On a regular basis i check the Merit ratings on NHRA site. Today for the first time it has dropped below 2700 active listings.
The 2 year olds only get added in on the 1st of August but the number of active older horses is down. Might be less race meetings, Bad weather, exports of top horses, Mauritius racing coming back to life. of just less owners to invest in the game.
PE remains the most stable of the centres. They doing something right perhaps the egos in WC,JHB and KZN could go learn from PE operation.
I agree with the principle, but Slys numbers are understated as it excludes 2yos and horses with less than 3 runs.
In the 23/24 season there were approx 550 runners per week
In the 35 weeks of this season, that is running at 520, including these past couple of weeks with little racing.
That's just enough for 5 meetings per week nationally if you can get fields averaging 12.
The base case looks like once a week in each of the 4 centres, with an additional meeting thrown in from time to time.
PE is settled with Friday.
The other centres should each get 17 Saturdays concentrated in their seasons, and then 35 other days, Ideally a fixed day of the week which results in people hopefully making a habit of that day.
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