Go racing kids clubs

Don wrote: wonder how they would've fared without their betting buddy...on their own, no help. Racing needs to hold hands in order to have convertions. People won't do it on their own. Not sommer, in any case. And therefore, education is necessary. Delivered education, also aimed at children. Those tours the Irish are doing, if ever they are done here, you'll see many adults attending, just for the fun of learning.

They did VERY VERY well - They walked up to the Totes unaided - the operators Phumelela had in place were specilised in events so most were helped there without any problems. Also after being told how to call a bet once by me most then just went on and did the rest without help for the rest of the meeting. Placing a bet is as simple as going to a shop and asking for a Coke - It only becomes complicated when the bet types become advanced.
I will tell you that it would surely be illegal to do such "tours" in SA unless they were completely free from Gambling. Imagine the lawsuit if a 14 yr old developed a Gambling problem after being exposed to it by a Gambling education program hidden under the guise of "horse-racing education" If you think I'm joking then do a quick google search
here's some figures from Maryland Underage GaMBLING

i think problem gambling amongst kids is more likely Online and sports than Racing but why go that way when you have perfectly good Adults that you can involve unless you feel "CATCH em' when they are young" is a good sell?

Fantastic. I hope they teach them, at the very least, the each-way, place and swinger bets. I've explained to newbie friends that a swinger is "pick two to finish in the first three in any order". They celebrate when their selections run 3rd and 4th. Grrrr..

I remember my very first punt (6yo?) when my late Dad gave me five shillings to put onto the favourite. Many, many years later I still thought that the horse's name was "the favourite".

For me I regret the day the cousin introduced me to the P.A. in high school. He picked up the game from his dad and so began a rollercoaster of obsession with racing.
When times were hard people tried their luck with racing and a family member even struck it big time in the 50's when Monastereven won the July and he fancied the Tricast with Thorium and Lochiel and collected a good few thousand pounds ( S.A.currency up to early 60's) and was able to revive the corner store.
My advice to the youth steer clear of racing and rather try to get lucky with picking horses at big odds in a Yankee or something where you outlay miniscule but stand to win big.

The Track and Ball Gold Circle show a punter wins an amount of R120,000- with an outlay of R20- in a selection of 8 teams in various soccer games. High school youngsters should try to follow this example and play small stakes for huge returns IMO.

There are no good old days coming back for horse racing.... times have changed. When there were no casinos, no rugby and endless football, golf, online poker etc that you could bet on, everyone took a jackpot and had a bet on the horses.

It is one thing doing tours of training facilities meeting jockeys and trainers but allowing an industry that relies on gambling to expose my kids to it is bull. I will not relinquish the responsibility of being present and guiding what and how my children are exposed to horse racing. They have been to see our horses training at Ashburton and to the track when they race but I will not hand them over to a racing operator...

It does not matter what you show the kids in racing as ultimately the industry relies on owners purchasing horses to race and punters punting in order for everyone else to have jobs. Many kids exposed to racing eventually realise that in general horses are treated as commodities and that many punters cannot control their habit.

A new approach is needed but I do not believe it should be done with programmes for children.

For the record, I do not take my kids to the races for the day, I will take them to watch one of our horses race.