Racings misaligned structure highlighted

Before Formgrids was hacked and went down this self funded racing website had achieved over 110 million page views, over 5 million visits, and serviced thousands of racing followers on a minute to minute basis, it was used by Punters, Owners, Breeders, Jockeys, Trainers and racing participants worldwide for free, our users had multi purposes options ranging from studying form to admin of breeding outfits and Intel into buying and selling of horses locally and abroad, we had racing info for eight countries and it cost the racing industry nothing,, not a cent,, all forms of support by the controlling bodies had slowly been pulled away, not that it was much at any time but some support was better than none,, it seems someone high up was posioning Formgrids, how else do you explain away the non support of a tool that so clearly markets and promotes SA racing WORLDWIDE,, the website was doing more good than all the controlling structures efforts put together,, racings followers were using Formgrids 24/7 ALL year round, while SA slept the website serviced,,,at time 6 pages per second, Formgrids promoted SA horseracing, it boosted turnovers for Phumelela, Gold Circle and bookmakers alike, so when it went offline one would have thought the industry would rally around and get it back up "as a priority", yet sadly this is not the case, so much for the "let's work together and rebuild the game senario", although an ongoing effort to assist Formgrids has been put in place by Trainer Joe Soma and supported by the Racing Association not one other structure in racing has pitched in and assisted so one begs the question is Racings current structure good for racing or not ?, the answer is clear that it's Not,, Racings structure is out of allighnment and this is not good for any business, it suits those at the top who get a huge salary cheque and perks with BIG bonuses year end regardless and this is made possible only because punters support the game filling the coffers that the executives eat out of, thousands of coffer filling punters used Formgrids daily and now they want Formgrids up and running again, yet the structures of racing ignore the requests for a miniscule amount to assist in getting FORMGRIDS back up to service their own customers,, while the racing participants are pulling for us to get Formgrids up at any cost, the control group don't care, so ARE THE CROWD THAT REFUSE TO HELP RIGHT OR ARE THE THOUSANDS OF FORMGRIDS USERS RIGHT ???, does the industry need Formgrids on not ? Should the industry leaders throw away all the positive momentum that Formgrids has achieved over the past 13 years?, if so then not another cent or minute should be spent on trying to rebuild racing because that is such a contradiction, or do we only support Racing through the eyes and minds of the few insiders,, "We need help but just not from Formgrids" is this acceptable??,,, Racing can have as many Indabas as they want but without proper unity and commitment to racing from participating members these meetings are just another waste of time and money.

We live in a world where greed is always pitching for a free ride. No wonder innovation in racing is almost non existent as the price of innovation is huge for the innovator who very seldom has the capital to take good ideas all the way.

This is where logic and business acumen fails completely as the big beneficiaries are almost always the least willing to contribute to bringing creativity to life.

How sad that that innovators are seen as parasites who should not benefit, even in a miniscule fashion from years of their lives spent in search of progress and improving the customer experience and ultimately the bottom line of those that almost definitely don't deserve the effort.

Not difficult to understand that parting with a percent or two of something with real growth and income potential must be so much better than earning 100% of a shrinking market.

Mr A, I feel for you and share your disappointment in the system and the people that we have to work with in our quest for a better racing experience for all.

If formgrids deserves help because of it's contribution to racing what about other contributors such as sporting post,etc....? as much as formgrids is a great tool at the end of the day it is an individual's website that can be sold to anyone willing to buy it if the owners can't afford to keep it. formgrids is a nice racing tool to have but it is not a rosseta stone of racing.

Start a crowd fund, sure all the “big punters , trainers, Breeders and operators( I know bookmakers are struggling also ) will raise the amount needed

Lack of leadership is evident. The ones most to gain from punter support are the ones who should invest. R&D ! customer service! Information flow! Customer confidence!
Can't even publish the barrier trial result in the Racegoer, nor loop it in the replays on TT.
Can't figure the thinking behind it but to me it's short sighted behaviour. Same as for Formgrids and decades ago ARO. 'The Punter doesn't need more information than what is published in the papers'....lack of understanding of the customer's needs.

Only 4% of punters are long term winners

We don’t understand how close horse racing gambling is from being banned on line

Nations all over the world have banned online gambling where “skill” is not involved

Even poker which is most certainly skill based has been banned in nearly every country online.

