RA member expectations list

We are busy adding the ability to watch live racing to our new website. This will be free for RA members.



Regards

RA Wrote:

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> We are busy adding the ability to watch live
> racing to our new website. This will be free for
> RA members.
>
>
>
> Regards


excellent, once upon a time Larry put me in touch with his office and there was some sort of trial but frankly the picture was weak and the streaming was poor.

BTW

I hope Charl and Steve Reid also get some credit for this open dialogue situation that we find ourselves in now.

@RA;

and flighting Tellytrack on Easyview?

Well here goes:

The following points are made from an owner's point of view as the RA is there to represent the rights of owners. In my view all the points below affect me as an owner.

I would consider rejoining the RA if they can promise me one thing : TRANSPARENCY

I want to know what the stakes agreement with Phumelela is and I want to be sure that the stakes my horses earn are the maximum possible.

I want to know who decided on putting up the lights at Turffontein and what they cost and if the option of rather putting in an all-weather track was investigated and what the reasoning was for giving preference to night racing as opposed to all-weather racing.

I want to know what the current position is regarding another racing venue - is it still on the cards or if the idea has been shelved and what the future of Randjiesfontein is.

I want to be sure that the RA puts pressure on Phumelela in terms of re-scheduling weather affected meetings and are actively pushing Phumelela to agree to put a plan in place to cater for the hundreds of maidens struggling to get runs - an extra meeting per week for maidens would be a step in the right direction imo

As the tote pools affect the stakes, I would like to know how it is possible for the current discrepancies (another example occured just this afternoon in the case of Wild Swan) to continue - these inconsistencies lead to a situation of no confidence in the tote which leads to smaller pools which lead to less stakes

I would like the RA to launch an investigation into the goings on in the sale arena - rumours concerning buy backs have forever been doing the rounds - leading to prospective owners having to fork out unrealistic amounts to secure a horse.

Nice to haves:

It would be nice to know what exactly the latest situation is regarding a 2nd Tellytrack channel - although I suppose this is not an RA responsibility,

It is nice to be acknowledged in the way that winning owners are currently being presented with a gift - only does anyone check if the recipient is actually a RA member?

That's all that comes to mind at the moment - thanks for the opportunity

Muhtiman
Re: Racing Association
October 21, 2010 09:58AM Registered: 3 years ago
Posts: 55

antsinner Wrote:

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> RA SAYS "second track at Fairview, most likely a
> polytrack due to the moderate climate, and due to
> the lack of water available in the area"
>
> Mr Ra
> if you do decide to lay a polytrack surface at
> fairview , make sure you pick the material
> correctly . I am no track manager but wherever
> there is a synthetic surface i have observed water
> being used on these surfaces probably more so
> than on grass tracks , this especially out of the
> rainy seasons .
>
> Just speak to Zakheel at the vaal to get an idea
> of howmuch water he uses at the vaal and how
> relieved he is that the rains have come . Also if
> you had listened to the track manager of meydan
> talking about the tapeta you would understand the
> necesity water has in the preparation of that
> track .
> in England if i recall correctly one or two of
> the three polytracks have what look like a dam
> within them .
>
> So if you think you not gonna consume water on the
> new polytrack think twice . Unless offcourse you
> have sourced a material which doesn't require
> water to maintain. My knowledge is very limited or
> more like near nil on the subject but common sense
> says investigate correctly when making the
> decision.
Frankly this really scares me, I don't know if the RA is simply blowing smoke up the poor PE boys rear ends. Makes very little sense that a synthetic track is viable in that particular climate.You are correct about water being intergral part of "sand" or dirt systems but synthetic track composites require very little moisture. Generally they are made up by sand(dirt)+polymer (plastic)fibre and rubber(optional) scrap and a wax/oil binder. These composites have to be reworked on a constant basis as in warmer climates the wax/oil melting point is constant while the temprature swings cause the binder to melt and the composites compact or in cool tempratures the binder becomes too solid and does not bind properly and the system becomes too "fluffy" and is often carried off by strong wind. Maintance programmes would require heavy watering when the temprature starts to climb beyond the binder melting points......I've been in PE at certain times August-October and tempratures have climbed above 40degee's something called Berg winds.....very little or no water at these times and it's bye bye polytrack.


I agree with the above post - How many meetings as a % does PE lose per year through Rain(not wind) as opposed to Gauteng - It makes more sense to have a Gauteng polytrack. Has the PE wind factor been tacken into account when considering the polytrack? I would hate to see another asset sold without appropraite reasons.

Davy if you could please add my 'FINAL RQUEST FOR CHANGE" to this post I would be most grateful.

When it comes to matters as huge as closing tracks or erecting lights will the RA ever consider having a referendum held under the auspices of all registered members of the NHRA (jockeys, trainers owners etc)before taking such decisions?

oscar
A Final Call for Change

Registered: 3 years ago
Posts: 1,555
In response to Zoro's post ( a racing man I respect amongst many others who run different sites) I am making this my last post on websites until we see things starting to be taken seriously by the administraters of racing in SA. Please note I know that all these sites are read by the administrators of racing and many points give them food for thought but nothing substantial seems to ever be done. Responses from authorities to requests are viewed by myself as just "plugging holes" or "pacifying" but not as real issues bringing about changes to better racing and the sustainability of it into the future. Unfortunately I believe that suggestions are taken up personally by those in charge (which is a normal human response however people need to put their ego's and the past behind and leave it there (yes I do agree that lessons can be learnt from the past but that is not for me to discuss).

