The 38th Asian Racing Conference South Africa 2020

PHUMELELA MEDIA RELEASE
SUBJECT: The 38th Asian Racing Conference South Africa 2020
DATE: Tuesday 18 February 2020
RELEASED BY: Phumelela Gaming

The 38th Asian Racing Conference (ARC), hosted by South Africa and taking place in the Cape Town International Convention Centre, starts today.
The four-day conference will be followed by the annual prawn festival race day at Kenilworth on Saturday 22 February, where the running of the R1 million ARF Commemorative Cape Derby (Grade 1) will be the highlight.
The Asian Racing Conference (ARC) is staged by members of the Asian Racing Federation (ARF) and the hosting country. The ARF is the peak regional body for thoroughbred racing in Asia, Australasia, Arabia and South Africa. Currently the ARF has 21 Full Members and 1 Associate Member.
South Africa became a full member of the ARF in 1997.
It is the second time that South Africa is hosting this prestigious event, and all the major stakeholders within the South African horse racing industry have embraced the opportunity.
Phumelela Gaming and Leisure, The Racing Association, Gold Circle Racing and Gaming Group, Kenilworth Racing and The National Horseracing Authority of Southern Africa have all come together to ensure that the event will provide all attendees and delegates the very best experience possible.
The first day of the ARC is reserved for Bureau meetings, including the International Stewards’ Conference, the ARF General Assembly, and the ARF Executive Council Meeting.
This will be followed by, inter alia, three days of Plenary Sessions. Themes explored during these sessions include:
Exploring Innovative Race Concepts
Fan Engagement Through Media, Marketing, Data and Sponsorship
Protecting Racing’s Integrity
Ensuring the Wellbeing of Racing’s Athletes
Equine Welfare
Promoting the International Movement of Horses
The fourth International Forum for the Aftercare of Horses will be staged as part of the ARC.
Around 600 delegates will be attending the ARC in Cape Town this year.

Question.... Should some of the international visitors have some questions, would they too be cut down as the racing folk in SA clearly have recently been?

Very hard to get information on what’s going on as the conference is not being covered by any SA websites or social media experts

But liked this quote from the BHA chairperson

“Regulators should not be so close to their stakeholders that they have trouble questioning them.”

Bob Brogan wrote: Very hard to get information on what’s going on as the conference is not being covered by any SA websites or social media experts

But liked this quote from the BHA chairperson

“Regulators should not be so close to their stakeholders that they have trouble questioning them.”

How do you think we doing here Bob?

Over the Air wrote:

Bob Brogan wrote: Very hard to get information on what’s going on as the conference is not being covered by any SA websites or social media experts

But liked this quote from the BHA chairperson

“Regulators should not be so close to their stakeholders that they have trouble questioning them.”

How do you think we doing here Bob?

Not too great

But I think it would be impossible in SA

We all know a stipe or an NHRA employee

Do you know Vee?

Do you know Lips?

They are talking about illegal betting now

My issue is what they class as “ illegal “ betting

Giving people no option but to bet into pools should be illegal

Some woman I have never heard of from Gold Circle gets up and extols the virtues of bush racing as an option as a second career to an international audience. Sounds like she's another that believes Geneva isn't in Switzerland. The mind boggles how this was ever allowed and I see some of the social media accounts are rightly buzzing

Over the Air wrote: Some woman I have never heard of from Gold Circle gets up and extols the virtues of bush racing as an option as a second career to an international audience. Sounds like she's another that believes Geneva isn't in Switzerland. The mind boggles how this was ever allowed and I see some of the social media accounts are rightly buzzing

:lol: what a plonker

I see MDK wants owners to lose part of their stakes to go towards aftercare

I agree

We should stop giving trainers and jockeys a share of stakes ( they get well paid by owners anyway)

And give a share to the horse in stead

A successful outcome over the next nine months to the European Union’s audit of new control measures devised by South Africa, intended to combat the threat to direct movement of horses from African Horse Sickness, will benefit not only the home nation but also international racing.

That was the concluding message from Andrew Harding, secretary general of the Asian Racing Federation, at the final session of the three-day Asian Racing Conference in Cape Town on Friday.

“The mission of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities, to which the ARF is fully signed up, is to promote the globalisation of racing,” said Harding.

