Indigenous languages would be stress timed like English. So, I was learning about this recently because I want to teach more stress and intonation and rhythm of English. English is a stress timed language where we have the schwa, that /ə/ vowel sound takeover words like "to the" instead of "to the", we're not pronouncing every single syllable like in, say, Japanese or Spanish.

And we put emphasis on particular syllables where in saying languages like Japanese, all the syllables have equal...

That's what I'm saying.

Yeah.

But we also do it on words too. So, we'll emphasise words, and then we also do the syllables within the words. But it would be interesting to know what happens with...

Is it emphasis or emphasis?

Yeah. But it would be interesting to know what happens with some of these indigenous languages and if they have stress timed or not. But yeah, because then it would be, you know, would it be Wallabadah or Wallabadah?

Yeah. And when you listen to indigenous people talking their native languages, they're very nasally as well. And so, you- And I to my unsophisticated ear, it sounds like there is no emphasis on it. So, it would be something like Wallabadah.

Yeah. So, it may be stress timed, let's see, "indigenous languages Australia stress timed". Let's see. Is there anything that comes up? Stress timed... (mumbling) Yeah. (mumbling) Nah, I'm going to have to do more digging into this, doesn't look like there's any actual articles coming up, but yeah, it would be something interesting to know. Anyway, Wallabadah...

...Very long rabbit hole as an introduction to this...

Yeah. The Wallabadah Cup track safety concerns end 169-year New Year's Day picnic races tradition. So, this was a really cool, yeah, race- Horse race, I guess that has been taking place since the gold rush. So, I think it started, but back in- The cup has been an institution in the northern New South Wales town since the year 1852, but the location of the racetrack on a hillside has proved too much for authorities in 2021.

The local race committee accepted the decision at a meeting on Wednesday night, but former President Bill Kennedy said it wasn't easy. Yeah, so they made the decision to cancel this Wallabadah Cup because it's too dangerous. (background noise) Jesus, dad.

Yeah, sorry, I was looking up something else. Websites that have background sounds, your just like, shut up...

So, yeah, it's been 20 years since jockey Cody Morgan rode a winner at the Wallabadah Cup, but a false tooth is a constant reminder of the experience. A rock flew up and hit me in the face and knocked my front tooth out halfway through the day the first time I rode there. Yeah, so it's like 55 kilometres or so and it goes up and down really steep tracks.

And it's apparently just, yeah, really dangerous for both the riders and the horses. But it's the biggest sort of Horse Cup race event in, I guess, regional New South Wales like this that brings in thousands of people every single year where they get to have this New Year's Day picnic whilst this race is taking place.

And it's kind of- I can understand why it's been cancelled because it's dangerous, and I'm sort of, you know, as someone who's not really a big fan of horse racing in general, I can understand why.

But at the same time, it must be such a cool kind of tradition for it to have gone so long, at least in terms of modern history, for it to be 169 years that this race has been taking place. I think probably prior to COVID, it may have been cancelled last year, but for it to be that old, it's kind of sad...

It was cancelled last year.

...It's sad when you kind of lose a tradition like that, you know, that's a connection to the past.

Yeah, and that sort of picnic races is a big thing in a lot of small country towns where they've historically had racetracks where 100 years ago, they probably held a race meeting once a month. But you know, as bigger towns got more money and races and things, nobody was interested in going to the, you know, the dinky little places.

But they maintain this by having one or two picnic race days every year. And it's sort of a big thing. I know Hanging Rock Reserve has a racecourse out the back within central Victoria, south central Victoria, and they have a picnic race meeting on New Year's Day and Australia Day. I think they used to do it one or the other. Now they're trying to do both just to catch up from the last two years where they haven't done anything, but.

And that's a big thing. You know, they get- Thousands of people go there and it is literally a picnic. It's, you know, you set yourself up with your little tent and your picnic and there's a few races on and, you know, there's very little prize money, it's more just the the event itself that's the thing to do. So, it's a thing for a lot of country towns, particularly small ones that don't have much else going on.

