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If you were measuring the ‘health’ or ‘growth’ of racing in this country how would you go about it – what would be the 5 or 6 key measures?
Racecourse attendances
Racecourse revenue
Levy generated
Bookmaker turnover
Betfair turnover
Number of owners
Number of ‘new’ ownersAny of these not relevant? Any others which are?
Corm, has Racing for change chucked you a few quid recently to work out their strategy for them through TRF market research?
Corm that’s a tough question. Never seen a sport with so many different interests involved, and most at odds.
All of Corm’s originals and I’d also work out how much sponsorship is coming in from non-industry companies (ie not studs, betting organisations etc).
Without the horses there is nothing, so to my mind the most key performance indicator is whether the horse population is large enough to sustain the existing racing programme (and vice versa), irrespective of how well or otherwise that programme might remunerate its participants at any given time.
Apart from some of the regrettably thinly contested AW fixtures in recent weeks (an inevitable consequence, perhaps, of so many replacement fixtures during the worst of the winter, or more of an indictment of the wrong sort of AW races being programmed?), I’d dare to suggest this particular performance matrix is mostly being met pretty well.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
‘Health’ and ‘Growth’ are two different things, and it’s likely the sport cannot be grown, until it is in a healthier state.
If it was me, I would focus on integrity issues first. Clean-up the game. Change the rules for licensing, to make it much easier to warn people off on ‘reasonable doubt’ grounds, rather than having to rely on unquestionable, rock-solid evidence. Issue much more severe sentences. Close the loopholes (e.g. the ones which allow the wives of banned individuals to operate under licence).
Market the success rates in cleaning up the game. It will make for positive news, and help start changing the perception that racing is the preserve of the crooked, or buck-toothed and titled. Work Racing’s PR department harder. get them in about News24, Sky and the regular print media. Put the sport about the place. Increase the profile.
Market the success rates in cleaning up the game
How would you measure success in this though GH?
Percentage cases versus warning-off outcomes.
If there is sufficient evidence to bring a case in the first place, then racing should be looking to be successful at least….I dunno…. 70% of the time?
Failure to reach the agreed target means too many trivial cases are being brought forward, or too many with insufficient evidence – in which circumstances the effectiveness of the Integrity unit would need to be looked at.
The above is predicated on revised licensing rules which cater for "reasonable doubt", rather than bullet-proof court-standard evidence. Individuals requesting licences would be required to accept this fact as part of obtaining their licence.
Total available prize money/Total number of horses in training.
Or
Available prize money/number of races
A more realistic picture may be forthcoming if the over-endowed Group/Grade 1s are not included
Given that the funding of racing is at present more or less dependent on the Levy, the percentage of betting market share and value of the levy amassed in real inflation-adjusted terms compared to yesteryear
A rather more simplistic method of judging ‘health’ may be a survey aimed at the populace-at-large asking simply:
Is racing bent?
The results of which will in all likelihood emphasise Grasshopper’s post above
Market the success rates in cleaning up the game
How would you measure success in this though GH?
Henderson would be a fair guide to the results of being banned. I have never seen his horses run as consistently. I think I read also that his total number of winners is the highest ever this year, but am open to correction on this point as I have not researched it. Surely an emphatic result for "cleaning up the game".
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