Not one tote window or bookie open

Loads of people on track watching the gallops, the place is buzzing with punters talking about what they like for the July, opening their smart phones and punting with Hollywood/wsb/betting world etc

Talk about no forward planning, Hollywood and the other bookies would have used this as a massive marketing opportunity.

For me, the biggest missed opportunity with the July Gallops is not having the crew from Morning Live on course for the morning as an outside broadcast.

The SABC sponsors a race on the day and this would have been great in terms of exposure of the sport to joe public while they enjoyed their cornflakes.

Yip, these are the basics that could have made it great for racing overall....... not bands on the roof or enticing children, just get the basics right.

I had breakfast in the view room then went to find the guy who was giving out Computer Forms who was very undercover.......

There was a great buzz on course and if there were bookies or betting windows open I can assure you there would have been plenty of wagers being struck.

mickeyblue wrote: For me, the biggest missed opportunity with the July Gallops is not having the crew from Morning Live on course for the morning as an outside broadcast.

The SABC sponsors a race on the day and this would have been great in terms of exposure of the sport to joe public while they enjoyed their cornflakes.

SPOT ON !!!! Has Gold Circle got a marketing guru? Cos he/she should be hung and quartered.

The tote only opens its betting on Monday.

The on course bookmakers are only allowed to lay bets on official race days.

unfortunately the gallops are not seen as an official race meeting

So essentially this was the perfect opportunity to make a plan for a one-off big event?
Now, will someone read/listen and be pro-active next year?
Surely as in a liquor license, you could / or request a temp type of license for a special occasion. If not, now the time to sort out legislation that would allow for this to be the case in the future.

Surely people that's keen enough to go to the gallops will place a bet anyway, so not to sure what was lost.

The suggestion of an outside broadcast by the SABC from the venue would have been good and might have sparked some additional interest.

As a last thought the operators couldn't care anyway, just going through the motions as they always do.

Im shocked, marketing ... hah ... :whistle:

From the outside it would appear that the thinking is basically that the July is an institution in Durban and the people will come to the course so why bother?

Went down to cover it last year and it was the first time I'd experience so many people on a racecourse in South Africa. Still commented to my cousin who lives in Durbs that seeing the volume of people and the buzz was great. He told me that what I was experiencing was nothing compared to July's past.

Regardless of whether or not betting facilities were open / running during the gallops the biggest thing is to maximise the exposure of the sport so that it is not just about one day in the calendar.

The bookies could have cleaned up with on course sign-up offers / vouchers at the gallops.

The tote coffers will swell on the big day because, well, it's the Durban July. It's about keeping that momentum for the rest of the year and not purely from a betting standpoint but also encouraging general involvement in the game.

This is what I thought was the role of a group of people who are in some kind of rush. All I'm seeing so far is some sort of social media campaign with seriously odd and irrelevant hashtags and that only seems to appear on the big days. As yet there's no significant showing for their efforts imo

mickey blue your cousin is 100 percent correct..i have been in oz while the Melbourne cup has been run and wasn't even in Melbourne and I can tell you the july should be right up there with the cup but it is 15 divisions below it these days as compared to years gone by...the whole country comes to a halt and that's all they talk about just like it was here 20 years ago ...if our geniuses had any idea well lets stop there we all know they dont

So if the following was applied:

1. Price up the whole race card up the night before the gallops
2. Have tote & bookies open for business on course for w&p, doubles, all to c, etc
3. Partner with the National Lotto so that people can at least take Wins & Plc's anywhere on
their machines. No exotics or swingers etc.
4. Get the country hyped up with July parks in each large city
5. Get Durban locals hyped up with programs that run from 1 June
6. National advertising on all TV & radio stations, get them involved

Could we make it an event that everyone wants to experience?