David Thiselton Article on transparency

David Thiselton
Following a Gold Circle initiative to collect comments on first-timers and the refusal of some trainers to oblige, a debate about “transparency” has been prevalent in the South African racing community.
However, there has been a lack of debate about a related but more important issue i.e. the absence of measures taken on South African training tracks to prevent insiders from having total control of information.
Renowned international syndicate owner and journalist Barry Irwin summed it up best three years ago in a reply to an email I wrote him asking whether saddle cloths were compulsory on USA training tracks.
I had been running a Gold Circle approved website at the time which, for every KZN race meeting, published as many comments on runners as possible.
This exercise highlighted the missing link racing scribes in South Africa have in their potential armoury.
The three weapons which should be in this armoury are 1) form study, 2) comments from the connections of a horse and 3) watching the horse working.
However, being able to identify relevant horses and watch them work is very hit and miss in South Africa.
Hence my letter to Mr Irwin.
His reply was eye opening. He said visiting a South African training track was like going back to the 1950’s. He used an amusing analogy, writing, “Going to South Africa is like watching one of those movies where somebody gets shipwrecked and one or two of the survivors washes ashore on a remote island where prehistoric beasts roam the land.”
His point was the information available in South African racing is controlled by those on the inside. There are zero measures on South African training tracks to exert control for the benefit of outsiders, like the media, who can then relay the information to the punters.
Irwin went on to explain the role of “clockers” in the USA, to whom it is compulsory to report to when going through “the gap” on to the track. All times for workouts are published in Daily Racing Form and on line at Equibase.com. (I should imagine a scribe could watch a lot of relevant gallops too by simply standing next to the clocker).
Irwin concluded by saying in his opinion the electronic barcode system used in Hong Kong and Japan should be a worldwide standard, although admitting in some instances it would be too expensive to install.
Irwin hits the nail on the head.
When going to the track in South Africa, the only time a scribe is generally able to see a relevant horse working is if he or she happens to be standing with the trainer at the time, as the latter will then be able to identify the horse. I count myself lucky to see a handful of relevant gallops on any morning i.e. you know who the horse is, it will be running in the meeting you are covering, and it is doing fast work.
It is generally impossible to stand with more than one trainer at a time and there is an improbability of a relevant gallop coinciding with your visit to a trainer’s ring.
Furthermore, it is a logistical nightmare trying to schedule gallops to watch. For example, at Summerveld there are many trainers and also a number of tracks, all of which are far apart.
It is a sad state of affairs, because the most confident information a scribe can provide is when they have been able to see an eye catching gallop.
I list a few examples below.

I was metres away from Jackson when he strode past on a sand track at Philippi a few days before the Investec Cape Derby. To say his enormous stride took my breath away would be an understatement. Trainer Brett Crawford’s subsequent comments included his opinion the horse would stay and at that stage of his career Jackson had a good temperament too. The comments added the cherry on top of what had just been seen, coupled with the horse’s form, which spoke for itself. Therefore, a report of true confidence could be written and Jackson duly beat the great Variety Club.

On an earlier occasion I stood by trainer Frank Robinson and watched the two-year-old filly Chocolicious giving the older sprinter Intellectual a hiding on Summerveld’s bottom grass track. Intellectual had never been a great work horse, but had just come off a second place finish in the Gr 1 Computaform Sprint. A few days later Chocolicious won the Gr 1 Allan Robertson at odds of 55/1 and I received a phonecall from a grateful punter, who had not considered Chocolicious for his Jackpot until reading the newspaper report.

In the week of this year’s Vodacom Durban July meeting, I watched Isca putting up a magnificent gallop on the Summerveld beach sand. Trainer Gavin van Zyl confirmed him to be in “tip top condition” and was bullish about his form chances too. The glowing newspaper report was backed up by tipping him to win, which he did by three lengths at odds of 9/2.

There are many other examples I could provide.

However, there are also the ones which don’t come to fruition. The saying “if in doubt leave it out” is very true in racing. Eye catching work on its own can be as misleading as a trainer’s bold comment on its own.

As far as trainer’s comments go, the ones I have found most useful are when a horse with good form is returning from a layoff as the public will then have an idea of how close to its form it will run. First-timer comments can be useful too, especially when accompanied by a detailed analysis of the pedigree.

