State of the Industry

I would love clanners to give there OPINIONS on the state of the industry/sport at the moment. Don't be vindictitive or accusatory just tell us how you personally feel. Then let us know how you would improve things or if finding another intrerest is where you are headed.

As for me. This time last year I had 132 horses racing and breeding. I now have 6.7 left in racing. I have no axe to grind the pain simply started out weighing the pleasure and dulled my passion. IMHO the current model is not sustainable and the cracks are already starting to show.

So I guess I am just trying to stimulate open dialog amongst us minions to se how the people at the coalface feel.

Orange , in what way have you been soured ?

I've had the best year ever in racing and my enthusiasm has never been higher, suppose is a fickle game racing and that's why some of us are positive and some if us are negative about the future.

I would like the feature races to be stronger , maybe do away with the poorer features and increase the prizemoney of the majors to try and stop trainers sending the stars oversees to win handicaps in Dubai

Orange we also have to remember that 95% of punters / gamblers are losers and are only playing to lose anyway, so it doesn't matter to them if stakes hardly budge and a few meetings are lost.

Or if it's hard to get a run from a decent draw, they just keep coming back punting their favourite jocks and trainers

i still love it but don't love the mess and don't like the way ceratin people have been allowed to mess things up for their own advancement

hibernia Wrote:

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> Orange , in what way have you been soured ?
>
> I've had the best year ever in racing and my
> enthusiasm has never been higher, suppose is a
> fickle game racing and that's why some of us are
> positive and some if us are negative about the
> future.
>
> I would like the feature races to be stronger ,
> maybe do away with the poorer features and
> increase the prizemoney of the majors to try and
> stop trainers sending the stars oversees to win
> handicaps in Dubai


hibs its always wise to fathom out, off what base you starting from......your year has been great...because with the same horses last year...you achieved hardly much..and this year u got all those winners and places..and so whilst things are good...you may decide to buy more stock(ala orange..growing)....but come 3 years time...u may also turn sour....when those investments are not showing the desired returns

At Hibs, Firstly congrats on having your best year in racing. Believe it or not so am I having bred Virgo's Babe.

Like I said I have no axe to grind and will go on record that it was my own ego and the pursuit of glory that has made me sour or dulled my passion. But I believe that it is my experience that is indicative of the "Circle of Owning" a racehorse. Let me explain. There is only a small percentage of horses that will even win a race so owners are faced with the following scenarios:-

1. Buy a lot of horses and wait and see if you have a competitive one then ride the wave and enjoy yourself. The problem here is that unless you can afford all the direct and auxiliary expenses of keeping these horses until they show or prove not to be good enough, many owners get sour and quit too quickly.

2. Buy one or two horses in the hope that they can run. The odds as we know are against you so many owners get sour because they keep paying for horses that don't perform or never make it to the track.

So to answer your first question, I tried option 1 and simply could not afford to keep it up.

The punters in this industry are the people I believe should be getting the focus. Based on the two scenarios above I honestly believe that racing in future will consist to a large degree of races between horses owned by those that can afford to maintain option 1. We are seeing that happening at the moment. If I was the operators I would have lavish functions for punters and give them VIP treatment just like the casinos do. As you said they are the ones "playing to lose" so the operators should do everything in their power to make this experience as pleasurable as possible to keep them losing money.

I remember about 2 years ago there was a tournament at Turffontein and the punters on that day seemed to have a lot of fun. These are the types of things I would be doing consistently as the operators to engage punters. I would at least interact with them to find out how they would like to be treated.

I am not sure if it exists because I am not a punter, but do the TAB have a VIP program like the one the casinos have? They are relatively easy to set up and can give the vendor vital feedback to enable them to target and run campaigns aimed at the different types of punter. Tournaments for the BIG punters, competitions for the smaller guys to win cars etc etc,

orange your points are valid and we have brought them up plenty on the forum.... it just falls on deaf ears unfortunately.

I was first granted colours in 1986 to OWN / RACE 1 HORSE.

It was tough owning on your own in a new sport & very costly.... also had to go thru those times with that AHS or whatever it was that crippled the industry for about 6 months in Joburg - no racing horses, but you still had to pay for upkeep every month.
Went in & out of ownership till 2000. Then Graeme Hawkings set up the RA syndicates to re-introduce colour holders back into OWNING horses again.

Being in syndicates since 2000 has been very enjoyable & have met a lot of new racing partners who have become friends now.
2006 / 07 was my peak when I had shares in 8 horses..... most of them were paying their way & the wife & I were having tons of fun.

TODAY I am involved with only 2 horses, one of them a battling maiden who could be out in the next 3 months if she continues to show NOTHING.

To be honest , THE SPARK HAS GONE, the GREAT PASSION is NOT what it used to be. It's no fun racing mediocre horses & having to cough up 6 -8 grand every month. 2013 was a lean year for me - NO WINNERS AT ALL !

Have got to agree with HIBS, while the horses are winning or at least paying there way the passion is always there, & you are encouraged to get involved in more stock.

I will probably get involved with 1 MORE ( probably with FRODO ) new horse before the year is out, sincerely hoping that UNRACED HORSE can bring back the sparkle......... but for now we're watching TT ( for how much longer ) with just a candle light on.

RACING GURU Wrote:

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> hibernia Wrote:
>

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>

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> > Orange , in what way have you been soured ?
> >
> > I've had the best year ever in racing and my
> > enthusiasm has never been higher, suppose is a
> > fickle game racing and that's why some of us
> are
> > positive and some if us are negative about the
> > future.
> >
> > I would like the feature races to be stronger ,
> > maybe do away with the poorer features and
> > increase the prizemoney of the majors to try
> and
> > stop trainers sending the stars oversees to win
> > handicaps in Dubai
>
>
> hibs its always wise to fathom out, off what base
> you starting from......your year has been
> great...because with the same horses last
> year...you achieved hardly much..and this year u
> got all those winners and places..and so whilst
> things are good...you may decide to buy more
> stock(ala orange..growing)....but come 3 years
> time...u may also turn sour....when those
> investments are not showing the desired returns(tu)
got to agree with you there racing guru - i've got that T shirt.

We are investing money in an industry where we have little say of how it is run Hibs u guys are on a magic run great and enjoy but I cannot stay in a business where I get charged for stuff that cannot be verified and if you verify it it causes conflict where there is always agendas must agree with Elvis the spark is gone I had 36 horses during the period Elvis referred to with the horse flue as a owner maybe had 5 punts that was set up in 20 years and be honest totally sour for racing -yet still love the horse

IMO the ABC forum and posters highlight genuine short comings within the industry on a regular basis , hopefully further postings highlighting these short comings will force the leaders within the industry to be proactive going forward although responses from the industry have happened quickly after the postings and at least the forum is being read and notice taken of what is said ...