We got approached by a government department recently about problems gambling and gamblers, don’t think they won’t regulate!

keniza999 wrote: If formgrids deserves help because of it's contribution to racing what about other contributors such as sporting post,etc....? as much as formgrids is a great tool at the end of the day it is an individual's website that can be sold to anyone willing to buy it if the owners can't afford to keep it. formgrids is a nice racing tool to have but it is not a rosseta stone of racing.

Industry money should be use to support industry incentives

Bob Brogan wrote: Start a crowd fund, sure all the “big punters , trainers, Breeders and operators( I know bookmakers are struggling also ) will raise the amount needed

Mister A. I really feel for you as I know personally how much you love this product. True it is a great tool to have , however its a "Want" its not a "Need" to the Operators .

Their days carry on as normal , yes I enjoy Formgrids and also subscribe to ARO for the last 20 years , but that is my choice .

There are many other products on the Market such as TesioPower that assist Breeders and Bloodstock Agents but they cost money to whom ever wants the programes.

It is no secret that the New Electronic Computaform is on its way , this done by Telly Track and the operators , Why do you expect after they are spending millions developing a product that I believe will be similar to Formgrids to now support you?

That would not be in their interests in a years time.

Sorry but such is life - You need outside support to build a bigger and better product - The confusion I am getting from your post above is - Do you need Financial Support or Do You need Data Base support ? or Both .

In the time you have been down this part has confused me as to why you can not get back up and running.

I applaud Joe Soma and Larry with the RA in Talking about it , But is it only Talk to sooth you ? , because by now you should be much furtherer than you are.

Just My opinion and all the best i which ever decision you make and pray someone will come to your rescue .

Dark Horse Thoroughbreds wrote:

Bob Brogan wrote: Start a crowd fund, sure all the “big punters , trainers, Breeders and operators( I know bookmakers are struggling also ) will raise the amount needed

Mister A. I really feel for you as I know personally how much you love this product. True it is a great tool to have , however its a "Want" its not a "Need" to the Operators .

Their days carry on as normal , yes I enjoy Formgrids and also subscribe to ARO for the last 20 years , but that is my choice .

There are many other products on the Market such as TesioPower that assist Breeders and Bloodstock Agents but they cost money to whom ever wants the programes.

It is no secret that the New Electronic Computaform is on its way , this done by Telly Track and the operators , Why do you expect after they are spending millions developing a product that I believe will be similar to Formgrids to now support you?

That would not be in their interests in a years time.

Sorry but such is life - You need outside support to build a bigger and better product - The confusion I am getting from your post above is - Do you need Financial Support or Do You need Data Base support ? or Both .

In the time you have been down this part has confused me as to why you can not get back up and running.

I applaud Joe Soma and Larry with the RA in Talking about it , But is it only Talk to sooth you ? , because by now you should be much furtherer than you are.

Just My opinion and all the best i which ever decision you make and pray someone will come to your rescue .

Information to punters a need not a want, as it is to the users of Formgrids ,, proffesionals including Breeders, Jockeys, Owners, punters need Formgrids,, I get calls all day long from their ranks,,

Remember when I first put Formgrids online Betfair wanted to use my product as form for their players,, DAVID Attenborough, CEO Phumelela South Africa got me to agree to avoid Betfair and Phumelela would support me,, I complied they never.

The other products should be assessed by a duly appointed body and if meets with requirements that market and promote racing then they must be supported by Racing using racings money generated from turnovers put into a fund designated for development of the Sport/Industry. After all we are only trying to improve the game.

Joe has put his weight behind Formgrids because like the rest of us he needs the tool to enhance his racing and he has done his best I believe,

The New Electronic Computaform is a spin off from my idea which I tried to persuade Phumelela to do and to couple it with Formgrids to give to the Racing game players the best possible information ,, Joe and I had a meeting with Rob Scott years ago.about this,, I had many meetings with many others also regarding this. We must worry rather about racings interest and not about Phumelelas interest ,, the two often opose and to me racing first Phumelela proffit to shareholders second,, Phumelela was meant to look after racing but now racing looks after Phumelela.

All we are asking is to help get Formgrids back up for the 2000 odd daily users,, it's peanuts compared to what's wasted by the industry,, remember I am an individual just like you ,, trying to make racing better for the next generation

All the Best David

Thank you Dark Horse, I appreciate your thoughts and imput