Phumelela should reduce stakes by percentage under-subscribed - so if only 8 in a field where 12 should run pay only 66% of stakes - and if trainers think they are clever and enter horses only to fill races then scratch - charge them a refundable acceptance fee if the horse actually arrives on course ...
The following user(s) said Thank You: ElvisisKing, Deeno, Tigershark
Tigershark wrote: And this is the Cape racing season.....
If Phumulela dont do something about this surely it’s irresponsible trading? I cannot see this being allowed to go on.. why not just cancel the meeting and put one on at Turffontein instead?
Oscar the time to act is now and while WC racing is a critical cog they need to get their house in order and quickly. If the trainers are not committed to the planning & racing program then cut WC to one meeting a week, alternatively have stakes reflective of the field sizes.
The owners that punt need to seriously re-examine their betting habits and while nobody can be forced to bet with certain providers the link between tote turnover and stakes needs to be realized.
Have you ever stopped to think that, just maybe, Western Cape racing 'struggles' for some of the following reasons :
1.) Maybe the WC betting population is smarter! Every non racing person I know down here thinks that the game is crooked. Whether that is right or wrong is not the issue - it is the all pervading PERCEPTION .
Every week the industry feeds ammunition into this perception. Whether it is Jooste or connections gloating on Tellytrack about the one that nobody knew about which was catching pigeons at home; racing never fails to shoot itself in the foot.
2.) Capetonians have a multitude of competing attractions. So why waste time and money on this corrupt activity? They rather go to Grand West where they treat you like a valued customer and the facilites are 5 star or......1 star if you prefer cheap and cheerful.
3.) The WC industry has about 6 major trainers who dominate. (That's something you all have to grin and bear each winter season in Durban as gobsmacked observers). If each of these 6 entered 2x horses in every WC race there would be a minimum of 12 runners. But for every winner there would be the counterbalance of the other connections from the same yard who would assume (often wrongly) that they were just in the race to make up numbers. It's a PR and programming nightmare for the 'Big 6'. They are now becoming almost the victims of their own success. The result is that it is almost a 'closed shop' in the WC with little or no scope for a newbie to start up and succeed.
4.) Does the WC even have ENOUGH bad horses to fill big low grade fields? It's a valid question. Given this reality why don't they attract more raiders? Too much effort, perhaps? Why has nature not filled this very obvious vacuum?
5.) From personal experience I can also tell you that, outside of JHB, national programming is awful. Both WC & KZN willfully discriminate against stamina horses which directly affects what owners buy. In leading racing jurisdictions a race over 2400m+ is 'bread and butter' with a couple to choose from on any given day. In RSA outside of Gauteng it is almost a curiosity.
6.) RSA racing throws up a number of anomalies. The Cape breeds the best horses and has the most uninspiring racing experience. KZN has, on average, the best racing experience and breeds the biggest load of soupmeat. Clearly mediocrity rules and GC nurtures it for 9 months of every year. If you don't believe me then add up all the KZN runners in the July over the last 20 years. Yup - it's that few!
7.) By all means cut races from the WC calendar. I don't think it will necessarily produce bigger fields in the remaining available races. To quote that classic : 'We're just not that into horse racing'.
8.) I raced fulltime for 40+ years. I still own a horse which I cannot home because the industry is on life support. But I actually lost all interest in betting on local racing as far back as late in the 20th century around about 1998-1999. Simply because most of it is complete, unfathomable rubbish/bad betting fodder. Fortunately UK racing and sport came to my rescue until 2015 when my accountant advised me to stop for fear of being deemed a professional punter. Which didn't suit me as I still have a business.
Sorry, guys, bit if it were to go its departure in the WC would barely raise an eyebrow. Or even be noticed.
Here's one to warm the cockles of the Cape owners hearts.
Yesterdays Greyville meeting and the weekend festival in PE have more Cape runners than what was on show at Durbanville yesterday. Interestingly, an out of season Greyville card attracted 29 runners from Cape yards ( here I include Andre Nel as a Cape trainer ). What exactly is it about out of season KZN racing that attracts the likes of Kannemeyer, Snaith, Kotzen, Nel and Crawford? Perhaps this is something that the operators could look at?
It's ridiculous - I agree with the sentiment that if the Cape trainers cannot support meetings then rather give that meeting along with the stakes to somewhere that would support it.
