Can the World Pool give global racing's Cinderella story a fairytale ending?

There was much to digest at the Asian Racing Conference in Japan, which began last week with a sobering assessment of the state of racing internationally, succinctly described as being at a "critical juncture" by Hong Kong Jockey Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges.

Against a backdrop of alarming trends including declining betting turnover, a shrinking market share alongside other sports, an ageing audience and falling attendances – to name but a few – almost every keynote speech and panel attempted to highlight the importance of collaboration.

With that in mind, there was unsurprisingly a lot of airtime devoted to the World Pool, with the most effusive praise coming from Racing New South Wales chief executive Peter V'landys, who said the global commingling of pari-mutuel pools may have the "potential to save world racing".