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I don’t claim this to be "one great idea to sort racing out" but just some thoughts that would hopefully improve things long term…and yes it is unashamedly focused in my own area of involvement.
OWNERS need to be better looked after than they currently are and the trend needs to be to improve rather than erode the ownership experience. Whether one views owners as privileged individuals, as betting coup organisers or as the "old guard" they do supply horses to race. For most owners, it is not prize money that matters (or they wouldn’t do it!) but more the "ownership experience" and all of its elements;
Owners & Trainers bars need to be comfortable, spacious and the bar & viewing areas need to be kept exclusive. There have to be perks of owning horses and having ones own areas on course is part of that. Haydock, Aintree amongst others do it well. Ayr is generally good but the decision to combine owners bar with members bar is not a good one in my view.
Winners should always receive a trophy & presentation. We won a race at a course in the north & received nothing…no trophy, no presentation!
Kelso take connections of placed horses (as well as winner) for a review of the race & glass of wine..nice touch.
Media coverage..apart from Harry Findlay, Andy Stewart and Clive Smith which other owners receiive any regular coverage? Very few.
Food & drink on course…Haydock,Doncaster ,Aintree & Ayr look after owners well with meals & coffee. Elsewhere, having paid £100 to enter a race, a few hundred more to get there + jockey fees etc an owner is welcomed with a cup of coffee charged at £2.50. Yes, most can afford it but is it really too much to ask for an urn of coffee to be provided?
Owners badges…owners/trainers need to be more organised in letting courses know in advance who will be collecting badges etc. That said, course could be more welcoming and not assume that everyone asking for an owners badge is trying to con their way in!
I know that many will see this as owners wanting more of a free ride on the back of racing. It is not…it is a recognition that finding owners that want to invest in the sport by providing the base product (horses) is not a straightforward "given".
I love being an owner & love providing the ownership experience for my syndicates but if that ownership experience continues to be eroded (and is not compensated for by prize money) then the incentive to be an owner will be hard to detect.
Have a consortium of bookmakers take over the high-street banks. Not because their understanding of casino gambling would be superior, but so they they could arrange for us to draw our winnings down online, immediately!
They would surely be shrewder about risk-taking than the banksters, anyway.
The only problem with that Grimes is that if our bank balances started to increase they’d close the account down.
That phrase, "Not a problem" springs to mind; "for me" I should add…
Perhaps, you’ve read it, Cormack, but I’ve just been reading a fascinating, and in parts, hilarious, article by Taleb on his blog. I only read the first half, as it became increasingly technical:
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/taleb08 … _index.htm
His strictures on Bernanke’s role are hilarious, but by no means inapt. To say that the reality behind this economic crisis is stranger than fiction could quite literally be one of the greatest understatements of all time. Indeed, in case anyone didn’t ‘get it’, the multi-billion dollar bankers’ bonus pool gives the game away in no uncertain terms.
some of the answers are , to get rid of betfair. change cheltenhan back to three days, clearly define NH and flat seasons , kick the trash racing into touch (allweather),then we can begin to get racing back to were it was. p.s no decimal crap as well
Bloody Hell, were do I start? What I will say is that it isn’t the sport I grew up with – I don’t follow it as much as I used to.
But every Saturday was the same – kids telly in the morning followed by Grandstand, with Football focus then the Horse racing, the either ITV7/Channel 4 racing – and that was every Saturday. That’s not mentioning midweek TV meetings, and Friday afternoons.
Racing isn’t the only sport that I follow that in the last 10 years has seen its media/TV/Radio profile diminished. Remember programmes such as Sportsnight, Midweek Sports special, Sport on Friday, even Grandstand? They’ve all gone. Football in my view has swallowed all the resources up.The BBC’s treatment of racing is nothing short of a disgrace!!
If we class Racing as a minority/niche sport – then having 2 racing channels is just ridiculous, the powers that be need shooting to have allowed this.
Also, there’s too much bad racing, not helped by copious amounts of All weather – it should be 2/3 meetings a week in Nov-Feb, and no more.
Finally, stop moving/pinching races to other courses, changing the name of races(it’s still the Bula).Racing cannot be a minority sport due to the high number of people it employs and the fact that it is the second most attended sport in the UK.
This week Cheltenham will be on the covers of most of the National Papers with offers for free bets and this can only do good.
some of the answers are , to get rid of betfair. change cheltenhan back to three days, clearly define NH and flat seasons , kick the trash racing into touch (allweather),then we can begin to get racing back to were it was. p.s no decimal crap as well
I don’t want to be repeating myself but some people actually like all weather racing.
I seriously believe that the all weather can get more people interested in racing. People will more likely get behind a horse if they see them regularly. Jumps horses (and flat turf horses come to think of it) simply don’t run often enough to stick in peoples minds.Perhaps RFC could prevail upon Radio 5 to update racing results hourly (or more) every day to remind listeners that there’s more to life than Premier League football and that racing still exists.
Even during Cheltenham if you tune in late they don’t update the results.
Not everyone has access to a TV or computer every afternoon.Powered by Linux
It’s probably a year on since I asked on here about where to get Racing Ahead from. Diligently every month I go out in search and have never once seen it anywhere – Tesco, Smith’s, Sainsbury’s, Bob Martins – never – (it’s become a bit of a pastime for me)
I’ve finally got one – in real life sort of thing – from a 24 hour Tesco’s in Circencester and I slipped it in the trolley without the missus seeing and she paid for it
Oh, what joy but I’ll have to find another pastime now.
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