Last edit: 5 years 7 months ago by Over the Air.
The following user(s) said Thank You: oscar, Deeno, Tigershark
Above 2 posts spot on and thanks. So bottom line is:
1. Phumelela has not yet released its results, why not?
2. They have published a notice as regards large losses this year vs last year, why?
3. It looks as though they are running Cape racing at a loss, why continue?
4. Stakes have Benn drastically cut, why?
5. Cape trainers are racing their horses heavily in PE and KZN as opposed to running them in CT, why?
Phumelela is a listed company on JSE and has all the fiduciary responsibilities that come with that. What are they going to do about this situation? What do the auditors say?
It appears that life goes on and who actually cares. Similarly to the grooms strikes I fear that at the end of the day it will be addressed once they run out of cash and can't pay salaries unfortunately.
Oscar - I have a theory. But before you all shoot me down be advised that it is merely a THEORY.
Since as far back as I can remember racing a horse in the WC worked as follows :
After about a half dozen runs your trainer would advise you to move the animal to PE if it was struggling. Or alternatively explore other options for the horse.
Nowadays it appears that a new option has emerged - KZN.
KZN offers an alternate surface in addition to turf which may suit your moderate horse. It also offers relatively good stakes and a multitude of opportunities for poor horses and may, in fact, be even weaker than PE.
In summary - you are competing against a population of quite poor horses trained by equally average trainers. What's not to like?
Garrick - your ' theory ' is actually the reality.
So many instances recently, but let's take an absolute tit of an example .... Crawford's Bestday of my Life. Won its Maiden in its second start, ran a moderate 5th next time out, and then 6th, 7th, 9th, 14th, 6th, 7th - total stakes earned in those 6 runs ... zero.
Went to KZN - 3rd, 1st, 3rd for combined earnings of R 73650.
So basically - PE and KZN racing is hugely subsided by WC throwouts, which is then resulting in a skewed impression that the fields are larger, and everybody is throwing their hands up in the air criticising Cape fields.
No wonder WC trainers stroll into town once a year and clean up.
For a start, it's a terrible idea to say at any time "maybe the operators should look at that". If that doesn't stop you cold after the past 2 years, what will?
The reason that the free market is successful and that communism isn't is that one tries to win you as a customer (and it's always a test for the market), and the other tries to boss you because it thinks it knows better (top-down, it always thinks it knows better, then it fails).
The W.Cape has been "boiled down" to a degree of concentration. So trainers and horses and owners are fewer, but the quality is up and with that ironically, so is competition. The racing harder and that makes the form more complicated. Space for people is at a premium and expenses are high. Starting a business and lasting harder to the extent that successful yards can open up satellite yards with the B team, and still compete.
Competition is good because it kills off the deadwood, but racing as a sport can't afford to further cut it's own throat in the landscape of other sports in South Africa, all competing for attention and rands.
At some point "Team Racing SA" needs to look at the whole of it's offering to the outside world, and decide that either we want 5 centres, 4, 3, 2 or 1. "Want" is wrong, it has to be what's essential or vital to surviving.
Owners, as I always say, are not customers but shareholders in the game at large. Punters can be anywhere, but owners may tend to spend their money where they spend their time. There is an optimal size for the infrastructure of the sport, an optimal way for the "seasons" to flow. There is also a time when the game can cannibalize itself, with possibly too much racing or too much simultaneously and/or other.
It is time for the sport to get a strong national focus, and find a way to figure out a global plan that makes it possible for each part that is "essential" to thrive. Obviously, it follows if something essential dies, then the rest follows. So pick the vital organs, and ensure that they all get oxygen. What's the alternative?
You have to start somewhere, is the first question perhaps to look at the overarching structure, and ask how does Gambling Boards (aka government), Phumelela Pty (Ltd)s (aka private-owned interest), and Gold Circle (aka non-profit with local interest) and the RA (part national Owner interest) all co-ordinate so that the whole can flourish? If they can't you can just leave them to trip each other up till eventually, Team Racing finally can't get back up.
There are lots of big questions. If we ignore them, or go off and try to fix each separately specifically for self-interest, or try to do them linearly...the lack of coordination for a common goal to thrive and grow will become a certain failure. Who here can even say it's not already a certain failure?
