Robert Bloomberg new CEO Kenilworth Racing

I disagree,

This is all a game of musical chairs, the same tired but well-connected bunch. No fresh blood. Too many Jooste/Kantor connections in this current set-up.

KENILWORTH RACING PRESS RELEASE
SUBJECT: Appointment of Co-chairmen
DATE: 11 December 2018
RELEASED BY: Kenilworth Racing

Kenilworth Racing (KR) is pleased to announce the appointment of Robert Bloomberg and Mark Currie as co-chairmen of KR.
The Board sincerely thanks the outgoing chairman, Chris van Niekerk, for his wise and diplomatic leadership spanning well over five years at the helm of KR.
Robert Bloomberg is one of the two founding directors of KR (with Vidrik Thurling) with over three decades of experience in the industry serving on numerous committees and boards across a myriad of spectrums.
Mark Currie previously acted as a director of the Racing Association at the time of the KR demerger and renegotiation of the Stakes agreement. He presently sits on The Thoroughbred Horseracing Trust (The Trust) that wholly owns KR, in which capacity he currently serves as chairman.
Following the resignations of Markus Jooste at the end of 2017, and in 2018 Vidrik Thurling, Hassen Adams and now Chris van Niekerk, coupled with the sad and untimely passing of Chris Gerber who had just come onto the KR Board, the Board has now taken on a whole new look with Robert Bloomberg and Mark Currie in fact being the only two remaining directors of the initial KR Board.
The Trust has the right to nominate six directors to the Board of KR and have designated Mark Currie, Bradley Ralph and Laurence Wernars with the right to nominate a further three directors in due course.
WPRRA has the right to nominate three directors and the present incumbents are Robert Bloomberg, Jonathan Snaith and Greg Bortz.
The Board of KR firmly believes that the unusual step of having co-chairmen is in the best interest of the Company and one which will promote unity between the North and the South which is vital to the flourishment and survival of both Western Cape racing and the horseracing industry in general.

Such a complicated structure for the smallest racing jurisdiction in the country with the smallest tote pools over a year. The WC has always been subsidised by JHB & DBN racing and more recently PE racing. The owners in these three jurisdictions should not allow this rubbish to continue.

Only when the trainers in the WC are held to a minimum amount of runners per race during the year will things change. CPT trainers have satellite yards all over the place and raid PE races week in and week out without actually filling fields in their back yard.

Stakes should be measured on the number of race meetings in CPT with the number of runners per race. In fact on average the stakes for PE races should be higher than that of CPT when you look at the numbers over a year.

Tigershark wrote: Such a complicated structure for the smallest racing jurisdiction in the country with the smallest tote pools over a year. The WC has always been subsidised by JHB & DBN racing and more recently PE racing. The owners in these three jurisdictions should not allow this rubbish to continue.

Only when the trainers in the WC are held to a minimum amount of runners per race during the year will things change. CPT trainers have satellite yards all over the place and raid PE races week in and week out without actually filling fields in their back yard.

Stakes should be measured on the number of race meetings in CPT with the number of runners per race. In fact on average the stakes for PE races should be higher than that of CPT when you look at the numbers over a year.

This....

Is probably one of the most accurate posts that I have had the pleasure of reading.

Cape Town racing is a basket case, it is an embarrassment. A few years ago Boetie Markus twisted some arms in his effort to continue building his empire and Kenilworth racing was formed. They were so kak sleg down here we had the Phumelela buffoons calling the shots as if they were the "go to consultants". The reality is that disproportionate stakes increases to the detriment of owners in other Phumelela regions were implemented to "support" the Western Cape. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Outside of two race days, WC racing is the poor cousin of SA racing in terms of turnover. Why should it be artificially supported by the North as the press release says?

Saturday was the perfect example of how poor racing is doing in the Cape. We had excellent horses racing, the quality of the horses carded was top class. I was told that outside the private boxes and function rooms, less than 100 members of the public attended.

Kenilworth Racing is in ICU, artificially being propped by the Northeners. Pull the plug and get rid of it.

Although I agree with a lot of your post I have to disagree in some instances. i attended for the first time in 6 months on Saturday. There were at least 100 in the pocket power lounge. Not sure about the other rooms but there were also at least that number at the parade ring and then at the fence to cheer legal eagle down to the start. There are probably more than that at the off course which is on the racecourse as well. Most people are at the off course toes around the Cape purely for convenience and then we have the couch surfers who have internet and tellytrack to bet from the comfort of their homes. I am usually one of them. I decided to attend Saturday past to watch the champions and catch up with some friends.

The most recent problem being the huge increase in on course bookie fees which chased away some stalwarts of the ring. This just amplified the the problem of non- attendance as people have their favourites with which to bet who now are also off course and have pulled their business there.

Shadley I wasn't there so will no dispute your numbers. I was however sent a few photos of the parade ring prior to the start of the Greenpoint, and it was desperate. Let's say there were 500 people there outside of the larneys, its still a ridiculously low number for the day. The question must be asked - how was this race, and for that matter the rest of the Cape season marketed by P/KR? Outside of the independently marketed Queen's Plate and Met, what's left? Its dire.

A new dawn is being proclaimed. Both the chairman have lengthy involvements with KR, nothing will change besides the swelling of egos.

Shadley the problem is that there continues to be a change in leadership but never any measurement, i.e. there is continuous expenditure on marketing for Music, play centres & rubbish that attract people who have no interest in betting. These wasted expenditures are seen as a success if people arrive without any measurement of the turnover. Besides the QPLT & MET what does CPT offer? On both days the majority of the cannon fodder attending do nothing to drive turnover.

Who has answered for the increasing of on course Bookies fees and the major loss of punters on course??? Never mind we will have new bands and free candyfloss next year.......

When will the management in racing realise that only those involved in racing, primarily owners & punters are who will grow the attendance in racing??? Not music, playgrounds & frivolous marketing ventures. Look after the daily punter and bread & butter owners and more people will be enticed to be part of it.

For starters the MET prize money should be reduced to R3 million which is a better reflection of the field and turnover. Take the two million rand and put it towards a two & three year old series nationally and a minimum of R500 000 towards a PE owners series.