Plea to the Covid19 Committee

I’ve been in the medical and pharmaceutical industry my entire life, I understand clearly the science and time required to manage an unknown virus especially one that has jumped from animal to human. Only extremely wealthy countries have the ability to lockdown people’s movements and economies and attempt to stick it out for a vaccine or clinically proven treatment. SA is not one of those, in fact SA has added deep seated inequalities which add to the problem of shutting down and would probably never recover economically from a protracted one. Companies large and small will start some sort of step towards liquidation or downsizing from now onwards, which will cause the same effects far down the chain, companies and industries we haven’t even thought about yet. Thankfully the hospitals have started some procedures this week and the type of some of our the drugs in our range are frontline drugs in the current treatment of the sick COVID patients, however that is cold comfort.

There is however an industry I am particularly concerned about and that is thoroughbred horse racing and the logical pre-curser breeding. This industry has proved it is COVID 19 scientifically compliant right now, nearly 6 weeks into lockdown, and racing events can be run on this scientific program correctly according to all the CCC requirements, even if horses participating are limited to racing at tracks where they are currently being trained, fed and looked after. I see no reason to stop this from happening immediately. CCC please reconsider your decision on allowing this to happen in level 4, it is either going to keep a large industry intact or collapse it forever.

Regards
John Finlayson

Snaith Racing started this petition to dlamini zuma and 3 others
Lockdown has placed South African Horse Racing under a serious threat of terminal closure.
This industry has been around since 1797 and is steeped in history. International events such as the Sun Met, Vodacom July, L'Ormarins Queen's Plate and Summer Cup are integral parts of the hospitality and tourism sectors in South Africa.
Horse Racing behind closed doors is successfully practiced in most countries around the world. This entails strict protocols and social distancing without any on-course spectators whatsoever. We are asking for closed racing which will involve about 65 people on a 100 hectare property with around 15 minutes of actual racing per day. That is all it will take to avoid the total collapse of this beautiful industry.
Failure to resume racing now will see this industry close its doors forever along with the loss of 60 000 jobs (at least 750 000 beneficiaries facing poverty) and an international media disaster for South Africa of the euthanasia of thousands of horses

Can you help me out by signing this petition?
chng.it/8CDJPVY8

Are these figures correct? 60k people support 750k? 12.5 people are beneficiaries of one racing employed person? How on earth can that be - Or perhaps I don't understand -

JOHANNESBURG - The South African Institute on Race Relations says that for every employed South African, there are nearly three others who are dependent on them. While that number has dropped, it is still very high globally and speaks to the country's consistently high unemployment rate.

A new study issued in mid-January finds that every employed South African supports 2.8 people - using the ratio of those with jobs to the total population

www.voanews.com/africa/employed-south-af...gh-number-dependents

old study but surely 3 cannot now be 12.5 - I fear these untruths will see these applications being dismissed by Government -

The fact of the matter is that we have to get an audience with CCC in order for our properly constructed lockdown proposal or even for Johnno's suggestion to be presented and heard directly.

That is the bottom line.
Once we have that audience, then we should be united as an Industry. It would be unfair to try and race at only some courses and it would not help the rest of the Country's Racing, breeding and employment situation.

The handlers, Jocks, authorities still have to be brought in. This could be done at Vaal, Turffontein, Randjes, Ashburton, Kimberley Summerveld, Fairview. CT would be excluded.

To me, this would be a negative solution and there would be substantial costs added, to set up the Training Centres in terms of cameras and transmission of the signal, jockey rooms, clerk of scales security area, saddling area etc.

The last thing that we need right now is any further dilution and division in Racing.

There will inevitably be many objections to this proposal, by stakeholders from the other provinces and racing will once again be seen as a clown show. Just as it has been alleged that the application by Phum to have betting shops open during lockdown cost the whole Industry, so too will an application to race at Training Centres. It could well be viewed as being a contradiction of our whole proposal in terms of the numbers submitted.

We must embrace the facts. There is a lockdown. We have put extreme and also excellent lockdown procedures in place. Govt appears not to have considered these in context, amidst the high pressure of considering many thousands of other applications.

Our job is to obtain the necessary audience with CCC in order to present these facts properly.

As desperate as we all are, we should not lose our structures and our core values. Ngong is on the other side of the equator.

We tend to think that Racing is the alpha and omega of life. Just as our livelihoods are being destroyed, it is not only Racing. The entire Country is in huge trouble. Our thoughts and efforts must be centered around the horses and the previously disadvantaged people employed in our Industry. The vast majority of our employees in Racing yards did not have the opportunity of matriculating or even going to high school. They have come from very poor rural communities and can only speak their home language.