And obviously this one is just going to go by the wayside.

Yeah. How do you feel about this sort of thing? Do you think, you know, it should be cancelled? Not necessarily because it's dangerous, but because it involves horses that can be harmed and, you know, you've got an animal that you're effectively taking out of, you know, captivity and putting into a dangerous environment where it can, you know, potentially die for just entertainment.

Yeah. And look, that's the hard thing is, as humans, we can make choices about what we want to do, but we're not giving it- Well, not like the animal has the conscious choice, but we're not even giving them the opportunity of, you know, nah, I don't want to do that.

And the unfortunate thing is that racehorses are bred to go fast, and that means that they are prone to accidents and horses by their very nature, means an accident is effectively a death sentence. And so, that's a tough thing. I'm not a, you know, aficionado of horse racing.

I have nothing against it in particular, I used to go to the races, not a lot, but, you know, two or three times a year with my grandfather, who was a member at a couple of country racecourses and enjoyed it. But, you know, it was never something that I spent a lot of time doing.

But I understand why people are concerned about it as an activity, particularly the forms of racing that are more dangerous, like obviously in this case, it's the track itself that is the danger. But others are where, you know, jumping events where, you know, racehorses are meant to run, they're not meant to jump over things while they're running fast. And you know, the number of horses who get injured jumping is just outrageous, so.

Yeah, it is pretty nuts. I think, too, one of the other controversial things is that the industry, the racing industry is now so kind of commercial that it's- It just pumps horses through it and any of them that don't make it just get turned into dog food, you know, they get sent to the knackery. And I think there was a big exposé on that a few years ago, maybe one or two years ago where they showed like, especially the horse races that aren't- That use the buggies, the little chariot things behind them.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, the harness racing.

Yeah, they just chew through the horses. And they were doctoring the books saying that they'd been sent to certain farms or been sold, but then they trace them to the knackery where they were getting effectively euthanized or, you know, the bolt gun to their head and then just turned butchered, turned into dog food.

And so, the industry was totally kind of humiliated at that point because they were just mistreating these animals. And that's the thing that kind of puts a bad taste in my mouth. When you're just- You're pushing through huge numbers, you're breeding as many animals as possible so that you can then select the fastest and the best...

Yes, and they're selecting a very small proportion of them.

And any of them that don't make it just get killed effectively or put down because there's no market for them, no one's- There are very few people who are buying, you know, failed racehorses to just have on their properties.

And then even then the ones that do make it and end up racing, they're only there for a few years before they, you know, go- Start going downhill, and then they just get pushed through the knackery as well. So, yeah, it was one of these...

Well, particularly the gelded males...

Yeah.

...Where they have no value. If you're a successful racehorse and you are a stallion or a mare, then you go into the stud breeding. But if you're a gelding, you're of no value whatsoever. All you're doing is chewing up money for people, so.

Yeah. Yeah, it is interesting. It is interesting to see that there's obviously somewhat of a negative reaction towards horse racing and it's getting more and more and more, I think, as the years pass. So, it's going to be interesting to see what happens if there'll ever be eventually pressure to just say, we're not doing this anymore, you know.

Especially if we're getting that kind of pressure on the meat industry in general and trying to push towards more environmentally friendly options that involve less cruelty to animals. It's going to be surely no big jump between the meat industry and the entertainment industry that uses animals.

Yeah. And look, you know, horse racing's challenge is that it is a huge industry, it's a multi-billion-dollar industry in Australia because of betting.

Yeah.

And you know, the number of people who bet on horse races is significantly greater than the number of people who go to the races. And so, the industry... Yeah, the industry is there for betting it's not there for people who are turning up on race day and wearing their pretty frocks and their hats.

But even that puts a bad taste in my mouth, too, because it seems like a lot of the people who go to the horse races, and I made this kind of joke recently, could care less about the actual horses.

