Have your say at the NRA

Yes the AGM is soon upon us on the 13 Jan 2014

Here is a chance for owners and colour holders that do not belong to the RA to voice their concerns about entry to the parade ring without the compulsory RA badges.

Every owner is automatically a member of the NRA and is entitled to vote in to receive NRA accreditation and have a NHA identity card or badge to receive free entrance to racecourses on major race days and be allowed into the parade ring when you have a runner.

Not making a stand and supporting the motion tabled through the NHA will leave owners with very little chance of ownership benefits outside the RA.

Please remember membership to the RA is not compulsory nor is it gratis, so you have a choice not to belong to the RA but still be treated as an owner if you support the motions tabled through the NHA in regard to this matter.

www.horseracingauthority.co.za/pubs/docs...M_General_Notice.pdf

Do you have to be a member of the RA to go in the parade ring ?

No but you are supposed to be "accredited" before entering a Parade Ring. So you should wear either an RA badge or have an NHA owner card/badge.

I personally drove the issue of badges last year at RA's Industry Liaison level. Whilst it is not a RA problem, Larry responded positively. NHA then made badges which were issued to Owners who were not RA or GC members, upon request. Gold Circle's Graeme Hawkins responded positively from the start and immediately put money aside for these badges. Phumelela also contributed.

At Vaal, every Trainer completed a requisition form and we were sent our badges for our Owners within 10 days. Whether other Trainers, from other centres did same or not for their Owners, I dont know. Right now, all an Owner who is not an Association member has to do is contact NHA (Colin Hall) and the badge will be sent. At Vaal, just ask your Trainer to contact me or even Colin Hall directly on your behalf.

Steve Reid thanked Mr Rob de Kock for these, at last years AGM.

The problem, though, is that these were temporary measures and this year, we all look to a proper, permanent badge for all Owners, Trainers and Jockeys - proper badges for all privelege holders, proper accreditation !

louisg is the answer to these no simple? why is all owner no automatic the member of RA? this sort out problem quick. what i no under stand is how do the RA badge have more power than the nha badge, if i under stand correct what the guy is say is if he have the ra badge he go in free but with the nha badge he must pay even if he have the runner. do i under stand these in right way?

Slightly off the subject, but very much part of the NHA/ RA relationship, how is the RA going to police outstanding debts for non RA members??
It is a hypothetical question(I have had horse with trainers who read here who won't contradict that I have never been late with a payment) but as a non-member of the RA,why would I take any notice of their query-I would tell them to mind their own business........then what?
The real question is-are they or are they not independent?

Harry, I am not totally sure. The RA is an Association and it uses member subscriptions to offer incentives and benefits to members. Owners have the freedom of choice whether they want to pay and join or not. I am a member.

But, since the RA have been there, it has been convenient for NHA to drop the badges. There seems to have been an attitude of "if you want a badge, join RA" . This in turn has forced many Owners to join RA or have no badge. Again, this is totally unconstitutional and a travesty. One must wonder at this attitude. Ownership is registered with NHA and they have shirked their responsibility on this issue. Whilst all Owners are members or privelege holders, NHA had no right to stop any badges. And this is he same NHA which is applying to govt for classification or recognition as a statutory body......Well, they have tons of issues to sort out, if they want to avoid mass opposition to that application !

As far as the RA are concerned, they are not to blame. All that they can be accused of is doing the right thing for their members. Badges are now essential as without them, there can be no control to parade rings. Again, there is lots of sidestepping and debates as to who controls the parade ring. Right now, we have the Operators controlling entrance and NHA controlling the inside of the parade ring. We have had two people kicked by horses recently and the warning signs are there. But, if serious injury happens, who is the liable party - NHA or Operator? This is why the Operators are now insisting on badges...

As for entrance to courses, these are free. On certain days, there is a sharing deal between RA and GC members regards entrance by badge. The NHA badge will not apply to these, as these are benefits to Paid up members of associations, arranged/paid for by those associations.

