Time to reboot SA Racing

This is my first post on your esteemed website, Thank you for allowing me to do so.

I have been a passionate punter for 45 years (that makes me 63 'cos I would not have bet under the legal age ).
Good times...bad times but always an exciting ride for me. No regrets!
Sadly, SA racing is in a crisis. But there are wiser heads than me who have come up with some workable solutions.

I urge you to read today's Interbet column written by Mark van Deventer. I concur fully with what he proposes.
Copy this link to your browser: www.interbet.co.za/Horse-Racing-Articles.aspx

Welcome Steve C, i read the article earlier and also agree with most said..

Most of Mark`s suggestions are plain and simple common sense and have been suggested on here in some format many times.

PS i tried to copy n paste the article as it would be an interesting topic to debate, but Interbet`s website won`t allow

An article that has its intent in the right place. As Bob said, they're really basic suggestions that anyone could suggest, let alone people whose jobs are actually to suggest these things. They have been said a million times before, and yet, are unlikely to materialize. I know this type of response is almost a defeatist attitude, but it is brought about from years of seeing the punter being screwed. Genuinely hope it changes but I doubt it will.

With the results we have been having of late, I haven't heard a peep on Tellytrack about inquiries or results of questions to the trainers of 100/1 winners. I don't mind a 100/1 winner in the UK or Hong Kong, because I have confidence in the system there being robust and able enough to weed out inconsistent runs and malpractice. Let's consider that in this country we can't even get first timer comments from some trainers even as a race is about to be run, a time at which all their owners bets would already be on, and then ask yourself if you're dreaming when you suggest that horse workouts and fitness be made public knowledge. We have trainers on the daily looking to drop horses MR so that they can get them ready for a punt in a lower grade, but can they be blamed? There is no consequence to it with our current stewards, and with the stakes being unreliable, money still has to be made. But be sure the stewards will catch an overzealous jock using vulgar language on TT.

I without a doubt know that a rebate structure will increase turnover by much more than it costs, for example, but do you think this is something that will ever be considered by the short sighted? For one, over and above the obvious increase in spend from current customers, it will have the immediate effect of winning back many open bet customers that have been lost. The tote has lost so much business to the open bet, and rightfully so. Hollywood, WSB, etc., incentivize playing through their platforms, and don't cry to pay either, as the tote would have you believe. What do the tote do to get punters back from the open bet? Play an advert getting a trainer's son to tell us how much the tote does for the stakes pool? That's fine and well, but in a world where even stakes have been compromised, why should any punter, and more so in this economic climate, ever use their own money to subsidise a business rescue that is only required due to poor management, when the bookmaker is literally paying us to bet with them (deposit bonuses).

At the end of the day, most punters are unashamedly mugs, but even a mug knows a poor deal when they see it, and right now there needs to be some serious changes in takeout, incentives and integrity of the sport to keep the punter betting, or the decline is going to be too far to rein back.

Apart from the financial incentives, let's consider a simple request I and many others on here have been pushing for months, to get proper local exotics on international races going. One would be forgiven for thinking that this was a difficult or costly exercise, given the seemingly difficult time the operator has had in doing this, and to this day, it hasn't happened; why? Seemingly everyone involved that could make it happen couldn't care less, because all that matters is milking the big pools from local racing daily. Well let this continue, and see which punters keep feeding these pools. The tote should be using every opportunity to build its turnover, yet does the bare minimum.

I'd love to see change, I just am too much of a realist by now to believe that any of the things mentioned in this article and in this site would happen, given the things we all have seen over the last few years.

Re-introduce couplings into the Jackpot and P6...more punters winning (albeit smaller amounts) means more churn of cash in hand...

If I have R100 to spend and it is all gone, I have nothing for tomorrow...but if even R50 is returned, I will take another bet tomorrow...operators get cut of today's R100 and tomorrow's R50 than just a cut of today's R100 as they take their money from the gross pools...

Also removes those in the know being able to put few horses in a leg whilst those not in the know have to load up...this is simply an unfair transfer of money from a majority of punters to a minority...not the brain game anymore...

All the best to all Clanners for today

I’m not 100% sure but doesn’t the BR make their presentation today? Isn’t this the day stakes go back to 100k for a maiden or at least to the KZN levels?

Here’s to hoping lol

Yes Oscar, we have a couple of threads open on the subject.
Today should be the announcement 🤞