The good in SA horse racing.

After many unhappy revelations, gripes, moans, complaints and the like, has anyone got anything good to say about horse racing in SA?

It seems that the industry is desperately in need of some good PR!

Is it even possible to generate any good PR, when we seemingly have an endless stream of bad news that permeates our industry?

Any thoughts?

Abacus there is BOUND to be plenty of "good " in SA racing but the bad still has to be written about on sites like this...


The Good

1: Trainers and Jocks have proved over and over that they are a match for their international counterparts..

good - horses have proved to be competitors at international level...(tu)

Good are the punters.... who keep coming back for more!

Better are the owners who keep coughing up!

And then, the breeders.... who keep churning!

Last, but not least, forumites (like Abacus), who still can hone in to ask if there's any good PR!

Add up all these against the industry........................

plenty posi's (including the doping!)

Lol!

()

Ngong and borrowdale revenue up 50%

Italy racing now in high definition

Went to the tote in rossetinville to get a soc 10 on . Was amazed . Total makeover . New tv's , Tables and chairs . Very well lit .

Have not been there for years . My first thoughts were " very nice but they've left it for too late " . When i used to go there it was a real dump !

reasonably level tracks

You are right, of course, Hibernia. I totally agree that ABC offers (and should offer) disgruntled stakeholders a forum to air their grievances. Their right to freedom of speech. If their problems are dealt with satisfactorily then that, in itself, will offer up some good PR.

My genuine concern is that horse racing in SA is shrinking. Not only shriking but also failing to attract sufficient newcomers to the sport exacerbating the problem further.

Although I except that the sport has many challenges not the least (imho) of which is bad PR or better stated too little good PR. The negative impact this creates is a reduction of sponsorship investments, new owners, new punters, scheduled races, horses, stakes money, jobs (in no particular order), inter alia and a ever downward spiral to obscurity.

That is why I posed my humble question. Perhaps I'm not looking hard enough but it seems to me that, for now, bad news overawes good news in SA racing. I wonder if the operaters shouldn't employ an independant PR consultant to actively, via whichever forum and in whichever way, promote the good aspects of our sport - or perhaps they already have in which case they need to change to someone more effective.

Thanks for the few responses above.

It gives me something to moan and bitch about nearly everyday:D

Abacus you are right ,racing is shrinking.The question of course is "is it because people are moaning?....or is it because of the things that people are moaning about?"

abacus, your ideas are noble but many of us have over the years tried our best to help racing - best thing to do is let them(Phumelela shareholders) carry on and just try to focus on making money punting - The best thing about SA racing for me is the online element of racing - Independent publisher's like formgrids and forums offer the punter better info than Teletrack - watching reruns on the RA site helps - These are good tools to use to win which is why we punt

Good one UD (tu). Lets call it irritational value and try and spin some good PR out of that. "The sport offers ample opportunity for griping and moaning which often times can be quite rewarding",...says journo...lol