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Folks , such is the success of the PMU funded Horse racing in France , they can set aside 45 million in prize money for the trotting races between November and February
Yep 45 gob smacking millions …
How much do you reckon British jumpers will race for between Nov and the end of March …..not quite that much is my guess (I dont know the number )
The Hint is clearly ….there must be something good about PMU financed racing …..but yes we have bookies ….bookie led BHA …bookie controlled racing channels ….and yep bookie controlled main racing publication …..
sad indeed ….imo and the usual disclaimers….
Horses with a stone in hand available at 9/2 and connections getting paid handsome prize money for their troubles. Yeah – sounds terrible.
Cav ….totally agree about content
But 45 million over 3 Month festival ..88 meetings
makes us look like a bunch of saddos squabbling over crumbs
PMU is the only way forward for our funding
l
ike it or loathe it …..IT pays
Yes, 45 million euro – and that’s just for the Vincennes winter season!
Unfortunately, there’s zero chance of the UK being able to adopt a system like France’s. There was a half-chance around 1960, but that was scuppered by the incompetence of the Jockey Club.
Rather than responding to this news by childish shouts of "garbage", flat and NH fans in the UK could learn some things from the way trotting is run in France, and elsewhere in Europe, particularly Scandinavia.
A few random points:
1. Trotters run
considerably
more times, both per season and per career, than do thoroughbreds. Breeders don’t seek out precocious, quarter horse-type stallions to produce bloated-looking yearlings at the sales. Who’s that pumped-up American 2-y-o from last year who’s standing at 20k Euros (!) at Coolmore next season?
On the other hand, trotter breeders, especially in Europe, are much more focussed on producing
athletes
. Megasires like Love You and Coktail Jet cover at no more than 20k Euros a pop, in spite of the big prize money on offer, especially in france and Scandinavia. Fashion, precocity and first-season sire mania don’t really come into it.
2. Apart from the greater toughness of trotters, the sport has the huge advantage of using artificial insemination, which means that top colts aren’t habitually retired from the racetrack after a couple of seasons racing. Think Ready Cash, now making a comeback to see if he can win a third D’Amerique at the age of ten. Can’t see Frankel doing that!
3. Top trotters, horses like Jag, Ready Cash, Commander Crowe and Varenne to name but four, have far bigger followings than their thoroughbred equivalents, often having well-visited websites or Twitter accounts where fans can catch up on the latest news of their heroes. Where’s that Frankel site again? Sea The Stars anyone? Kingman?
4. The Prix D’Amerique, although not at the end of the season, is a clear destination race for
all
of the top performers throughout Europe, sometimes from North America as well. And you have the famous "B" races, like the Bretagne, Belgique etc, where it’s win-and-you’re-in. This gives even more structure to the build-up for the big day. You could say similar things about Sweden’s Elitlopp.
5. Trotting doesn’t have so many "upper-class twits" playing leading roles within it, either as owners, administrators, trainers or journalists/broadcasters. Imo, it makes the sport more welcoming to outsiders.
Anyway, a few things to think about and from which we might be able to learn.
Thank you Venusian ….a very sage post , I had hoped to get some discussion going , But I guess you have nailed it on all fronts
So much we can learn from this , if our racing is to thrive , not just survive ……food for thought indeed
well done Sir
Not the sport for me, but it’s an excellent read Venusian. As Ricky says, the only way to fund racing fully is via a Tote-only monopoly. As a model for funding racing, it is superb. And as the PMU’s overall rake of 25.2% shows, as a method of passing huge amounts of ordinary punters money into the hands of wealthy owners and trainers, it’s even better.
However, the chances of that happening in the UK are slightly less than nil. If the BHA was to suddenly withdraw all betting rights from bookmakers and exchanges and replace them with it’s own Tote/Exchange, funding would probably fall off a cliff for generations.
British punters just don’t bet on Totes, and they sure as hell don’t bet singles & doubles etc at eye-watering takeouts. We live in a world of 1%-a-runner: were the new Racing Tote and Exchange to offer that sort of value (which we now expect) then after taxes and expenses they’d be lucky to fund an afternoon at Leafy.
Racing would become an ultra-minority sport of Tierce & Jackpot penny-players.
Mike
Venusian
Did you see ATR’s coverage of the Prix D’Amerique this year? In a mud-soaked affair, the specially-brought-in commentator called the winner wrong for about the last mile, before apologising and changing his mind shortly after they passed the post.
