SA Racing lose 635 owners in 2015/2016 Season?????

This is a near 20% drop in race horse ownership from last season to this one.
So what are the numbers
2014/2015 3485 registered owners raced horses
2015/2016 2850 registered owners raced horses

oh but wait the season s not finished. more owners will race in the last 4 months who have not had a runner in the 1st 8 months. REALLY????

So lets drill down. DO we really have 2850 race horses owners?
The answer. NO!!!! not even close

Ownership breakdown in a bit more detail
Individual race horse owners MALE 462 Quite a lot here are trainers
Individual race horse owners FEMALE Married 76
Individual race horse owners FEMALE Single 18 Quite a lot here are trainers
Individual race horse owners PROFESSIONALS 29 Doctors etc
TRUSTS/CC’ 65 entities registered
STUDFARMS 34 are these really owners in the "truest" sense
RACING SYNDICATES 38
Husband and Wives/Partnerships 650. Here i tried hard to filter out duplicates but using surnames only was quite difficult

So that gives us a total of roughly 1300 people really interested in owning horses.
so why the rush for exits when it comes to horse racing in SA.

1st reason Apathy
Apathy from the operators, administrators , Trainers even. Why have a hobby that pisses u off or frustrates u due to these people who pretty much exist to serve u end up making u feel like they do u a favor. Most these people work for a salary on the 25th and have no big picture view. There only jo security and keep the people the consider VIP happy.
U doubt this when last did u see the executives at a small mid week meeting. Never but come Champions day they are all there. And on champions day where d u find them. Not with the normal owners improving the experience for them, but up in the boxes or at the table with people they see as VIP.
Apathy continued >> take a query to the Administrators and they go into a KRAAL mentality instead assisting with a solution. why bother find a new hobby.

2nd Reason Rising costs in a weak economy plus low Stakes.
Now most owners do not expect to get rich racing for stakes but most have some concept of ROI or value for money. This gets seriously watered down when u lose meetings,track closures, un-race-able surfaces due to bad management (VET Bills to fix jarring etc. Long holidays for the horse)
Why does the operators not engage the owners see where costs could be reduced or supplemented. The RA is not the solution. The NHRA are not the solution they only interested in changing Constitutions.

3rd reason Marketing
Or non existence of it. Stakes can be improved in more than one way. They only see Betting revenue as a solution. Racing will never be days gone by but people still spend money on entertainment and marketing. Racing may as well not exist in the main stream Phyque.

I watch SA racing and to me the future is one of exclusive racing with a handful of of super wealthy owners, Probably racing for Buttons not money
a few massive training yards racing in all regions training for a few owners.
Sponsored Jockeys.
Large breeders who are in most cases the owners or extension of the owners.
TAB punters who will have as much interest in racing as a lotto player.
And zero track attendance except for the VIP days where u go to be seen and racing is an afterthought.

Thats all from me.

I am sure there are more reasons and better explained than what i have said above.

So bye bye SA racing hello Sports betting and more rewarding hobbies.

Quality over quantity ?

Bob lets be honest its a mugs game. Where in life do you take all the risk and stand last in line to receive anything. Only owning a race horse !!

Sylvester where can I find these figures that you quote on owners? Is there any comparison regarding costs vs stakes raced for on an annual basis?

I have a good example why owners/potential owners are losing interest.

Middle of last year, I decided to try my hand at owning a horse or a share thereof. As it was my first time, I decided to start small and take a share as part of syndicate under the name of the trainers yard. The initial communications were good, up until I paid for my share. After that I struggled to get any response and it took over 6 months to finally get my ownership registered with NHRA. The only reason it got sorted out was the fact that I got in touch directly with NHRA who were extremely helpful I must add.

The best part of this story is that the (partly my) horse in question, had its first run a few weeks ago and I received no information at all from the trainers yard...not even a a simple notification that the horse is carded to run its first race! I found out only by coincidence through a third party 2 days before the race. What should have been such an exciting moment was largely spoilt by this disappointing behaviour.

Based on this, I can definitely see why ownership numbers are dropping. If the owner is seen and treated as a mere "funder", then the reality is that there are plenty better places to invest than in horse racing.

That sounds crap Biggy, was it with one of thos trainers that does "deals"

Bob Brogan wrote: That sounds crap Biggy, was it with one of thos trainers that does "deals"

Not sure about "deals" but I found it through an advert on sportofkings

If the name is not posted then the names of the "good" trainers can also be tarnished.

OTA i took my info from NHRA Website

Mac wrote: If the name is not posted then the names of the "good" trainers can also be tarnished.

That's true Mac, I realize that now.

My reason for posting was not to name and shame but rather to share my (poor) experience. I apologise to all the good trainers out there (of which there are many) if I cause any unintentional harm. But, with it being my first horse ownership and me not wanting to thrash relationship with trainer, I would prefer not to disclose.

I've seen a few emails where some of the "fancy syndicates" are charging r1300 per month for 10% stabling and costs

Ps biggy some trainers are really up to speed with customer relations these days, if your trainer can't be arsed move your horse imo