Are Our Racing Administrators for or Against the Punter?
This is not a frivolous question
Judging from the persistent criticisms that are voiced or written in the media most of which emphasize issues that affect the punter, directly or indirectly, Mr Everyman is plainly far from content with the manner in which Gold Circle and Phumulela conduct racing and gambling in this country. Not that there has ever been a time when we have been totally content, but right now the level of criticism has probably never been more vociferous. Plainly all is not as it should be and since punting is at the heart of the sport, it may well be an area our administrators could re-visit because a great many changes have taken place in recent times on TOTE betting choices, some welcome, others questionable, which may or may not have had an affect on punters’ enthusiasm
So we raised a few points covering these changes and asked Vee Moodl;ey to comment, since he is the czar of our gambling controls and limitations. We are still awaiting his reply.
1) Phumulela/Gold Circle saw fit to introduce a six place payout in some major races and VM pronounced the initiative a major success with apparently greatly enhanced place pools. Why then not take this success one step further, and make at least the 4-place payout apply to fields of 15 or more runners and stop this vexing rule of scratching runners over 16? Why not 18 which every course can accommodate.It will certainly give punters a greater chance at getting a return and make trainers a lot happier.
2) If coupling are acceptable in the pick 6 why should this rule not also apply to the jackpot? How often have you seen or heard trainers with two or more runners, tipping the wrong one? If they can’t get it right, what chance has the punter? Why was the change made? And when a trainer sends a horse to be conditioned by a "foster" trainer in another centre and the latter runs the horse in a race in which he also has a runner, should they not be coupled ? (what would have happened in the Majorca Stakes if Ramsden who had been training the winner Blue Ridge Mountain on behalf of Alexander for four months, also entered one of his own horses? You can bet they would not have been coupled. Yet if the Joostes had switched trainers from Alexander to Ramsden at acceptances, all Ramsdens entries would have been coupled)
3) Also, it used to be that trainer and/or owner couplings were also applied to a single race on winning bets only. The same argument applies as in (2) above, so why was this practice stopped, naturally to the detriment of the punter?. These coupling would also apply to double bets, exactas and trifectas etc and to pre-empt the obvious argument, if a trainer/owner finished first and second, only one coupling would apply.
4) And talking of doubles. We used to have only designated doubles at a race meeting – usually two or three pairs of specifically identified races. Incorporated in these designated doubles were what was termed “hard luck doubles” when there were limited payouts for punters who had selected the first and second or second and first place finishers in the designated double. Interestingly these doubles were very popular with the more conservative woman punter and trainers planning a coup. I have no way of knowing, but am willing to bet that the pools in the old style doubles were larger than the current haphazard system of taking a bet on the winners only in any two races where no pools are known and there is no way of predicting a payout. In any case, in a country with bookmakers and fixed odds betting, punters are better served by being able to select their double choices at published odds and know what they are going to get paid out. This is why multiple bets are more popular with bookmakers.
5) After deducting the “admin fee” (or commission), the “surplus” from bets placed on a South African race meeting is, in theory, returned to the racing clubs to fund stakes, riding fees, admin costs etc etc. What happens to the “surplus” that is earned from tote betting on races outside the country?
Punters have obviously embraced many of the innovative bet styles introduced by VM and his team, but this does not mean we have to dump or avoid the traditional, perhaps more punter friendly, choices .
David Mickleburgh
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