Singapore trials = please can we also have them??

www.sportingpost.co.za/2015/08/gareth-pe...alato-looks-special/

by Gareth Pepper

Trials
After being here for a while now, I have become used to the whole Trial System.

Official Race Trials (ORT) are held on Tuesday and Thursday morningas.

All horses new to Singapore have to take part in an ORT. The trial fields are out on Monday and Wednesday evenings and they are all recorded for the public and are generally up on the turfclub website within 10-15 minutes of their completion in the interest of transparency for the public.

Pre-ORT’s are held on Wednesday mornings as well as schooling sessions and newcomers have to attend and pass one of these before accepting for the ORT’S.

All info provided is invaluable and I have found analysing my form for raceday presentation so much easier with the assistance of this information. We also record Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Track work for our work out show called Winning Workouts (more about that next week)

I really don’t know how I analysed form before this and it would be amazing if held back home, but the logistics I reckon would be a nightmare.

Let’s hope that one day in the future some sort of arrangement can be made.

certainly would be magic for the industry , not sure the majority of racing fans give two hoots though

Gareth has seen the light, didn't know the difference before he did? the others will too.

about 15 years ago in cape town we had them. it was always before the first race of the day. upto 10 horses would race together.that way you can spot a decent horse and when it has its run you already have a clue.

We used to use Dog trials to mislead the handicapper and public..

Are barrier trials open to manipulation?

Anything is open to manipulation to some degree Bob, but a good system and management thereof will make it hard/discourage the exercise. Coupled with the general understanding that it is detrimental/consequential for the betterment of racing (a mindset) it can serve to ensure health- perception management. One needs to aim for a 'patriotic' or 'proud to be involved in racing' culture, instead of 'let's get what we can out of it and screw everyone else' culture.

Alas, humankind always succumbs to greed and will want at every opportunity to make a fast buck for themselves at the cost of the greater good.
Nothing is ever just black and white, there are varying shades of grey, and all that. Aim for that good % of greyness close to perfection.

Other countries seem to manage a trial system to their (public and service providers) benefit quite successfully, and so should we. These are the countries you will see are successful in making racing work and churn turnovers - because their customers are treated fairly.

Just look at the Hong Kong system. Very different but there is no pissing about. Barrier trials and all track work logged for punters to keep track of . Vet reports , incident reports etc. Never happen in South Africa because it's not all about the punter like it is in the east. Still is impressive what can be done if there is a will to do it.