Some positive suggestions for Phumelela

One night I went to Monte a little under the weather. I walked ( Kind of ) to a slot machine and put in R 20 and pressed SPIN....The result I got a million little fisherman in a boat, hauling in a big fat fish. The screen was filled with these little buggers, who had caught ( to the laymans eye ) what looked like a marlin. I staggered back from the screen and raised my arms as if I had just discovered heaven. My heart beat fast and my eyelids fluttered in a state of bliss - ABSOLUTELY convinced that I had just won a Million ( Possibly even in US dollars $ ).I got back R75.00 - Surely we can attract the ARMIES of victims who invest in that garbage ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Chain,you are so right IMO.
The key is understanding what people want....puzzles have huge appeal...crosswords......rubik cube...Sidoku....captured the imagination of millions so sell the fact that studing form is a puzzle and success converts to cash rather than just a feeling of well being!
The problem is that unless the NHA do more to limit form reversals(and there are things that can be done) this would backfire and the masses will prefer to mindlessly "pull handles" for cash
The issue of getting more punters has to work or stakes cannot increase and racing is then in trouble!

Sectional timing would be a start. They are a very useful component in form analysis and would go a long way towards explaining form reversals-and forewarn when another reversal may be on the cards.

P's strategic vision is to be the betting version of Home Shopping Channel. that is perhaps strategically defensible in a competitive marketplace in which a range of tastes are addressed. but the absence of a Louis Vuitton racing product, an Apple Mac racing product, or even a News Cafe racing product means that none of the exclusively wealthy, nor the cuttinge edge technophile, nor the thrill-seeking mass market punter are catered for.

i fundamentally disagree with barry that pandering to owners is the one way to make racing great (US racing is run predominantly at the whim of wealthy owners and trainers, and yet betting turnovers are in a tailspin: 15% down on 2008 having last year been 8% down on 2007, with prizemoney not far behind. and, by the way, US racing is far more sophisticated and savvy in its approach than P). however, you do have to question how long SA racing can continue to ignore, if not positively alienate, so many huge sections of the betting audience.

Ban this rivetting entertainment on Tellytrack. (Apologies from Sweden). Why even bother with this crap.

Someone is being paid for this. I wonder what the cost is?

in the spirit of the thread, my positive suggestion is that P should first and foremost do more to properly and transparently educate people about racing and betting.

the tote (unlike a bookie) is in the privileged position of not having to care whether punters win or lose, and as such should be doing everything possible to provide the punter with the information and analysis tools to help him win. the more he learns, the more he wins, and the more he wins the more he plays.

that extends to showing full races, not just the closing stages, transparently disclosing the betting take outs, providing accurate and complete and easy to understand form information through multiple channels, cutting out the racing jargon, dedicating enough of the coverage to the experience of going racing (as BBC and Ch4 do in the UK), charging people to come to the track and use the facilities there, but giving them better prices when they get there, providing rebates and hospitality to bigger bettors, getting a better and genuine understanding of different customer types, working with the bookies rather than fighting them over the open bet which is 100% legal, having the confidence to allow and support companies apart from P (a la Formgrids, Winning Form, Betfair etc) who wish to cater to different racing tastes and contribute to the experience both on course and off course, and generally start earning the money spent by punters and owners, rather than behaving as though punters and owners alike owe racing a living.

a year ago on this very blog the same was suggested....we are going around in a circle....nothing has changed.

P has selective hearing. if you agree with P you are clearly a genius.