Those bringing the trainers’ comments should be congratulated for their efforts.

However, to conclude, there are no measures in place on SA training tracks for the benefit of work watchers. This should really be the primary issue for debate, ahead of the rather tired transparency one.

Thanks for posting the relevant and thought provoking article Bob, we have the new sectional timing, electronic chips in the horses for identification, what could be the stumbling block?
Barrier trials available on youtube with horses names and times
Horses weight one week before every run


Imagine a real drive for transparency where stats are available to all....a level playing field might just get more people interested in owning & and punting race on horses.

I am not saying that a Punters strike rate would improve but at least there would not be a sense of an inner circle which ultimately leads people to believe that horse racing is rigged. I am often asked a common question by friends that are not involved in racing..."isn't racing rigged?"

Maybe a survey of opinion regarding horse racing and punting from people not involved in horse racing would reveal how this sport is perceived. What we cannot do is continue to believe that we do not need change anything.

Barry Irwin basically said the same thing those administrators said about SA racing.as published by Robyn Louw/Charles Faul I Sporting Post .Different words but same picture!
If our racing is so badly perceived by outsiders isn't it finally time we stop being so satisfied with it???
One of the very first positive moves would be to ensure that all regulators become independent of operators .....presently all regulation will be subject to operators approval .....he who pays the piper .....so why would there be any regulations that are inconvenient to operators?

