EASTERN CAPE RACING AWARDS

Kobus

Has it occurred to you, that bookmakers are part of the fabric of SA racing and that MANY owners and punters will lose interest if bookmakers were banned.

Robin Bruss pointed out that the tote only came into existence in about 1928, and before that bookmakers and racing existed for far longer than the tote has existed. As he said, the bookmakers were here first, was part of racing's formation and probably feel they have every right to be here. There was a time when racing was a sport and people gambled, not a prize fight like now where you buy a horse and the stakes are just waiting for you with facilities and everything all there for free.

What you should worry about, is as bookmakers turn over more and more sports bets, that horseracing doesn't get forgotten behind poker and the soccer-six and now soccer-four. Every decent betting premises that promote big race days etc etc has private people behind it. Do you think the operators don't know how many racing outlets would close without bookmakers? Ask the gambling board.

I would put it to you, if horseracing pays out R250,000,000 in stakes and makes a 20 million loss, just pay out R230,000,000 in stakes. Owners pay a huge bill for participation in this "sport", and what they want is not just the stake money but to play a great game. Many years ago a survey was done and of the unhappiness expressed stakes was 10th on the list. We should address points 1 to 9 and keep our favourite game going. I promise you it's not about stakes and the open bet. Of course, we only asked the owners.

Our problem is not owners or stakes, but the loss of our punters and the loss of the greater majority of racing fans who cannot own horses. Once the non-owners (the followers,fans,enthusiats,small punters) are gone, then we're finished. If our biggest owner is M Jooste and he may spend 20m a year, but the 6 billion rand turnover comes from 20,000 people turning R500 a day each year. Companies like Hollywood do more for keeping people interested in racing and adding to the racing experience for away-from-track customers than the giant-turnover-machines that are P and GC. All in my humble opinion, of course.

Is PE racing not strong enough to go it alone, independent of P or GC?

Just a thought - I'd love PE to be in a position to tell their carpet bomber bosses in Jhb to go an f**k themselves. Is it really out of the question? After all, the old East Cape Racing was doing fine as a solo act before being assimilated into Phumelela and, free of artificial restrictions, it could grow into just about the healthiest racing province in SA. And PE is about the last place in SA which need an a/w track, so please don't let that particular carrot sway your judgement.

Magic,

isn't it strange that we went from a position where all clubs were autonomous, to becoming regionalised, then provincialised...and now on the brink of nationalisation we can see the benefit of being autonomous?

Maybe what we needed was a nationalized income (national tote) and regionalised racing (say by city).

Racing is NOT a business.
I predict that once we are nationalised, we will be forced to make more 'business' decisions and we will end up with one track per city...because that's what will make the most 'business' sense to make money.
But racing is not PRIMARILY about making money...it's about lunatics who love horses and who want to race and gamble (all sinfully delicious and the less sinful who just like the horses), which is why CLUBS (def: no way to make a profit) was how everything started.

All that said, I wish Durbanville would go 'banked bend' and 'poly'.

Durbanville as an a/w track would make a lot of sense.

The one thing about PE that I have always noticed is that there is a real passion for the game there. Whether it is strong enough to sustain a go-it-alone policy I don't know, but although I concede that times have changed I remember an era before Phumelela when PE seemed to have a stakes increase every five minutes. They could race there four times a week and fill their fields, especially as to a very large extent they have taken over the role of Bloemfontein. I have no idea if it is feasible or not, but if they are ever going to split from Phumelela they'd better do it before P rips their balls off for them.

If there is one province in SA that I suspect (perhaps wrongly) could successfully go it alone, it is the Eastern Cape. It's time somebody took a stand, and really, what would they have to lose? If worst comes to worst they could close Arlington anyway - but the decision would be theirs, not some number cruncher's in Johannesburg. I stress again that I could be wrong, but I have a feeling that PE needs to be part of a larger national organisation like a fish needs a bicycle. After all, what has Phumelela ever done for them really? Their two racecourses are so shabby it's almost painful, and for a long time I've had the feeling that PE is the most under-utilised province we have. It could be bigger and better than it currently is - and who knows how far it could grow if it is left in the hands of the very people who love it so much?