“We’ve tried to take that a step further in terms of the free movement of horses, which is an essential for internationalisation, so [assisting South Africa] is a means of living that mission.

“International racing would be stronger, more interesting and have greater value propositions in so many ways, if the quality of South African bloodstock can be seen more easily on the world stage.”

South Africa has been denied direct access to overseas racing and breeding markets since 2013, when it was already serving a two-year ban on free movement imposed by the EU and then failed an audit of its AHS controls. Its travelling bloodstock has had to undergo 90 days’ quarantine in Mauritius, as well as further periods of isolation at either end of each journey.

Adrian Todd, managing director of South African Equine Health and Protocols (SAEHP), the organisation set up by the bloodstock industries, told conference delegates: “We failed because we deserved to fail. We could not provide international countries with the guarantees they needed. But failure is never final.”

Todd believes that now, after his organisation engaged fully with not only its stakeholders but also the national government, a “world-class system” has been created and implemented, ready for the EU audit beginning on April 20.

SAEHP expects to receive a report in mid-May, to which it will respond, followed by a three-week consultation period with the EU and further meetings with various EU committees, before getting the hoped for go-ahead by November.

Asked what a positive answer would mean for South Africa, Todd said: “It would be a massive deal for our racing and breeding industries, because we’ve been living in splendid isolation.

“South Africa has a world-class product and it would let us get on to the international stage directly for the first time. It doesn’t create us as a massive threat to the rest of the world, but we will be a partner, purchasing new blood and trading internationally. We’ll be on the world scene for the benefit of all.”

Harding added: “If the audit is successful, there will be a benefit to South African breeders, in good bloodstock being available, and to owners internationally who will be able toaccess that bloodstock, but it goes beyond that to racing purposes.

“We need to see the great horses trained in South Africa racing overseas, and likewise it will unlock the potential for horses to travel to South Africa to race.”

More feedback on Racing Post

Threats from illegal online gambling operators, usually based overseas in unregulated jurisdictions, have overtaken concerns about traditional lay betting with regulated exchanges, according to the BHA's chief regulatory officer Brant Dunshea.

In a panel discussion on illegal betting markets on the second day of the Asian Racing Conference in Cape Town on Thursday, Dunshea said: "The BHA is very fortunate to have established some very mature bet-monitoring systems, but we have seen a change in recent years, because simple cases of corrupt practices linked to lay betting are very rarely seen within the regulated markets.

"That's caused us to look further afield and we now know there is activity on British racing in unregulated, illegal, Asian markets, where tens of thousands of pounds can be matched in lay offers on our racing. We have no access to information, but it is a significant threat for us."

Dunshea, a member of the Hong Kong Jockey Club-driven, Asian Racing Federation anti-illegal betting taskforce, which also includes former BHA betting analyst Tom Chignell, added: "It's important for us globally to share this message and help other jurisdictions understand the threat this poses to the sport. We should think collectively about what we can do to get the messages across to governments and other agencies."

More immediately, the BHA will be taking up the theme with the government, which has promised to launch a review of the 2005 Gambling Act.

Dunshea said: "It's a global theme that governments are placing significant focus on problem gambling, and while the UK review is primarily driven by this and social harm issues, we see it as an incredible opportunity to lobby government about the risks that gambling in illegal markets pose for racing and other sports.

"We will make submissions that not only address the issue of problem gambling but also highlight the connection between that and the illegal markets. As a racing regulator, that's where we need to focus our attention by drawing the connection between the impact of illegal markets and potential reform that the government may introduce."

Although the BHA has not been able to quantify accurately the size of the illegal market on racing in the UK, its general concern mirrors that of the new standards body the Betting and Gaming Council.

The BGC recently released details of an analysis showing that 38 per cent of queries about key gambling terms on major search engines were to unlicensed black-market operators and an estimated 200,000 people in the UK had used illegal gambling sites in the past 12 months.

Bob I'm confused by your statement!! Where do jockeys get paid by owners? They may get a retainer if riding for a big owner but to my knowledge owners do not pay jockeys. Correct me if I'm wrong but jockeys get a riding fee and a percentage of stakes. I have in my time owned a few horses but I have never paid a jock. Maybe I should have.