Well, that's the spring carnival...

Yeah. They just want to dress up and get wasted.

...In Sydney. Yeah. They are social events that happen to have horse racing going on, on the side.

Yeah.

Whereas for the rest of the year, the majority of racegoers are generally interested in horses and the racing. But they are- As I said, they are a significantly smaller group of people than the people who are actually betting on them, mostly now just by carrying their phone around and, you know, three clicks on an app and you've lost $100.

Yeah, it's nuts. Finishing up, I guess. How do you feel about the betting industry and the amount of ads that it gets? It still blows my mind at how many ads I see about betting, and yet I won't see cigarette ads, I won't see alcohol ads, I won't see ads for pharmaceutical drugs, but I'll see betting constantly during sports. Kids are going to see those ads on YouTube, it's everywhere.

I know, it's crazy and there's a big movement against it now. Even amongst some sporting clubs, I know my football club, Essendon have- And a number of other AFL and NRL clubs have banned them that, you know, they're not allowed to advertise during their games or at the ground, not allowed to have signage up at the ground and so on.

Because they recognised that the- Not the industry itself, but the marketing of the industry has only one purpose, and that is to suck more people into losing money. And it's that whole- And I throw the gag every time the ads come up on television, where there's always the little disclaimer at the bottom about, you know, always gamble responsibly. And then the unwritten bit underneath it is, "but lose your money with us."

Have you seen that South Park clip about drinking? You surely have. I think I've shown you that, right, where they're making fun of the alcohol industry and the ads. And it's like, all of these people that are just drinking, hanging out on expensive cars, getting women.

And so, the guy over the top narrating is like, drink, drink, drink you pussy, drink, go get women, drink, drink more, drink, drink, drink, fucking drink, drink, drink, drink, drink you pussy. And then at the end it's like, drink responsibly.

Yes. Well, it's the same thing with gambling and the thing that I find most irritating about it is because if they are paying for advertising and commercial television and internet services and things are taking ads based on what people are willing to pay, that's one thing. But the really insidious thing now is where it appears as part of the news or part of sports television. They are still paying those TV shows to do them...

But it's as if it's not an ad.

...Yeah, and we're going to talk about, yeah, we've got the lead up to Essendon playing Melbourne and the AFL. And now we'll go off to an unnamed, I won't name them, a particular gambling, you know, bookmaking company, and they'll give us the odds. I don't care about the odds, that's just an ad for these guys and you're turning it into news. And that's the insidious part.

It's paid advertising, we all know that, but it appears to be part of the news service or the sporting thing itself, and that's the irritating part.

The problem is that there's huge money in it and TV stations, radio stations, internet services, newspapers rely on advertising to continue, and they know their markets, you know, people who are watching cricket or ironically racing or football or anything that you can bet on, that's their market. So, that's who they're going to pay huge amounts of money to get. So...

Yeah.

...It's- Yeah, it's an insidious thing.

Yeah. Anyway, we can finish up there on a negative note.

We can, yeah... (inaudible) ...Rant again, so.

Anyway, the sperm whale ones coming, guys. We're going to get to it. We're going to get to it...

It is. We promise it'll come. It'll get there.

See ya, guys.

See ya.

Alrighty, you mob. Thank you so much for listening to or watching this episode of The Goss'. If you would like to watch the video if you're currently listening to it and not watching it, you can do so on the Aussie English Channel on YouTube. You'll be able to subscribe to that, just search "Aussie English" on YouTube.

And if you're watching this and not listening to it, you can check this episode out also on the Aussie English podcast, which you can find via my free Aussie English podcast application on both Android and iPhone. You can download that for free, or you can find it via any other good podcast app that you've got on your phone. Spotify, podcast from iTunes, Stitcher, whatever it is.

I'm your host, Pete. Thank you so much for joining me. I hope you have a ripper of a day, and I will see you next time. Peace!