what is racing's allure?

I enjoy the following:

seeing the yearlings and how the breeders have chosen to mate their mares and stallions
Seeing the two year olds when they race. looking for the new champion.
following the top horses as they progress.
getting to see the top horses run in the flesh when time allows.
MDK every year and his exploits in Dubai.
Have the odd decent wager come home in the year.

Nearly forgot
The RA Girls
Julie Alexander
Robert Garners hair
My plastic RA Badge

robert garners hair ....

he he he sly you make harry's day (tu)

onyerway Wrote:

---

> Im sure if you allowed pimps prostitutes and drug
> dealers into the course the place would be
> pumping.


"pumping".

Racing is not a sport, it cannot be enjoyed without financial interest therefore attracting pure fans is an unrealistic goal. however it is possible to attract players/punters/gamblers to the game but then why would you wanna attract someone to an activity where they might ruin their lives??? if you can teach them 'how to win' then by all means otherwise what's the point.

If racing is not a sport, why do jockeys get awarded South African colours ?

Or is that like your butcher claiming to sell the best pies in the country?

Or a dodgy shrink claiming he studied at Oxford when he really meant catford ?

hibernia Wrote:

---

> If racing is not a sport, why do jockeys get
> awarded South African colours ?
>
> Or is that like your butcher claiming to sell the
> best pies in the country?
>
> Or a dodgy shrink claiming he studied at Oxford
> when he really meant catford ?


, you killing me

agree with garrick, but not in those telephone numbers - thankfully my miniscule bets get accepted too.

I'm with JD - sports betting does not do it for me, and it's not like 'other sports' are without 'controversial' incidents - many times have I seen the outcome (not to even talk about the spread) of a rugby or a cricket match being influenced by a ref or an umpire making a 'human error' - not unlike a 'saddle slip', etc)

To each his own :S

I got into horses because my family were horse lovers. My dad got into amateur racing via the Cape Hunt Club and from there into the professional ranks.

I like the horses and that's why I go racing.

I've never understood the betting very well - particularly once all the exotic bets started coming along and as I don't enjoy things I don't understand (and working out the betting side of things seemed like an awful lot of hard work for very little return), I stick with what I know.

What really makes it come alive for me are the stories. To me, the only way to really understand and appreciate a race, is to know the horses and people in it and their stories. The ups, downs, pathos and endeavour. That's what makes it exciting. It's just a pity that racing coverage has shrunk so much that it's nearly impossible to be able to know much about the characters before it's all change and on to the next lot again.

Whenever there's a particularly good horse or a particularly good story, I will pass it along to my non-racing friends and I find that if I can do a good enough job of telling them the story of a particular horse, jockey, owner, trainer, etc. then they will take an interest and be more likely to want to follow their career. I also find that whenever I take non-racing friends racing, the single thing that they enjoy most about the day is getting up close and personal with the horses. They're fascinated by their size, their speed and the sights, smells and sounds of the day.

I'm not dissing anyone who prefers the form study and betting side of things - I'm just saying that those are my experiences. And almost everyone I've ever spoken to about racing will reminisce about a great race, a great horse, or a great personality. There may well be an attached story about a bet they won, but 9 times out of 10, the story will be memorable for the horse.

Robyn we have to moan about punting because were not meant to moan about anything else...

Don

Its a game like any other, the objective is to win.

kids all over the world are investing their time and money in playing complex games to win. My son invests at least R3000 a year in online strategy games, he spends hours developing his skill, earning badges and "leveling up" he engages with friends, meets people from around the world and forms teams and competes. He is constantly moving on and moving up to new skills, new challenges whilst the whole time being entertained and rewarded for his patronage. Everyone can play, different skills appeal to different people, different strategies get rewarded differently and those that invest their time and money reap the rewards otherwise thye end up playing other games!

How is racing, breeding, punting any different from this? It isn't... but the operators don't get it and have no strategy for this new generation... in fact they have forgotten how to compete because they never learnt how to in the first place!

Has racing always been an "older mans game"