I have promised to do this for a while so here goes, my thoughts on what the racing industry could do to become more attractive...

firstly, I am no expert on the horse racing, but I have been involved in many ways in quite a few sports.
Every time I turn on Sky Racing or pick up a racing newspaper the stories are about problems in the industry - I include trots and greyhounds in these general comments where applicable but am primarily focusing on thoroughbred racing.

Every day there are races, and they go unnoticed by all except a few thousand punters.
If you walked down the street and asked a cross section of our community to name a current race horse, or pacer, or g'hound you would get blank stares. Yet the same people could name a football player or swimmer.

Racing is a lot like one day cricket - there is just an endless procession of meaningless races, put together using a hopelessly inept class system.

who is the fastest race horse in Australia, who holds the 1000metre record??
who is the 1600m champion in Australia??
whats the world record for the two mile??

sport is about achievement, its about having a target that you aim at and try to achieve. we all follow football because it has an understandable structure. the same teams play each other and there is an overall winner at the end of the year.

racing doesnt do this.

we all get excited by the swimming, we sit on the edge of our seats watching "Thorpy" attack an imaginary world record line across our screens.
racing doesnt do this either.

the winner of race one at Sandown today just wins a race - they dont win points towards a premiership, they dont progess towards a semi final, they are not trying to break a record.
the race isnt part of an Australian steeplechase championship, or an interstate battle, its just a race.

and this is what racing is like week after week except for a few feature races all owned and operated by seperate entities with no consistent approach.

Most race clubs around Australia are struggling, yet in part the problem is the way they put together their race cards.

Here is a list of things I would hope the race clubs would consider in order to attract greater interest, not all of them may be viable, some might seem off the planet. But its worth a try rather than an endless procession of maiden races.

1. the class system is a shambles. Today there is a horse running its second race in a class 3 race after winning a maiden. Why on earth should that be allowed happen? The commentators mentioned another horse that had made its debut in a listed race. Every horse should have to start in a country maiden and I would suggest that the first three in any maiden automatically graduate to class 1 races ONLY and that they can only run in a class 2 race after 6 places in the lower class and then use this system to work through the grades.
You should not be able to run out of your class and if there are not enough class 1's in the area then a combined class 1/2 race could be held.
Other than this the only time the classes should be mixed are for age races but you should have to start as a maiden and work out of that grade before running age races.

2. thoroughbred racing uses weights to handicap which is a little meaningless to the public - you cant see weight. I would like to see some races run with a distance handicap.
This might mean you cant run from barriers, but I assume that once upon a time all races commenced without barriers anyhow, so its nothing new. It would be visually more exciting to see a horse have to chase the others from 100 metres behind - as it is in harness racing.

3.records
I'd like to see more emphasis on records, even have record attempts with just two or three runners. Im sure an innovative TAB could handle this with bets placed on the time rather than the winner.
there are track records, state records, national and world records - why dont our best horses try to beat these marks?
Record breaking creates excitement.

4. state and national championships -
racing does not appear to have such events.
why arent there points championships with each race counting towards an annual title?
why arent there heats for the State 1000m championship with the State winners racing for a national title.
why arent there national 3yo, 4yo etc championships with regional and state heats and semi finals etc??

5. I would also like to see the racing industry as a whole, not just some rich pr**k in Sydney or Melbourne, construct and own a national sprint raceway - a 1000 metre straight track, indoors with a non grass surface so it can be used three or four times a week, can provide the fans with comfort in all seasons, can operate day or night and provide a consistent world class, totally dry and completely flat surface for sprint racing.
Imagine the public interest if tonight a group of horses were making a run at the world record for the 1000metres and you could watch the imaginary line just ahead or behind them??

6. interstate rivalry - Australians thrive on interstate rivalry yet the racing industry generally ignores this rich hotbed of interest.Why arent there races to win a place on the State team to do battle with another State??
Why isnt there a State teams championship each year with a 10 race card, 2 competitors from each State in every race and points that go to finding a winner for the day.

