People often assume that my opposition to the number of public holidays in Australia means I hate sport and more specifically, horse racing. I don’t. I love sport and I quite like horse racing.

Having said that, I still stand opposed to shutting down the country for a race.

However, I equally can’t stand the way the do-gooders are attempting to destroy an entire industry based on few isolated incidences of animal cruelty. But maybe I’m out of step here.

Have we indeed lost our appetite for thoroughbred racing? Has the veil been lifted from our romanticised idea of racing?

Tomorrow, we’ll all still stop what we’re doing in the afternoon and watch the Melbourne Cup, but has it lost its gloss?