There are "nice" things that need to be changed and there are "have to do " things that need to be changed. The HAVE TO DO things for me are the foundations and pillars in SA racing that preceed all else in an extremely challenging and competitive time for the industry in this country and worldwide and these need to be addressed first before the "nice " things will take effect.Its always "lekker" to say WOW look at this new facility for owners but that for me that is one of the nice easy things to do and leads the decisions that might be painful and labourious out, but unfortunately you cannot build an industry on smoke and mirrors where everything looks rosy from the outside whilst the inside still needs much work to performed. I will outline a few points which have been posted ad nauseum on this site and others and maybe a few new ones which I believe need to be made in order to achieve growth and sustainability in the industry before a "facelift " can be made to the nice to do things like better facilities, more accurate pre-race estimates of payouts etc for the punters who keep the administation of racing viable.

HAVE TO DO's

1. The structure of the administration of the industry needs to be consolidated country wide, costs need to be cut and a messy "add on" setup of structures needs to be done away with. One structure and a few representative bodies. This is for corporate advisors to go into in more detail on..I have posted my recommendations in their infancy on another site but do not profess to know exactly what needs to take place to establish a simple structure where employees and directors remunerations are based on performance to a larger extent. This would obviously mean that Phuelela and Gold Circle are transformed into one body. Shareholders would obviously need to approve however the majority shareholding sits with an organisation which is there to protect owners who really make available horses on which to gamble without which horseracing in SA would not exist.

2. A strong focus on getting local pharmaceutical companies to put money and expertise in to research a vaccine for African Horse Sickness needs to be addressed and co-ordinated through the new structure. The Vetinary Pharma market in SA is huge and the fact thst they put nothing back in is unacceptable. In humans huge strides have been made in vaccine applications over the last 5 years ( in my day you were vaccinated for polio only) right up to vaccines for mumps, measels rebella, cervical cancer and many more..even the H1N1 virus which also evolves and mutates quickly. Inside industry sources tell me that it will not be too long before they find an acceptable vaccine for HIV..to say that the AHS virus is only localised to SA racing and therefore it is difficult to raise funds and expertise on researching this is a cop out..the pharma companies and wholesalers providing medicines to the racing industry here in SA will if approached correctly take a different viepoint. An advance in this could easily lend itself to opining up of SA to international horses to raid here and for our horses to raid overseas at much lower costs. This would also allow for international companies investing as sponsors in SA.

3. SARS needs to be engaged with by the administrators , not in a haphazzard way but in a formal open discussions manner to try and alleviate the ringfencing of owning racehorses as this does not apply to other livestock ownership. We are all aware of the sizeable contribution racing makes directly to the country through employment as well as direct taxation and therefore to sustain the huge losses owners are taking through ownership of horses this needs to be started to enable sustainability of racehorse ownership.

4. Discussions with the Dept of Health and the Medicines Control Council need to be effected to try and establish (like it is in human private healthcare) exactly what markups are allowed in the horseracing healthcare business and what details HAVE to be included on Vet statements eg the brand names of the product used.

5. An engagement with the SPCA and other bodies needs to be established to draw up guidelines and standard operating proceedures as to what in horseracing
especially at the races is deemed to be acceptable and non-acceptable and these need to be made available to all concerned in the industry so there is NO confusion when something goes wrong.

6. Betting needs to be far more controlled and discussions with bookmakers and the racing operators needs to be restructured as right now "anything goes". As mentioned years ago by members on other sites and this one the "open bet" issue has to be resolved for the betterment of racing..(I see their adverts of "No Tab, No Racing) and considering this surely to goodness must then be worrying the operators why do they not take this up with the gambling board in an open and transparent way. It is also in the interest of SA bookmakers for this to be done as if racing is not sustainable into the future then neither are their businesses unless they can survive on sports betting. Also the fact that the operator has a bookmakers licence needs to be reviewed.

7. A new view as regards the dividend policy of the private single listed enterprise running racing, at least for the next few years until real growth has started has to be made. A change in policy as regards this is absolutely vital to the sustainability of the industry and yes it might mean the share price drops to a more realistic level but these losses will be gotten back with a more stable and growth orietated company in the medium term.

8. More transparecy by the operators and organisations HAS to be a cornerstone to a new structure (point 1 above) especially with all the roleplayers and regular feedback needs to be communicated accurately.

I have left out many many other pillars of foundation in the industry that I believe HAVE TO BE addressed for you guys to comment on and Im sure that if the 5 or 6 big websites together with industry media observers put their private agenda's to rest and get together to represent an extremely large base of interested parties that change will happen.



I in my personal capacity have tried on behalf of the industry to interact with most of the above organisations I mention above with a surprising positive response but cannot further this. These discussions to provide a strong transparent base through which to redevelop a sustainable growth orientated industry has to be initiated and evolved by the structure us owners and punters keep employed.

Good show guys and please understand that I have already sent numerous emails to try and get the ball rolling and much of above is with the RA. however since this is a new dedicated thread keep them coming.

I believe the RA hasquite a lot to answer,will be following this thread with interest.

Has the RA made any attempt to stop the practise of shill bidding at sales - something that seems to be prevelant considering all the buybacks we see. This is something that stops new owners from entering the game.

How about looking into reinstating the interactive service on tellytrack, I know its not an RA matter but surely they could motivate it.
The last time time it was brought up they said it was very costly but it is a betting tool and if somebody has to pay it should be the bookies, why don't the powers that be increase their monthly subscribtion to reinstate it.
I know it was popular can any members here back me up?