“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.” Mahatma Gandhi

Racing to Success- by Masayuki Goto
The Blood-Horse, August 19, 1995

In Japan, we have two racing organizations. One controls local racing – the NAR (National Association of Racing). The other is my association, the JRA (Japan Racing Association). The only detail I might mention is that JRA only races on weekends, with a total of 288 days each year, over our 10 racetracks. This number has hardly change in all the time since our beginning.
Before I go further, I would like to mention some important comparisons between racing in Japan and in the United States.
First, in Japan we also have betting competition. There is pari-mutuel wagering on bicycle, motorcycle, motor boat, and horse racing. Last year, the JRA handled as much as bicycle, motorcycle, and boatracing put together. But, it was not like that 20 years ago. We also have the lottery.
Another comparison is that, during the last 20 years, in Japan we had a drop in attendance at the racetrack as we expanded our off-track betting. Between 1975 and 1984 our on-track attendance dropped by nearly 44%. Our overall betting had nearly doubled, although the number of races stayed almost the same.
Since then, the betting has continued to increase greatly. But we have been able to increase our attendance also, until, in 1994, it was very nearly the same as 20 years ago.
I hope to explain how we have been able to do this.
Let me briefly discuss first the policies and goals of the JRA. These may be summarized quite simply as follows:
Ø First, to provide horse racing that is strictly fair and honest, and tha the racegoer can trust.
Ø Secondly, to provide a racing program that is well rounded and exciting. Our goal is to have at least 12 starters per race.
Ø Thirdly, we strive to provide a good atmosphere, by providing facilities which are bright, clean, and comfortable.
Of course, these are more intricate. However, they are the focal point of our association’s planning policies.
Today, our betting handle is distributed as follows: 75% of the total to the bettor; 10% goes to the government; and 15% to the racing organization. Fifty percent of any surplus at the end of the year is also taken by the government.
The percentage which the JRA gives to prize money can change from year to year. Last year, 3.8% of the gross handle was given to prize money.
When I first went to work for JRA, this was 6%. The president of the JRA then was Mr. Osawa, and he tried to decrease the percentage of the turnover given to prize money. It took several years to negotiate a change, as the owners were strong in their disagreement. However, they finally agreed.
This was, I believe, a major turning point for us.
To understand our position over this matter, you must understand a very basic philosophy of how the JRA considers racing.
We look at racing as a business. That business generates revenues from the fans. They are our consumers.
Where does the prize money come from? The consumer pays for it. Our first duty, therefore, if we are to run a successful business, is to make our consumers happy so that they keep coming back to do business with us. It is the right of the fan to be the first to be considered. Everything else is secondary. The fans are where we must look to grow our business. Not the owners. Not the breeders.
I know this may be difficult to understand where there is tradition to give all parts of racing an equal say. But for us in Japan it is simple business logic. If we are successful in our dealings with the consumer, the handle goes up, the prize money goes up, everyone is happy. If we are not successful with the consumer, we go out of business.
So, back to our major turning points.
In 1981, another one happened with the first running of the Japan Cup (Jpn-I). This was created as the result of a plan originally directed by Mr. Takeda, then president of JRA.
It was his policy that we needed to ‘develop stronger and faster domestic horses which could compete with their foreign counterparts.’
I believe the competition provided by the Japan Cup has been a major factor uin the improvement of quality of our racing.
Mr. Takeda was succeeded by Mr. Uchimura. Now I have to tell you that Mr. Uchimura’s wife was not happy that her husband took his new position. She felt that horse racing had a bad image and she personally disliked it from the sports point of view.
Well, Mr. Uchimura instituted policies to promote the support of JRA by women, believing that, if JRA was to achieve a status in our, or any society, we neede the support of the female fans. It is obvious that women’s attendance would encourage men. But more than that, if women are not a willing part of our consumer market, they will have a negative impact on the market as a whole.
In 1982, the first ‘Ladies Day’ was initiated at our Kyoto Racecourse. And we followed a strong advertising and promotion schedule, all aimed directly at the younger female market.
Were we successful?
In the early 1980’s, only 7.1% of attendance was women. Today that percentage is nearly 12%. I might also add that now Mr. Uchimura’s wife loves horse racing and says, ‘Horses are beautiful and racing is exciting!’
Let me now discuss briefly our publicity, especially television. Here are three commercials from 1990, ’91, and ’92. Each of them is an example of several commercials we made in each of these years, using one theme.
In each of these, as in all our commercials, the actors are well-known stars in Japan. (Editor’s note: Television adverisements are shown demonstrating the social appeal of racing and its agricultural roots.) Since then, we use the same actors in our commercials for two years. This increases the JRA recognition factor every time a commercial appears. Our current series features a group of three young men. Again, each of them is a top star in Japan. (Additional advertisements are shown).
You can see how the theme is followed and how we never talk about betting, only about the excitement, entertainment, and fun of the sport. We spend a lot on our advertising, and we are quite pleased with the results.
From 1981 to 1983, the sales and attendance remained stagnant. However, the JRA kept a positive attitude and maintained the management policy that had been decided on.
This is the way we work. In order to obtain and sustain the trust of the fans in Japan, we take a long time to make a plan. This is not only JRA, but in many ways it’s the very nature of Japan. We sit down and have a lot of discussions over a new plan and take it through every possible aspect. When established, we keep to it fully until it proves itself – or does not, as the case may be.
So we continued with our plan, with the younger generation as our consumer target.
Then we began to update our information services and systems.
We gave the public more and more information, on track and off track. And most importantly, anywhere that there is JRA racing, the information is the same. We do not, for example, have different program formats at different tracks.
This was again the policy of our next president, Mr. Sawabe. He was known as a “ Man of Culture.” Under his guidance and that of his successors many new plans were begun.
It was decided that we must establish our standards. We wanted people to know that, wherever they went, they would find the same standards of honesty in racing. The same standard of facility, comfort, beauty, entertainment, and history. The same product.
We are careful not to lose the character of individual tracks in different regions. But our public must have absolute confidence that the product is of the same high quality at every JRA track, wherever it is. In business terms, we wanted to establish a “corporate identity.”
So, to project this message, in 1986, we began corporate identity activities to improve the image of the JRA and of horse racing. “JRA” officially became the logo-styled name, replacing the actual Japanese language name. The use of the other logo style name, “WINS” came into use for our OTB facilities.
In the meantime, since 1983, we had introduced a planning timetable to improve and update all our facilities, both on track and off track.
In 1991, Mr. Watanabe assumed the presidency. He was a serious racing fan. He tried to get the laws changed so that the JRA and the NAR could cooperate much more than ever before.
This is very important because, as well as expanding the coverage of JRA racing, it also gives NAR the opportunity to benefit directly from the successful marketing and operation of the JRA. The Thoroughbred industry in the whole country benefits.
Next, with on-track attendance growing, we wanted to bring our product closer to home.
Although we had telephone betting since 1974, in 1993, we introduced an automatic non-voice home betting system called Personal Access Terminal. We also began intertrack wagering with some of the local government NAR racecourses.
Then, last year, we introduced the Satellite Access Terminal, or SAT system. With SAT’s we have the possibility to turn all our local neighbourhood stores into min off-track facilities. Subscribers just use a card to make their bets, very much like using a banking machine.
And now this year, in 1995, we have introduced our own satellite racing channel, the Green Channel.
Have we been successful with our policies?
Ø Because we have looked after our fans, we have grown back our on-track attendance.
Ø We have brought in new, young fans.
Ø Because we have looked after our fans, our overall betting has grown.
Ø Because, by looking after our fans, we have grown and our owners – and therefore, our breeders – have good business.
Ø Our surveys tell us that we are keeping the fans we have attracted.
I believe we have been quite successful. But that was yesterday. And we must continue our efforts strongly if we are to be successful tomorrow.
We need always to look outwards. Too often, we, the insiders, just talk to each other about our business and our problems. Racing has something for everyone…the old, the young…men and women. It is not something just for us, the insiders. It is for the people…the fans. And I think it may be true not only for Japan, but for other countries as well.
I would like, if I may, to close on a very personal note.
I have said that I have been with the JRA for some 20 years, almost since I left the university. My father before me was also with the JRA. He was a veterinarian. And throughout all this time, I have kept memories of when I was at elementary school. I remember how we used to ask each other what our fathers did. And how, when other boys found out that my father was working in racing, they looked down on me a little. Racing was not quite a correct occupation. It was a little what you call ‘shady.’
And ever since that time, through all my years with the JRA, it has been my ambition, and determination, and goal, that racing should become recognized and accepted as a beautiful and exciting sport…and, above all, an honest and enjoyable one…and a respectable business to work in…a business that one can be proud to work in.
I believe these, too, have been the goals which have made the JRA as successful as we have been in growing our business. Today I am proud to be in the business of racing. And I believe that my son does not have to apologize that his father works in racing.