They have dependants and will find it almost impossible to find jobs in other sectors, in normal times, let alone during these times.

As good an idea as it may seem, the bigger picture must be considered.

Once again, let's put our energy into getting that link/audience with CCC, URGENTLY !

Mr H
I could be wrong, but I think that they are bringing in the feed merchants, vets, security companies, handlers, jocks, totes, bedding suppliers etc etc. Without the groom, no horse , no racing, no others.

" Without the groom, no horse , no racing, no others."


again no mention of the owner. its getting tedious.


NO owner

no fuc k all else

when people start realising that and the respect to the owner comes back then we talking.

louisg wrote: Mr H
I could be wrong, but I think that they are bringing in the feed merchants, vets, security companies, handlers, jocks, totes, bedding suppliers etc etc. Without the groom, no horse , no racing, no others.

Maybe BUT facts needed - Same as horses being euthanized because of Covid - Give figures that the NHRA have received not guess work - What happens if the Minister asks these questions - Those 60k people mentioned are the Vets Jocks tote operators etc and there is no way that 60k support 750k people because that would presume that none of those people related to the 60k have any jobs or any other source of income -
I'm not saying Racing should not restart but PLEASE someone form a plan on how the limited stakes and decimated turnover can be used to save the Industry.

easy wrote: " Without the groom, no horse , no racing, no others."


again no mention of the owner. its getting tedious.


NO owner

no fuc k all else

when people start realising that and the respect to the owner comes back then we talking.

If Racing resumes I would like to think that every horse in a field earn something for the owners at least until Level 1 - no matter how small -

If Racing resumes I would like to think that every horse in a field earn something for the owners at least until Level 1 - no matter how small -[/quote]

I am in total agreement with the above sentiments, but can't see that happening. Dropped paying st 10 places a couple of months ago.

You make a lot of sense, Mr H. As I said, I dont know how they get to those figures. It would be embarrassing if they are way out and it would negate any form of integrity in our whole application. However, I am sure that NHA will be able to explain the numbers, if requested.

There is an obvious problem with the way in which Govt views our Industry. Too often we have been labelled a white elitist sport, as such, referring to the wealth of Owners. That is why it is essential for our application to highlight the plight of grooms and the welfare of horses. But, as you rightly say, we must give the correct figures.

If we do this, get a hearing, obtain permission to race, then the plight of Owners, Teainers, Jockeys will automatically be included. That's just common sense.

And your post on a sharing of the stakes is a good one, imho. The problem is how much stakes do we have, I suppose.

When we race again, it will be interesting to see what levels of turnover are generated through on line betting.

khargisland wrote: If Racing resumes I would like to think that every horse in a field earn something for the owners at least until Level 1 - no matter how small -

I am in total agreement with the above sentiments, but can't see that happening. Dropped paying st 10 places a couple of months ago.[/quote]

New circumstances surely - I would also like to see some sort of Turnover based stakes agreement - So a collective betting pool (win place sw dbl etc) per race then a set % is distributed as stakes specific to that race and how much turnover it generated - Not sure of the maths but many owners are BIG punters so if they know that if they bet on the tote in the race that their horse runs in they directly get a % of their bet back in stakes they might be more inclined to at least spread their bets instead of using the open bet - Also surely Bookmaker bets on Racing need to contribute more to Direct stakes - I would NOT like to see a bigger increase in contributions from Bookmakers going into a singular pot controlled by the operator but rather being distributed mostly as stakes - A singular pot can easily be used by the operator without benefiting Racing. Or bookmakers could infact make their own turnover based stakes agreement with all owners to supplement stakes.

eg race 1 - 400k generated in total stakes excuding exotics(p6 jp etc and this can be distributed in some other way maybe) then a % takeout straight to Participation Stakes - All runners earn equally because without horses entering - regardless of ability there would be no racing

I think the figure of 60 k support 750 000 is not too far off

Think about it Lets Start with
Breeder -- they need at least 50 plus people to help let's say they all have a wife and 2 kids
vets Pluss feed keep on adding
Owner

a horse needs TRAINER THE TRAINER NEEDS +assistant trainer + grooms +feed + vet +farriar +training facilities ??
Then Racecourse needs staff ??
Tote-bookmakers-betting world and all other forms of betting facilities they all employ at least 4 to a few hundred staff You can go on and on
And now you have the punter all trying to make a quick buck
It's just a thought