Yeah Magic,when you first read the "offer" it makes you wonder.
PE has no problem with fields....plenty reserve runners every week and they have the least number of meetings abandoned.
I am absolutely baffled as to why breeders and owners are allowing a badly managed company,serving shareholders to the detriment of owners/punters(and therefore racing)to destroy the industry.
Taking a cynical view,I can see an upside to "virtual" racing.I don't particularly need to own horses,I don't go to the races anymore so all I punt is "the picture of a horserace".......who cares if it's real horses in that picture...would I notice?
The benifit of computerised racing is that computers still have no minds of their own,so any skullduggery would have to be programmed in,so only a programmer would need to be warned off..lol.We won't need an NHA not regulating it's own rules.......shit it's sounding better every minute!
Horses won't get left in the stalls,unless programmed to,won't run wide unless programmed to....... etc etc....wowee!

magiclips Wrote:

---

> Is PE racing not strong enough to go it alone,
> independent of P or GC?
>
> Just a thought - I'd love PE to be in a position
> to tell their carpet bomber bosses in Jhb to go an
> f**k themselves. Is it really out of the
> question? After all, the old East Cape Racing was
> doing fine as a solo act before being assimilated
> into Phumelela and, free of artificial
> restrictions, it could grow into just about the
> healthiest racing province in SA. And PE is about
> the last place in SA which need an a/w track, so
> please don't let that particular carrot sway your
> judgement.

A carrot dangled indeed, I agree with Mr Lips the last place that needs an a/w track..... just Phumelela trying to do what they did to Newmarket so that Turffies could become a worse dump than what it is......don't see Larry or Phumelela inviting PE boys up to Turffies to show them the "improvements" and how they (PE) can benefit
......with the property development that was supposed to have taken place at Arlington now on hold due to the tail end of the finacial tsunami sweeping through our markets no chance of any funding for extravagances like all weather tracks.....they are blowing smoke up your arses.....PE racing IMO has only improved more recently
due to that other Phumalela marketing tool called TV media....they decide to go it alone it will be like racing on the dark side of the moon.....

Wow,I'm feeling better and better about virtual racing...positives just keep springing to mind.....no abandoned meetings,no jockey protests,any objections would not need subjective opinions,just predict what would have happened by checking the programme....go "P"

NB.no stakes takeout from my bets....virtual horses with virtual owners only need virtual stakes.

By "go it alone" I don't mean with its own tote and TV channel. PE racing generates healthy income so why would it not remain part of the Saftote/Tellytrack family, while operating its own racecourses? I'm sure some kind of agreement could be worked out that benefits everybody. It may be a pipe dream, but it's time somebody didn't roll over and played dead every time the assault troops from Phumelela come knocking.

Magic,I agree....I'm just trying to mentally prepare myself for racing after "P" if they are allowed to continue the destruction.

Racing is the only sport that needs punters to fund it's prizemoney.....it cannot survive if they have to fund greedy shareholders as well....it has to be either/or.

Racing needs to return to owners racing their horses,let the peasants wager,steal some of the winnings for prizes...... like the good old days!.....who let the dogs IN ?

magiclips Wrote:

---

> By "go it alone" I don't mean with its own tote
> and TV channel. PE racing generates healthy
> income so why would it not remain part of the
> Saftote/Tellytrack family, while operating its own
> racecourses? I'm sure some kind of agreement
> could be worked out that benefits everybody. It
> may be a pipe dream, but it's time somebody didn't
> roll over and played dead every time the assault
> troops from Phumelela come knocking.

Mr Lips I like your idea...... certainly food for thought..... the last thing Phumelela need is a palace revolt.....their whole existance is based on the winner takes it all but if they have nothing more to offer then what was the point in the corporatization of racing in the 1st place. They were supposed to have been racing's life line and all they did..... was drag it futher out to sea

Muhtiman, not only did they drag it further out to sea, once it got there they used it for gunnery practice. Lol.

Magic,

As far as I know, all of racing splits the income from PGE earnings and they share the costs of Tellytrack with the and Bookmakers.

Any breakaway, such as CT from GC or PE from P would have to negotiate their cut from the PGE pie. I had heard that P and GC share income 58:42 but I don't know.

Given that both P and GC kicked off with properties which had been owned by Clubs (with members), both these companies are with assets essentially given to them.

I guess Arlington must be worth something, so selling it is fine as it didn't cost anything.

The BE has long since bolted, and shareholders in P have bought well starting at about 50c a share. Anyone have an idea what Arlington might be worth?