Watching a trainer on TELLYTRACK thanking his staff for "keeping quiet" to enable a 40/1 to 10/1 coup on a first timers in a race in which the tote invited trifecta, quartets ....why are we still stuck here? is racing not down in the doldrums enough for people to realise they have a responsibility towards it's survival - their own income/profession? If the NHRA and Operators can't/won't put it in place then surely individuals in racing can think for themselves to stop the damaging bleed they are causing?

Yes Don it is sickening to hear a trainer passing comments like that in this day and age. As in the above article our authorities and a few owners and trainers still believe the customer( punter) does not need to know any info regarding their horses. Let's face it there is plenty of time for a trainer to let his owner know about a horse and for that owner to " get on " first but they then should at least be open and honest to all the punters via whatever medium they choose so as to be transparent and allow everyone to choose to punt the horse or not. I say again they come up with all sorts of new bets ( bi-pot quick mixes etc etc) but the cake itself is not getting bigger just the slices increasing. It can't be hard to work out that while owners and breeders are important they can never ever be more important than punter or customer for without the punting there would be no stakes and owners would be racing amongst themselves for trophies. In the Japanese article it's clear that everything is geared to improve the customers lot but in this country the punters are basically ignored or at least way down the order of importance. Imagine if punters all together agreed not to place one bet on horse racing for 6 months!! No take outs no taxes and owners racing their horses for fun. I think not. Will that ever happen ? Probably not but that is the reality. How do you bring new young people into the game and teach them to bet when you convince them individually or as a group to risk a bet of a 1000 rand on a horse and when it wins they all jump up and down excitedly and go and collect only to find you took a risk but never won a cent only got your stake back. It's mind boggling. If you lose your moneys gone if you win you don't actually win. And it goes on and on and on. Why is it so difficult to recognize who you as a business should be focussing all your efforts on.? Really it's like flogging a dead horse.

Don wrote: Watching a trainer on TELLYTRACK thanking his staff for "keeping quiet" to enable a 40/1 to 10/1 coup on a first timers in a race in which the tote invited trifecta, quartets ....why are we still stuck here? is racing not down in the doldrums enough for people to realise they have a responsibility towards it's survival - their own income/profession? If the NHRA and Operators can't/won't put it in place then surely individuals in racing can think for themselves to stop the damaging bleed they are causing?

How is this not 'bringing racing into disrepute' and dealt with by the NHRA? Oh! I forgot.....they are all being retrenched so there's nobody to deal with it.