Owners once again propping up an unsustainable mod

Had a chat to a owner whose horse won last week.......trainer says she has no money...cash flow is bad.....

Now if this is a scenario where the owner is getting screwed by the trainer then life can become very difficult for the owner.

If the scenario is such where the training fees + stabling fees + vetting fees are separated then one can see what one is paying for... 10 % should be a performance fees and not a right to a stakes take out

Punters = racing's income. Economies of scale. What are racing's endeavours to make the sport accessible with transparent information etc etc etc.

Don wrote: Punters = racing's income. Economies of scale. What are racing's endeavours to make the sport accessible with transparent information etc etc etc.

Fact racing is more transparent now (amazing how much info there is compared to years ago) than it EVER was in its hey day - Transparency did not kill racing nor will it save racing - There are way bigger factors that are well documented on ABC under various threads - a quick comparison barring finals and Derby Games (and Chiefs and Pirates vs the rest games) the PSL cant fill a stadium -- They could give tickets away free and still www.soccerladuma.co.za/news/articles/loc...-the-psl/286241would be empty -

Racing has lost market share to Sport etc and no amount of transparency can reverse that - The transparency horse is worth flogging from time to time, but it won't change the fact that most people would rather take a lotto ticket than place a R6 bet on the FlamingoP6 - I accept that but what I cannot abide is the amount of HABITUAL HORSE PLAYERS that have found a ready home in Sports betting, not for want of transparency but simply because their passion for Racing has been killed by the operators bad decisions !!!

Please correct me if I'm talking out of line, but I do want to ask a question or 2. I too am appalled at what is currently going on in racing, equally appalled at some of the details that have come to light due to the recent Robyn Louw article, and the blatant arrogance shown by those fat cats driving the fancy cars and living the high life.

We keep discussing the fact that stakes are not increasing sufficiently (Or at very least in line with CPI inflation) and therefore winning a maiden no longer covers 8 months keep, but rather only 3 months or so.

There are 2 ways of looking at this - the stakes are too low or the training fees too high, hence the ratio of winnings vs expenses is no longer viable.

I don't have the numbers, but maybe someone can look into the details - Now don't get me wrong, I am not accusing trainers of "over charging", and I am aware that per horse the net profit has probably not increased much over the years, or not well above CPI anyway. What were training fees 5 years ago vs today?

So what has changed? The fixed costs. Including horse feed, wages, rent..... Maybe this is where we should also be looking for irregularities that are pushing the cost of ownership too high to make the numbers feasible.

Disclaimer - I do have my own horses and am WELL aware how the cost of keeping horses has increased dramatically over the last few years, and this is well before training fees are added on top.

any model/business that uses percentage of takings to support its overheads is dead in the water unless it is inflation driven

I am a fresh produce wholesaler and my customers used to pay me a 10%commission on the invoice supplied.


their buying never increased ,the cost of the product by and large remained the same over the 10 years gone by but yet the expenses have doubled.


same story as the tote...the pools have by and large remained static, the take out has remained the same, sooner rather than later this model becomes unsustainable , ask any tote owner what he was making 10 years ago and what he is making today and he will tell you that if it wasn't for the slot machines and a bar in his facility ,he is dead in the water..


but racing's model is a doomed failure...if not tomorrow then certainly the day after tomorrow