Shrinking Attendances

Bob Brogan wrote: Too many perceptions in racing that need to be ironed out imo

1: Racing is elitist
2: Racing is crooked
3: Racing is cruel

The BIGGEST MYTH I hear from non-racing people is that Racing only takes place twice a year JULY and MET ... It is amazing how many people believe this (I cannot understand that logic as what do the horses do for the rest of the year )

Agree Sylvester and Mr Hawai, 100%, stop wasting money on useless advertising, you see the same people at the races year after year, maybe 5% new people come and go..same owners same punters..nothing has changed at all.

Garrick you forget these obscure tracks in the UK are one of many and a privately owned. They do their own marketing etc.

South African tracks are very few and need to race every day to provide income through international viewers( probably the reason why Kimberley exists )

Agreed that this is the digital age, perhaps horse racing itself does not belong in this age.
Is all the effort worth it, just put 10 balls in a lotto styled barrel. each one at 10/1 odds.

Advantages are:

1.Guaranteed that no select group of people know more than you about which numbered ball will come up.

2. You donot have to study complicated form etc that invariably doesn't work out anyway

3. You dont have to wait 30 min in between races

4.You wont get peanuts in the event that you do win. Horses paying R1.00 for a place. Pick 6 paying R1000 and getting 10% of that after investing R500

5.Not affected by weather, grumpy Jocks or any other BS

6. No ball will try "not to come up a winner"

7. No ball will object against another

8. No ball will be subject to cruelty


9. Some would say that the horse is an athlete and is majestic and great to watch etc, truth is maybe 0.01% of people see it this way. Everybody else just wants to make a fast buck.

10 . No ball will be having a prep run

11. No ball will "feel amiss" during a whirl

12. No ball will "dwell at the start" and do your money in cold blood

13. No ball will need further or shorter

14. No ball will change in odds

Sealegs wrote: Agreed that this is the digital age, perhaps horse racing itself does not belong in this age.
Is all the effort worth it, just put 10 balls in a lotto styled barrel. each one at 10/1 odds.

Advantages are:

1.Guaranteed that no select group of people know more than you about which numbered ball will come up.

2. You donot have to study complicated form etc that invariably doesn't work out anyway

3. You dont have to wait 30 min in between races

4.You wont get peanuts in the event that you do win. Horses paying R1.00 for a place. Pick 6 paying R1000 and getting 10% of that after investing R500

5.Not affected by weather, grumpy Jocks or any other BS

6. No ball will try "not to come up a winner"

7. No ball will object against another

8. No ball will be subject to cruelty

9. Some would say that the horse is an athlete and is majestic and great to watch etc, truth is maybe 0.01% of people see it this way. Everybody else just wants to make a fast buck.

10 Hang on, that sound like a casino.

I believe horses are majestic etc but really this noble idea that Rush etc keep trying to sell to the average person, who as you say ,"only wants to make a quick buck" is absurd... I have been in totes when horses break down or fall and many punters curse in anger as they have zero love for the horse( this is a major reason that I personally only race on course with people that respect the horse ) ...

At Sealegs - you mean 9/1 odds less commissions. But I get your drift.

More folk in Calvins today than at the Rugby

As far as the rugby is concerned Bob, i would say that greed has gotten the better of good judgement not to mention the fact that the fans were never made part of the decision to expand the competition. In essence Super Rugby has lost their fan base by making decisions based on the pocket and not on what their consumers want.

IS horse racing going the same way? You decide....

I have not watched a SUper Rugby match for over a year, i love the game, was always part of at least 2 Super Bru comps but who can keep up with this many teams in a format that nobody can rationalise to themselves. Bad teams that could not make the top four are included in the play-offs....what a joke. Rewarding mediocrity is what scares any fan away from competitive sport but then i guess the steering committees at the heads of the unions know better than their fan base.

Tigershark wrote: As far as the rugby is concerned Bob, i would say that greed has gotten the better of good judgement not to mention the fact that the fans were never made part of the decision to expand the competition. In essence Super Rugby has lost their fan base by making decisions based on the pocket and not on what their consumers want.

IS horse racing going the same way? You decide....

I have not watched a SUper Rugby match for over a year, i love the game, was always part of at least 2 Super Bru comps but who can keep up with this many teams in a format that nobody can rationalise to themselves. Bad teams that could not make the top four are included in the play-offs....what a joke. Rewarding mediocrity is what scares any fan away from competitive sport but then i guess the steering committees at the heads of the unions know better than their fan base.

Absolutely spot on!

What you've written with regards to rugby exactly mirrors where I am at on it,and your point about racing is what I've been saying since I joined ABC.

Racing keeps blabbing on about getting new customers,but is totally useless @ looking after the customers it already has.

Most people who are involved in racing developed their interest through a family member,but racing in SA has lost a whole generation and so therefore the next generation is not being drawn to it through the home environment.

One can only reiterate this so many times before one turns blue in the face though,so I don't even bother trying to make suggestions anymore.