what is racing's allure?

.....racing is very complex and I like the way Mr Wild has likened it to an intricate "video game"....if it were simple ....for me it would have no allure at all......yet I have met very simple people that make a living from the game and mostly they have little idea of the complexity yet some how survive and even thrive.....when I was younger and growing up in the game.... I too was simple and never grasped the complexity either..... that is until I went out into the big bright world and looked at it with an un blinkered eye and then only realised how extremely complex horse racing is.....:S

Phew I would like to have Garrick's financial problems for starters ! I agree with him however and have generally changed my betting direction over the last ten years or so from almost all horse racing to about 75% sport and 25 % horses as it is today. The change has probably got a lot to do with the amount coverage we now have coupled with the enormity of different sports one can play while racing has generally stayed the same. Overall ,IMO there are more opportunities to be found in the world of sports with regard value and it's where I consistently hold my own.

I used to love going to the track , the buzz was brilliant with plenty of characters. Big punters, small punters, plenty of lurkers. However now day's besides the big meeting it's all pretty sad as in the old days the crowds added to the vibe and the crac in the stands was greatly entertaining. Unfortunately I feel that racing has let down the run of the mill smaller punters with awful betting outlets as a whole, besides a number of bookmakers going the extra mile to turn their betting environments into something worthwhile spending an afternoon in. The tracks meanwhile have pretty poor and un appealing facilities, unless you're one of the owners or the like and it's still very much regarded as a rich white man's sport unfortunately, a sort of the them and us mentality.

So for me going to the races has lost most of it's appeal and I much prefer the comforts of my home, it's artificial but so much more enjoyable.

now we're getting there...more please? say what you like
thanks for everyone's contribution thus far.

To get people hooked on racing they need to have won something on racing , no matter how small or big will determine whether they try again or not ..

Beyond The Pale - I found your post very interesting.

I was introduced to racing through the Cape Hunt as those were the only meetings where children could attend. I contend that the demise of that club virtually guaranteed the severing of the flow of 'new blood' into equine sports.

Flat racing came to me later but having been a child well practised at self amusement ( the Waddington horse game Totopoly was a big favourite of mine) it was perhaps inevitable that I would end up at the track. It turned out to be in an era where there were a huge number of differences to the modern day :

There was no shopping after 1 pm on a Saturday. There were no other gambling options. Top class sporting events were few and far between. There was no TV. A day at the races was a very real and exciting recreational option as the whole pace of life was slower.

The demise of racing was already in full swing when casinos came along. They simply speeded up and compounded the problem. In my opinion technology has finished off the job and social media, in particular, puts the industry under the kind of ongoing examination that it has traditionally preferred to sweep under the carpet. I'm sorry people but the majority of uninvolved people out there STILL think that the game is crook and the game STILL feeds them a steady diet of incidents to endorse that perception.

I am fortunate to have a dedicated home theatre so not only racing has lost out. I have not been to a movie theatre for about 5 years. I could not be bothered to attend a live concert as I would rather buy the Bluray DVD and watch at my leisure or on Youtube. To top it all I much prefer UK racing .......so there's your answer.

But most important of all - I can afford but cannot any longer justify spending the kind of money that a horse in training costs. Period. No matter how much I think I love horses for R8,000+ per month and the strife I get from SARS as a result thereof I can rather 'buy' a hell of a lot more 'fun' elsewhere.

Racing is made up of 3 ever different legs , each for a totally different type of person.

1 the horse
2 the social side
3 the punter

Unless 1 of them grabs you ,its not for you .

The reason why I got involved in horse racing is due to the fact that we had three horses on our farm when my father were involved in tabacco and mealie farming.These three horses were like family members and would come to you when calling their names.I think when leaving the farm to qualify myself in this world start missing the horses and were amazed by the lightning speed of race horses. The I start playing them, becauses horses are so close in my heart.
I don't bet big and laid down a few rules for myself:
Never to play more than this on bets:
Pa max R150
Jackpot max R100
P6: max R150
Swinger max R100
Places : R500
Win bets max: R200
I probably never will get rich out of horseracing but win on a lot of occations R10k or a bit more. If I loses it don't hit me to hard. This means you had to downsize your excotics to minimum. To win R10k with a R150 is very enjoyable to me and let me smile for at least 2 days. The trick for me is to outsmart them with the minumum capital. LoL

When you see the horse you have punted has a dream opening, he finds another gear and kicks up turf ...

Or when he leads pillar to post continually increasing the gap between him and the next runner ...

When you back a horse at 50/1 and closes at 2/1 and shits home ...

When you know you have just seen a future champion ...

@ Garrick

You bring back many memories when mentioning Totopoly!!! Many a Saturday night meeting with four players started early in the evening and ended in the wee hours of the next morning.

We played the shortened game with the 12 horses and 1 dice and split 3 runners each & it was a big thrill getting the wrong ones , the blue Elton & Jerome Fandor & yellow Play On, Priory Park etc. to get up in the final throws of the dice, at the expense of the favorites, the black horses no.1/2/3.(tu)

I also remember Totopoly. Still have some old greyhound cards my dad had when he was a kid.

I still have Totopoly.

What about that toy game with a vibrating racecourse on which plastic horses used to inch forwards?

Mac Wrote:

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> I still have Totopoly.
>
> What about that toy game with a vibrating
> racecourse on which plastic horses used to inch
> forwards?



I also have Totopoly (and I have the game as well