#JUNKSTATUS - how does it affect racing

blog.fnb.co.za/2017/04/sp-has-cuts-south...al-currency-ratings/

#junkstatus and the leisure Rand. not good. Opinion? :blink:

Will it not save GC ? Brexit was blamed for SA struggling a few weeks ago

nope, Brexit is too recent an occurance...more like Jan van Riebeeck is the root cause of that.

actually, correct lot to blame are the #Vikings

Don wrote: nope, Brexit is too recent an occurance...more like Jan van Riebeeck is the root cause of that.

You miss understand me, the strong Rand was quoted as a reason why SA racing was struggling

apologies! get it. so what you're saying is the opposite now should become true. I was thinking the local punter would diminish. Would be interesting to note the ratio between local punter v foreign pools.

Someone playing £100, now spends a lot more into the commingle pools

Feel sick about this thoughtless call from Zuma

Solution ; let Cyril take over and reinstate Gordham to get us back on track, if not its another Zim

Dave Scott wrote: Feel sick about this thoughtless call from Zuma

Solution ; let Cyril take over and reinstate Gordham to get us back on track, if not its another Zim

Reluctantly I think you may well be right Dave.
Time to stand up but I think they are all scared of JZ.

Dave Scott wrote: Feel sick about this thoughtless call from Zuma

Solution ; let Cyril take over and reinstate Gordham to get us back on track, if not its another Zim

no let him go with his boss... he has put his party and status above the citizens by rescinding on his statements about the prez and siding with the party line .. Do we want another President that has no moral fibre?

There are a number of issues to consider :

Firstly - it should be remembered that we had 'junk status' when we exited apartheid. Foreign trade, borrowing etc., were all difficult during that period. Older posters will remember that, on certain occasions, we had interest rates as high as 25%.

However - as our credit rating improved so also did our appetite for debt! A lot of people are still paying off consumer items that they can no longer remember buying.....

Imported goods may well increase in price.

One of the more disturbing aspects of government behaviour in recent years has been the uninterrupted addition of 'levies' to the fuel price. We are now paying approximately the SAME price for petrol as we were when oil was $155 per barrel although it is now only $50 a barrel. If it ever reaches those heights again we will end up paying about R42 per litre!!!!

It is likely that foreign buyers could 'cherry pick' our bloodstock at sales time. Should export protocols improve we might end up like NZ; who have a good breeding business but a much lesser racing industry.

The fallout could best be described as a likely reduction in overall disposable income. Although depressed times often result in more gambling the government has placed such as squeeze via taxes, duties, levies etc., that there just might not be the required disposable income to continue punting on a growing basis.

Unemployment could well rise.

Local ownership should fall further although this might be partly offset by a growth in the trend which we saw at the last two sales where 'lesser' yearlings sold for very low prices. However - this does not circumvent the issue of 'feeding' them so expect the market to contract further.

Trainers will continue 'turning it up' as more local owners default.

Expect more racing of the kind that characterises Durban racing for most of the year.

If current conditions persist expect a stakes cut.

I recommend that owners such as Jooste, van Niekerk etc., invest in a lot of coloured caps as they will be increasingly racing against themselves.

A lot of the big money has already 'semigrated' to Cape Town. But this has not translated into a stronger racing industry in the Western Cape although their breeding industry remains dominant overall.

Don't discount the possibility that a government stupid enough to TWICE fire a competent Finance Minister might not reintroduce exchange controls.

Expect tax morality to decrease as the 103,000 souls who basically pay most of the income tax in this country take evasive action. Or emigrate.

Eeish...need a triple whisky now...