Are we now In a Rush ?

Hi all not sure how you feel about our racing but from my perspective we appear to be on the move?
Yes we have many niggles and still things to put right but my recent trips to the tracks have been a great vibe.
Having Nick Gordon on board has certainly moved in a rush back in the right direction, yesterday was a super initiative for a great cause, the Summer Cup should be another cracking day, then we have the Cape season with Queens Plate, Met and then followed by the always high profile July.

Give me your thoughts but as far as I am concerned racing is in a healthy position and on the move

Good punting

i would like to see the stalls updated on some of the courses and some regulation on stalls tests. They were practising entering the stalls at Santa Anita all week prior to the Breeders Cup and I can't remember any problems loading or exiting all weekend.
It seems to common an occurrence to be bad luck with SA racing.

Its now time to clean up the whole industry and for that we need all on board, especially the NHA.

neigh wrote: Its now time to clean up the whole industry and for that we need all on board, especially the NHA.

I totally agree with you Neigh.

It seems like some are really interested in getting it right whilst others want to pull in the other direction.
I think we should set aside a "cleansing month" with everybody giving all they got including getting the cobwebs out of people's ears so that they can listen and getting skeletons out of the cupboard.
Christmas is fast approaching ............

Cellphone connectivity is bad and just about non-existent at the Big T and the Vaal and I think it could be the same for other courses. I struggled yesterday. Young people trend with their cellphones. If we dont have free wi-fi at the courses then you will not get the youngsters. I think Phum is scared that the youngsters will then use open bet bookies to connect with Phum's free wi-fi? Nonsense.

Dave ,interesting observation at a time when the competence of the NHA has probably never been more in question......coupled with the disillusionment of one of the biggest investors in local racing in recent times.I wonder how the industry intend to replace his spend,in a rush?
The Charity meeting ,Summer Cup and Cape season have been ongoing so whats the "Rush"?

If there is a MEASURABLE improvement in local racing,other than more food and drink at functions,perhaps they need to share that with us.

Dave Scott wrote: Hi all not sure how you feel about our racing but from my perspective we appear to be on the move?
Yes we have many niggles and still things to put right but my recent trips to the tracks have been a great vibe.
Having Nick Gordon on board has certainly moved in a rush back in the right direction, yesterday was a super initiative for a great cause, the Summer Cup should be another cracking day, then we have the Cape season with Queens Plate, Met and then followed by the always high profile July.

Give me your thoughts but as far as I am concerned racing is in a healthy position and on the move i would love to know what you been smoking because if you read the latest results from riaan du plessis at phum regarding the industry in south africa its quite the opposite..you obviously think that the improvement in steak rolls and a few days a year where crowds attend means everything is hunky dory means the industry is in a good state is the measuring stick well bad news for you its going downhill fast and the turnover on local racing is the only barometer for me not the sales of beers and steak rolls

Ok I guess measurables are the true barometer rather than gut feel but many I met have a strong gut feel that racing is on upswing but thanks for inputs

We seem to use the Asian conference as our yardstick of well being, but a local "conference" with every area of the industry represented, would be a good start to get a spirit of co-operation for the well being of the local product.
Operators , regulators, owners , trainers and some form of formal punter representation contributing to a zero based review of local racing,would hopefully instil some mutual trust , which is so clearly missing at the moment.
The refusal of operators to interact and be transparent about issues like tote take-outs,the security and commissions in respect of co-mingling arrangements, appear very much to be a "something to hide" scenario!
If the stakeholders trusted each other that to my mind would be a "great rush"

I would get excited about local racing and sing the operators praises when I start seeing new projects to increase the racing customer base.

No matter how many people go to the race course and how big the crowd is on the bigger race days, until we convert some of them into customers it all counts for very little.

From a good news perspective Phumelela's recent announcement that they will focus more on online developments is a major step in the right direction not just from a service and new generation perspective but also in terms of providing actual and measurable performance data as well as longer term cost savings.

Quite a refreshing change after a meeting with a senior manager who suggested that my products for online is a waste of time as there is not enough traction for online locally. Charming display of forward thinking is what I thought about it at the time.

A further plus with online initiatives is that it opens the door for product innovation and this is something that must happen for racing to move forward.

I agree with Dave on some issues regarding the facilities and general atmosphere on course but the real battle for active customers has not yet begun and I am not sure if it ever will as other diversified operations produce much quicker results.

Long term a neglect of marketing racing aggressively will hurt local operators and the industry but might not impact current management depending on their intended tenure, so might not be a pressing concern.

didnt he win the emerald cup?

You coming to CT for the Summer SEason Dave?