Unfortunately, THAT was the wrong horse too. He eventually correctly called Maharajah the winner on the third attempt. He ended his broadcast with:
"Sorry. That was a bit of a disaster really, wasn’t it?"
Mike
Horses with a stone in hand available at 9/2 and connections getting paid handsome prize money for their troubles. Yeah – sounds terrible.
As the sport is so well funded (ie. punters lose a lot) I’m guessing this is probably not the regular occurrance you may have us believe.
Mike
Mike , a fair and balanced reply Id say …I disagree Pmu would fall off A CLIFF , it seems to do quite well in other countries
Meanwhile today at vincennes…a trotting card , 9 races …465k euros in prize money …1 race 90k and 1 race 84 k
I mean how good is that ???its probably more than all the racing at 4 meetings in the Uk
Thats how far behind we are , poor prize money , poor racing , and a load of fiddling to make ends meet ..
.imo et
c
We need to wake up , smell the coffee ,
A good thread the rollicker
but in the new employment
I have planned for you
you’ll be smelling a lot
more than coffee
We need to wake up , smell the coffee ,
Of course, the prize money is fantastic. And it’s fantastic because French punters are absolutely fleeced. The vast majority of them are exotic/Tierce players looking for a big payout and thus capable of absorbing 30%+ rakes.
Maybe we could be encouraged to bet in such dismal markets ourselves in years to come but we’re just not set up for it as we stand.
I had a debate with Wit recently where he commented that individual groups (eg ARC, JC) could have their own picture rights & betting platforms. Which is fine until you want to to a double at Southwell & Warwick. Or a bet on Man Utd. Or a yankee at different groups’ courses. It would be a total disaster.
The alternative – the BHA having all rights – would be trashed by bookmakers & monopoly lawyers in court for the next several hundred years!
Mike
From the RP Online:
THE government said on Tuesday that it will consult on the introduction of a racing right as a new funding mechanism to replace the levy in the new year.
Although the news was not mentioned by chancellor George Osborne when he spoke in the House of Commons, it was contained within the Autumn Statement document.
It read: "The government will consult on the introduction of a racing right in early 2015 and will announce a decision after consultation."
A racing right – now known as a Horserace Betting Authorisation – has been racing’s favoured option for replacing the levy. It will be a charge bookmakers pay for the right to take bets on British racing.
Steve Harman, chairman of the BHA, welcomed th news. “This is extremely positive news for British Racing, and all those connected with the sport," he said.
I’ll be astounded if the bookmakers don’t seek a one-off payment structure for everything. I suspect their ideal is to pay the BHA an agreed sum to cover media rights within the racing right. Bookmakers will, I expect, argue that they cannot continue selling racing as a viable product when open to arbitrary increases from vital suppliers.
The broadcasters will, of course, try to remain as direct suppliers to the bookies, rather than becoming suppliers to the BHA. It’ll be an interesting battle.
Did you see ATR’s coverage of the Prix D’Amerique this year? Mike
No, I was on the other side of the world at the time, but it sounds a disaster. Who on earth was this "specially brought-in commentator" who made such a hash of things, anyone we know?
I’ve viewed the race on Youtube and it’s just as well they were racing on cinders, they surely couldn’t have run any kind of horse race on turf that day. The French commentator called it fine.
If it’s the race I saw on RUK I think the poor chap was Patrick Fereday (who covers a lot of the French racing), but to be fair all the silks looked jet black from the wet cinders.
Tregaron anyone?
We need to wake up , smell the coffee ,
Of course, the prize money is fantastic. And it’s fantastic because French punters are absolutely fleeced. The vast majority of them are exotic/Tierce players looking for a big payout and thus capable of absorbing 30%+ rakes.
Maybe we could be encouraged to bet in such dismal markets ourselves in years to come but we’re just not set up for it as we stand.
I had a debate with Wit recently where he commented that individual groups (eg ARC, JC) could have their own picture rights & betting platforms. Which is fine until you want to to a double at Southwell & Warwick. Or a bet on Man Utd. Or a yankee at different groups’ courses. It would be a total disaster.
The alternative – the BHA having all rights – would be trashed by bookmakers & monopoly lawyers in court for the next several hundred years!
Mike
Are we better off with bookmakers? Are we ****
They wont lay a bet to anyone with half a brain cell.
I fear for the future of the sport, so many long term followers of racing are so fed up at struggling to get bets on I can see many walking away from it.
And look at the pathetic prize money we’re still racing for.
The future is bleak, very bleak.
You say French punters are being fleeced but bookmakers here are fleecing both punters and racing.
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