7. finally, if the average country card is going to be stacked with meaningless races then I would prefer to see races that are at least fun and exciting.
Lets see some real innovation and fun at the races.
Why not get rid of the barriers sometimes and have standing starts? Why not get the jockeys to try an old fashioned "grand prix" style start where they run across the track and jump onto their mount and race off??
Why not have shorter sprints of, lets say, 500m with heats and finals on the same day??

There is plenty that the racing industry could be doing to attract the public attention, rather than just relying on a couple of big feature races once a year.

The racing industry makes its money by getting us to bet on races. I believe we would bet on more races if there was greater consistency in the classes, and more fun in the races and if more races had meaning because they were part of a bigger picture we would follow the action, the media would report it.

anyhow, just a few thoughts :smile:

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I forgot to add that there is no point telling me I'm mad -
I know :smile:

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i'm going to tell you anyway.

your mad.

but at least your having a crack.

Good post, Racing is, with the exception of feature races quite boring if youre not having a bet.
Perhaps if the bookies could be just a little more generous, people might be tempted to brave the elements and go to the track rather than sitting in the pub. (Not that sitting in a pub is a bad thing!!!)
The bookies complain about many things but they are their own worst enemy.

:lol:

I'd love to see it as a spectacle, but who holds the horse, and what would happen in Darren Beadman or Damien Oliver broke an ankle trying to mount their steeds?

As far as your other comments go, racing is a great spectacle for me, because of my keen interest.

The perception by the general public is that horseracing equals gambling.
That's the fundamental difference between racing and most other sports.

There are gamblers (and Australia has a larger percentage than a lot of other countries) and non gamblers.
For non gamblers, racing offers nothing to speak of at this point. However, I regard our top jockeys as great athletes and just love a ding dong battle between two hoops playing cat and mouse or head to head as they approach the line.

Racing caters for gamblers and on rare occasions, they have family days and associated events for kids, but I'm guessing that the it's only the punters in general who bring their families to these events.

Why aren't there racing shows on commercial television?
Because the audience is simply not there to warrant it.
In a previous life, I worked in the radio industry and looked into ratings for both t.v. and radio.
That's why the big Spring carnivals are televised, but all racing shows and indeed most Saturday race coverage has been shelved.
SKY now handles and is industry focused.

SKY is different to commercial television, in that all viewers who watch SKY, switch it on because they enjoy a punt and sports in general.

However, commercial TV is not focused on racing or the punter.

You put up some interesting ideas, and I agree with your take on classes and racing within your own class etc.

i don't think racing is boring at all.

i used to go with my old man when i was a 4 and 5yo and loved it.

as for the grand prix style- thats ridiculous- maybe at a bush meeting or rodeo but not in metro meetings.

500 metre races are too short. dog races are over 500 metres and they have less interest in them than gallops and trots.

i think they are fine the way they are.

I'm probably mad too because I think you actually have some good ideas there ET :grin:

As Chrome Prince has noted their is a general perception that racing=gambling and I think that is basically true. I don't know anybody who does not gamble who would sit down and watch a race just for fun (with the obvious exception of the Melbourne Cup) yet they will sit down and watch the Swimming championships. But what is the difference? Swimming is no more exciting as a spectator sport than horse racing - everyone looks the same in the water, there is no great spectacle or tactics involved (well, very little that is obvious to the viewer anyway). The only difference is there is interstate or international competition involved.

I think the idea of state/national (and down the track international) championships would be something that can build up public interest in the sport. You could easily run competitions that fed into each other - eg. several venues round the state have a series of races over different distances/sexes eg "1500m C&G race", "1000M F&M Race" one week. The next week the top 2 from each venue go to the state finals and the top 2 from that go the national final a few weeks later. National champion in each distance/sex category gets a big paycheque!

