Horse weights

but we have to make a start somewhere Craig - Gauteng has done zip - I have made money in the Cape and KZn from changes before - Also I really think that if a horse comes to the course a great deal heavier than he was(after a long layoff) you could brass him? I want facts not rumors or " I heard about a horse"

I have no idea whether weight is the best indicator of fitness but perhaps the powers that be,including trainers,could put their heads together to provide better clarity on fitness.
Lets face it,what does "need the run" mean anyway ..........some win and some run nearly tailed off!
The efficacy of the MR system is totally dependant on horses racing,almost exclusively, "on merit"(ie to their best ability)
and therefore to a minimum level of fitness

the question trainers and owners NEED to ask themselves is firstly do we want betting turnover to increase so stakes increase and there is money to improve training centres etc and if the answer IS YES what can we as trainers and owners do in connection with the stakeholders ie phum and gold circle to provide every bit of information possible to the punter so he has everything at his disposal to WIN AT THE BRAIN GAME....i am sick and tired reading posts by firstly tara laing and now rubyclipper giving the most pathetic excuses why things CANT BE DONE INSTEAD of saying whats the solution....to answer craig regarding how would private trainers weigh their horses my answer is 90 percent and more of the horses racing in natal are trained at the 3 major centres...its high time the industry sat down with the rob fauxs of the world and asked them what can be done to improve the lot of the punter and coming away from those meetings with an action plan and workable solutions ....YOU TRAINERS LIVELIHOOD is dependant on the success of the industry rob isnt dependant on it and neither are the majority of punters ...EVERY OTHER CUSTOMER RELATED INDUSTRY LISTENS WHY THE FCUK IS THE RACING INDUSTRY TURNING A BLIND EYE ?

MDK continually refers to horses weights in interviews its good enough for him to know the wellbeing and fitness of his horses so its good enough for us punters...

Pirates... The fact that weights could be useful, is not disputed. But half the people in this thread had no clue that every runner is weighed on raceday, in Capetown... And so there the info is available, and yet it's not being used. Why?

Who is using the Capetown weights to assist them in placing their bets?

ruby i hear you but what im saying is it can be done a plan of action has to be put into place to ensure its disseminated to the public ahead of time....i remember gary molloy being in charge of it in natal and he said it was incredible how useful the weights were...he said 9 times out of ten if you knew the ideal racing weight of a horse and it weighed 8kg less or 8kg more you could brass it...im hopefully going to oz in september and im going to bring back newspapers and racecards which supply information to the punters INCLUDING BARRIER TRIAL RESULTS FOR 1ST TIMERS AND HORSES COMING BACK FROM RESTS...NOW THAT would put trainers bac up ...for me the attitude has got to change from half empty glass to half full

rubyclipper Wrote:

---

> Pirates... The fact that weights could be useful,
> is not disputed. But half the people in this
> thread had no clue that every runner is weighed on
> raceday, in Capetown... And so there the info is
> available, and yet it's not being used. Why?
>
> Who is using the Capetown weights to assist them
> in placing their bets?


The fact that "half the people on this thread had no clue" again shows the operators distain for its customers - because the logistics are confusing does not mean that it should not be enforced.

They tried raceday weighing in Melbourne a few years back. There were huge issues. They found some horses arriving with weighted boots and bandages. (thatsk just crazy!) At Moonee Valley several horses and strappers got hurt. So they decided it was more of a head ache than a help. Now that is a thriving racing industry. I believe that it is a form of information that could be easily manipulated.

Imho Rubyc misses the point.

As much as it may be an inconvenience to have to offer more, businesses that aren't going forwards are going backwards.

If one track offered horse weights, and sectional timing, and colour coded saddle clothes or whatever gimmick they could come up with, and they did this because they were just striving to do better, then they would steal the business from other tracks. The better any business treats me, the more I am happy to support them with my turnover.

Racing has ALWAYS had this perception that the "insiders" have and edge, that's why ANY other form of gambling immediately grows against it. In some jurisdictions, a horse must ALWAYS have it's name displayed when appearing in public. I'm sure that's an inconvenience, but i would spend my money where those people going out of their way to give me every opportunity.

The reason why so many things fail in racing, is because the commitment isn't real. No one get's fired for failing, administrators carry on through eras of grand theft and leadership is watered down because we have some sort of group responsibility where no one is ever to blame.

You say "Singapore is thriving because it is run by the appropriate people who have racing interests at heart. They not "thriving" simply because they weigh their horses..."

Perhaps Singapore weighs their horses because they have racings interests at heart, and that simply, is why they are thriving...

amazing almost every yard at clairwood weighs their horses once a week ....if a horse or 2 plays up then so be it but the majority have no issue with it...ruby you could find fault with travelling horses in floats to race away from yr home base and then they shouldnt have to walk around the parade ring or having to canter to the start etc...like i said your attitude is one of half empty and basically lets treat the punter like a mushroom feed him shit and keep him in the dark...not only is the industry not attracting new blood its losing its existing customers...

The question is (on repeat here): what suggestions do you have as to *when* the horses should be weighed, and *how* the information should be disseminated to the public?

Ha ha!

Anyone???

Debbie Wrote:

---

> Just some information on what the procedure is in
> Singapore. Every horse is weighed before racing
> AND pre-race blood tested. I speak under
> correction but Hong Kong also weighs their horses
> but the day before racing. The weights of the
> horses here are displayed on screen prior to the
> race and also detailed with the information on
> each runner so it is readily available. As soon as
> the weights come to hand they also go up on our
> website. We have very seldom had an incident with
> horses getting injured during weighing or blood
> testing - like everything they get used to it and
> as long as the surrounds are controlled and 'horse
> friendly' there are no problems.

Hey Ruby, seems like its just as well you don't advise them in east. Your logic is because banks could get robbed, we shouldn't have banks. I'm sure you can find countless reasons to not do stuff, and one by one we won't do anything.