The bottom line is that all Privelege holders should automatically receive badges from NHA and that they should then have the freedom of choice as to whether to join an Association or not. And the little plastic no name badges which we can now request were fine for the time being, but they better start next season with proper metal badges, with proper names. This is not a cheapskate Industry and we are not even near Ngong.

And they DO NOT have to increase costs every year and the badges can easily be paid for by their savings on overseas flights to Conferences at which they do not understand whats going on and then return and put all our horses merit ratings up by 6 points..... and then later reverse it again.....

Interesting debate - my take is that I pay my yearly membership fee to the NHA and they should then issue me an 'owner's' badge - which needs to be valid for only the year that I am a paid up member - that badge should give me entrance to any parade ring at any course in the country (and what about Zim - not that I plan on going racing there); 'Guest' badge(s) should also be issued, surely I would be entitled to take my wife and my kids (provided they are 12 years or older) into the parade ring with me :S

According to LG (and I have no reason to doubt what he is saying) entry to the course as such currently falls under the operators - so this would be Phumelela and Gold Circle (if I understand correctly) - so P would determine if (and how much) a fee should be charged to enter the course on feature race days in P land (Met, Summer Cup, etc) - my owner's badge will not exempt me from paying that entrance fee (unless some sort of agreement is struck between P and the NHA and/or the sponsors on the day), but it should give me access to the parade ring; the same would hold true for GC on feature race days (July) in KZN.

So given the above, what purpose does an 'outside' organization (like the RA) serve - unless they can come to some agreement with the relevant operators and/or sponsors (Vodacom, Sansui, etc) in terms of whether members of that organization (like the RA) can benefit from discounted entrance fees on big race days?

Lastly, just on the current NHA badges that can be collected from the NHA offices - I get the impression that these are temporary - so up to when will they be valid (end of this current season?) and can I currently be denied access to the parade ring if I don't have one of these badges?

thank you for answer louisg. to me if you buy the horse, feed this horse, pay your trainer, pay the noms and aceptence then you are entitle to go on a race course where the operator make thousands on your back with out the cent contribution without pay? how the association can give the one set of owner the perks and the non association owner get "less" is to me some thing that is not right.

Flash, Frodo, I am absolutely one hundred percent in your corner ! Without Owners, my yard closes down. I am the largest shareholder in horses in my yard, am a registered Owner and have chosen to join RA. I would be mad to dissagree with you both, simply on principle.

RA does a hell of a lot more than issue badges. That's why I am a member. But that's my choice. But the RA membership is a seperate issue and the fundamentals must not be confused in this debate - the NHA licence me, they issue my privelege and they must issue badges to each and every member. And the Operators must recognise those badges, first and foremost. To charge us any form of entry fee for any meeting is sheer arrogance and that mindset must change........or we must refuse to pay noms/acceptance fees and stable rentals or demand appearance money for our runners. They cannot have it both ways, surely?

Yes, the current badges are nondescript plastic "token" badges which just read "owner" and nothing else. This is why this must be corrected by NHA and this is what we must take a stand on at the AGM.

i agree with louisg 100% the problem it seem to me is the jockey club do not want to upset the operator be cause this is there lifeline from fee paid? when i get the first horse i become member of benoni turf club that is operate from gosforth park. with the badge i get i can go onto any race course for free even entry to july be cause i am the owner. why it can no be same today is crazy for me solution is every owner gey nha badge what allow him entry to race course if he want to go to elevation is fair he pay but to enter definite no charge.if the operator is insist on charge for owner to enter racecourse, why can owner no ask for "appearance" fee for hes horse? i read debbie hawkin say in singapore every runner is given money regardless of where he finish. maybe that is the answer

In the uk owners badges are course specific and valid for that day only. The day they have a runner. I dont agree just letting you know, and a small coyrse like kempton pomps you £16 to go in on a night meeting all weather. King george prices will be at least double.....scandal


Entry into longchamps on Arc day is about 12 euros ....... Whats the catalyst for that?
No bookmakers , tote only and an operator that puts horse/ owner/ punter all in the same league of importance.