Also I love the idea of using distance or time handicaps rather than weight. I am sure with current technology it would be simple to construct a barrier where the individual gates opened at different times so that you could use a time handicap and watch the better horses chase down the slower ones. This would probably work best with straight races and I imagine it would be necessary to space the individual barriers wider (and probably block them in to a certain extent) so the horses aren't distracted by the earlier starts. Alternatively individual barriers could be constructed to allow distance handicaps. Obviously you wouldn't do this at small country clubs but the big metro clubs could certainly afford these "hi-tech" barriers and the racing would be fantastic!

Of course can't see any of this happening - the racing authorities will continue to dish up the same old stuff week after week and wonder why the crowds keep shrinking and the betting dollars keep drifting away to other sports where you can make your money and get something interesting to watch at the same time!

__________________
"Computers can do that????" - Homer Simpson

Also I love the idea of using distance or time handicaps rather than weight. I am sure with current technology it would be simple to construct a barrier where the individual gates opened at different times so that you could use a time handicap and watch the better horses chase down the slower ones. This would probably work best with straight races and I imagine it would be necessary to space the individual barriers wider (and probably block them in to a certain extent) so the horses aren't distracted by the earlier starts. Alternatively individual barriers could be constructed to allow distance handicaps. Obviously you wouldn't do this at small country clubs but the big metro clubs could certainly afford these "hi-tech" barriers and the racing would be fantastic!

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sorry fellas i hate this idea.

dont mind the state champs idea.

i think swimming is the most boring mainstream sport. i would much rather watch racing that i wasnt gambling on.

also i think your right in your comment that racing equals gambling. But why do people have a problem with gambling. It's up to the individual to spend their cash.

some will blow it at myers, some will drink it away and some will buy drugs or whatever. if managed gambling is not a problem but rather a great pastime especially having a punt on the gallops.

i dont think you can change general public opinion. so you wont be able to improve racing.

I agree that there are too many meaningless races particularly in qld. but then again its the 3rd biggest industry in Oz so it creates thousands of jobs,.

cheers

Umrum,

I don't really like swimming either - just using it to illustrate that there are sports with apparantly very little spectator value that have been made to appeal to the general public! I also don't have a problem with people gambling BUT unless racing makes some changes it is going to be in serious trouble as more people spend their gambling dollars elsewhere. The problem for racing is that currently if the gamblers go elsewhere the sport is dead because it relies almost exclusively on the gambling $$$ for survival. A year ago my gambling "spend" was 99% racing, 1% sports (the occassional punt on a footy match) - now it is 75% sports (mainly tennis), 25% racing. Why? Tennis, to me, is more interesting, more predictable and the bookie margin is smaller so it's easier to make money (with the help of the propunter package). It is easy to understand the rules of Tennis, they are generally enforced equally and there is a regular circuit with the same players playing each week. In racing we have too many horses racing in too many races with a stewards that seem to be very reluctant to enforce the rules.

One thing that would certainly help is a clear class structure as ET posted - each horse should start at the bottom and work their way up with a certain standard needed to move to the next class and the classes should be the SAME Australia-wide. If a horse fails to perform in their current class then they should be "demoted" back to the previous class. Horses should not even be able to start in an actual race until they have met a minimum time standard at a barrier trial.

As to changing public opinion - of course you can it just takes time. If you start putting forward a consistant sport with interesting features you will attract back the disenchanted fans and they will bring their friends with them - if you don't do anything the industry will probably die eventually as people take their money elsewhere. It is not like the old days where horse racing had a virtual monopoly on the gambling market for the average person - now you can bet on practically every sport - (even Chess!) - so racing has to start competing for the public interest.

__________________
"Computers can do that????" - Homer Simpson

speaking of distance handicaps, I noticed that one horse gave himself a 15 length handicap by not leaving the stalls today - and he nearly got them on the line, missed by an absolute ********teenth of an inch !

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