For me these is very interesting

www.thedti.gov.za/parliament/PFC.pdf

these is some presentation to parliament. in these they say the open bet must be ban and that owners are the bunch of fools. also robin bruss is the analyst why not the nha member?

OK - so let's take this report at face value and contemplate a bright new future :

We all wake up on January 1st 2014 to discover the following utopian situation:

1.) Bookmakers have voluntarily elected to abandon the open bet and have also gratefully accepted a betting tax identical to that levelled by the tote.

2.) Export protocols are liberated to the point where yearlings from the Cape Premier Yearling Sale are grazing in their new paddocks all over the world by March.

3.) The taxation playing fields between all gambling businesses have been equalized.

What effect might this have ?

Without wishing to be the Cassandra of horseracing I would see very little changing!

1.) The sport would remain a virtual Phumelela monopoly. They have shown consistent disinterest over many years of trading in improving the local product so as to really attract more punters who, incidentally, provide the vital 'fuel' which drives the local industry.

Would totes improve? ( No tax breaks preventing that from being done RIGHT NOW ).

Would communication between the operator and customer improve? ( Could be done RIGHT NOW )

Would the IT that drives the Tote be improved? ( Could be done RIGHT NOW )

All I see from an 'equal tax dispensation' is more shareholder wealth with (possibly) a tiny, token trickle back into the sport itself. Why pay more to owners when they appear happy to absorb a R580 million loss each year?

2.) Liberal export protocols would see pretty much every well bred yearling or rising star disappear offshore with indecent haste. Leaving us with low quality dross to follow locally. No 'equal tax dispensation' would ever see sufficient additional tote funding of local racing to resist the temptation of competing for dollars, pounds or euros. Don't believe me? Ask our local sportsmen.

3.) The operator could simply phase out local SA racing and focus on what it does best - run an international gaming business. ( Hell - many of the irreplaceable fixed assets are already gone! ). I would be prepared to wager that Phumelela would far rather be managing international co-mingling etc., than staging racing in some of our lesser racing centres.

As much as racing DOES labour under certain disadvantages there is one thing that they simply don't get : An awful lot of people now prefer to spend their time and money on other activities. Particularly as the sport itself NEVER FAILS to provide critics and naysayers with a steady stream of negative PR - both through its own, often grubby actions as well as through what it fails to do.

In many ways racing is simply a microcosm of modern life - the rich have got richer and have bought more horses. The middle class and the poor have got SIGNIFICANTLY poorer and are now more focused on simple survival.

I also seen that some group is suing the new owner of Clairwood

point 3 - we are definitely heading there, full mast up and forging ahead with no sign of turning the ship around?
who are the people sitting in power making these decisions without considering the direction it is going

to me don these people you call them have made the very considered decision and the local ship is being firmly steer into the rocks.

one thing i consider after read these presentation. what owner give bruss and/or the mandate to represent them in parliament? the ra dont represent the majority of owners, their is no alternate. why the nha not present these presentation to members for comment and ratification? is the one trick pony show. i say again these pillay guy is the absolute figure head.

Every issue identified in this submission has been identified and discussed on this forum!

I see the request to give statuatory powers to the NHA................confirmation of our suspicion that they are presently not authorised to regulate ?????

(What is the PPC of March 2012...............anybody know???)