a totally unbiased article in sp regarding my sanctuary by robyn louw

If you write it on a forum you leave youself open to comments. Get involved and help fix what you percieve is wrong rather than just sitting on the outside. You would then give you writings and statements far more credibility as you are actually doing something. If GC/anyone is wrong I tell them. If need be will get involved to help fix it if I can. I wont just sit on the outside and criticise.

too many people become blind to the problems be cause they are in the inner circle or fear that they will loose out on what they currently have if they object. plenty example of this not one better than the apointment of larry weinstein in ra.

FH if something is wrong it is wrong. Not because you are on one side or the other. Conversely if it is right it is right. Lets get back to Robyn on this thread please. No more from me on here except about Robyn.

but this is precisely what Robyn is and has pointed out. Read her input again.
If people on the inside were doing right in the first place and listening to input from the outside (their customer), racing wouldn't be in its current weak position now innit? Also, many have in the past actually put their hands in and tried from the inside, only to be quashed.
There needs to be more punter strikes I think.

Sjoe folks, um, thanks for being so nice, but it's not about me at all. Racing is about all of us. Racing involves all of us because it affects all of us. From the breeder who originally produces a horse, right through to the guy in the tote putting his bet on. And obviously all the people in between, including the operators and the regulators, etc. We're all part of the same community and we are all connected. We all know this. I'm (sadly) not being clever or original in the slightest !

When one of us does well, that's good for all of us. When one of us does badly, or lets the side down, that affects all of us too. As the old saying goes, you get judged by the company you keep, so I get annoyed when things go wrong because I feel let down. And you should too. We all should. We all put lots of money into the industry in our various ways and we should demand that things are done better across the board (and again, this goes from the breeding shed to the betting tote) not because we're all grumpy so-and-so's, but because we'll all benefit. I'm not a punter, so I couldn't care less about betting (sorry!), but at the same time I understand that it's important for there to be interesting bets and for the tote people to be nice and efficient and friendly because the punters fund the stakes. The punter may not care about the transport company, or the on-course vet, or the starting stalls, but it's important that those things work because otherwise his bets are affected. And on it goes. But the only way anyone can possibly improve is to acknowledge where we have problems and work to fix them.

I feel that communication and accountability are key issues here. There is an irritating and somewhat self-defeating attitude that as soon as someone points out a problem (be it an operational one, a regulatory one, a trainer, rider, owner, etc) the immediate reaction is to get all defensive, attack the person raising the issue and then refuse to take any notice of the problem whatsoever. And then the problem continues.

Take this situation as an easy example and sorry Optimist, but as you've kindly provided me with a great example, I'm going to use your comment as well (it's just to illustrate a point, I'm not having a go at all - in fact, I think what you said was really really useful). Upset, injured horse, gates didn't work, dog on the track. I wrote about it and one of the reactions (which I'm entirely sure was not an isolated one - I'm not offended and I'm not picking on you) is to say that I'm being mean. It's a classic reaction and one we've all had and as I said, it's really useful that someone was kind enough to say it and explain their reasoning (thank you again). At least now we can discuss things and hopefully get things sorted out (and with a little luck, Optimist won't think I'm so mean !)

Because the truth is that I'm not being mean. For a start, I'm simply stating what everyone else saw and secondly I didn't tamper with the gates and I didn't let the dog out. I get that the situation was unfortunate and that we'd really rather not discuss it because frankly it's a little embarrassing, but if we all pretend it didn't happen, how will we make sure it doesn't happen again? Will the gates be checked next time, will someone find out whether there's a hole in the fence? Will someone perhaps talk to the starter to see what his reasons were for not calling a false start? (I do know some of these issues are receiving attention, I'm merely trying to illustrate a point). If we find the problem with the gates and perhaps implement some sort of checking system between each race, fix the hole in the fence (if there is one) and maybe work out that the starter didn't have a good view or whatever and may be more effective from a different vantage point, well, then to my mind, we've made some progress.

As the old saying goes, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. So when something goes wrong, we're all affected. Just for clarity, I am NOT saying that the operator is always the weakest link - I'm sure we all let the side down from time to time. But that's why it's important to stand together and fix the weak bits when we need to because otherwise it's no good strengthening the strong bits, if that makes sense? Basically, investing in parties and prawns is great in principle, but it's a false economy unless the pens work.

@Scotia - nice to see you again too

@The Good - you're very welcome. I posted on a public forum, so go for it

Hey pirates, I may not have voted for the captain but I am a team player and the captain is my cappy.All my questions were answered at the a.g.m. Now we give our support. Notice you and your team never even came to the A.g .m. Why?

the good Wrote:

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> Hey pirates, I may not have voted for the captain
> but I am a team player and the captain is my
> cappy.All my questions were answered at the a.g.m.
> Now we give our support. Notice you and your team
> never even came to the A.g .m. Why?


firstly im not a member and secondly i dont answer for others unlike some others on here...anyway its your industry not mine so suffer the consequences in the future, good luck

pirates Wrote:

---

> the good Wrote:
>

---

>

---

> > Hey pirates, I may not have voted for the
> captain
> > but I am a team player and the captain is my
> > cappy.All my questions were answered at the
> a.g.m.
> > Now we give our support. Notice you and your
> team
> > never even came to the A.g .m. Why?
>
>
> firstly im not a member and secondly i dont answer
> for others unlike some others on here...anyway its
> your industry not mine so suffer the consequences
> in the future, good luck...a billion rand business run like a tennis club with a few hundred members average age 75 most dont own a horse and most put 5rand on a horse voting on racings future...as mr jooste said in this day and age you cannot run a business like that

Maybe u and your team should relocate to the P country.There seem to be boxes up north(tu)

is that all you can say mr good im disapointed in you a very weak reply8-)

Happy Happy SZUZS X(

Many many more -D