Think we are already in big trouble Rick. Perhaps Owners can be incentivised quickly but there is an inevitable lag in breeding. Once the broodmare population declines that needs to be restored first ( generally from racing stock) before any increase in racing stock can occur a minimum of three years later and the broodmare population is currently in steady decline.
The recent initiatives from HRV, removal of registration fees for one season for foals already in utero when announced and increase in prizemoney for and volume of restricted races in the new season does nothing to inspire my confidence for the future as breeder or owner. Already my trainer has forwarned of a change in training fee structure for their business to remain viable in the new season. I've little doubt that translates to increased costs for owners, and no chance a win in restricted class, if indeed it occurs, could cover the bill for a months training.
It appears to me that HRVs board and management don't understand that they need to manage the entire harness racing ecosystem for the long term and not just direct all their focus on cheap restricted class races maximising profitability for HRV from wagering in the shortest possible time frame. Not a lot of point in being able to announce substantial increases in prizemoney in a few years time if the horse and trainer population has been decimated by what's on offer now.
I'm afraid I have to ask the question now, is this board and CEO in the industry for the long haul? Or is our "turn around" specialist CEO seeking the best outcome on paper in the short term to enhance his resume for the next position?
Over to you David, I've missed your contributions to the forum as I'm sure others have as well. I'm sorry if my question or remarks offends you, but some of us mere mortals do have knowledge of the competitiveness and transient nature of corporate CEO's, particularly those who come in to turn a business around, and to be fair as you've come to the position from outside the industry it's not like, as they say, you have any skin in the game.
My suggestion to get owners and breeders back into the industry would be to make the Vicbred $7000 bonus payable when a horse has it's first start, not first win. I would take the extra money required from the overall prize money pool and run a few less races each season.
This would probably not be sustainable for the long term but maybe just for the next 3 or 4 seasons. Just to try to give the breeding and owner pool a boost.
There would have to be some requirements the starter would have to meet, eg finish within 50m of the winner. Just to stop people trying to exploit the system.
$7000 may be too much but something like this needs to be introduced in the short term just to keep foals being bred.
Don't die wondering !
The industry seems to be consuming itself and is completely held to ransom by the modern day gaming industry.
It's going to take a different approach to get the it back on it's feet. We have to redevelop public interest for starters.
I am not sure how we can continue to run @450 race meetings a year when horse numbers are significantly lower than previous decades. Fields of 5/6/7 are not the sign of a healthy industry and are an embarassment. Perhaps while we still have 40 million dollars prize money available per annum in Victoria, we could look at a more equitable distribution of prize money. Country fronts that paid more - perhaps in the order of 10 to 15K - would incentivise owners to bring in to training all those horses languishing in paddocks. By all means continue to have feature races for all classes and age groups - just less of them.
Like it or not harness racing is made up mostly of hobbyist owners, trainers and drivers. As such the industry should be doing all it can to keep these people engaged. Without these dedicated hobbyists the industry would not exist - start to look after them and good things will follow.
Well said
Am I the only one that gets the feeling that the TAB and Sky Racing would rather Harness racing just went away so they can just run those animated races and make more profit ?
Until they start getting behind our sport we are in big trouble!
Don't die wondering !
No Rick your not I've seen those cartoon races and their potential profitability with no live racing to pay for as the eventual future for "racing" since their inception. Along with deidentifed reruns of archival footage where "punters" just pick numbers as has been operating in several states in the U.S. for some time.
"Cartoon" racing is not permitted in WA pubs and clubs but now that the state government want to sell the WA TAB their on the table to potential buyers to sweeten the deal.
Hi Dot, thanks for your posting to the forum. Your questions or remarks certainly haven't offended me, and my limited input in recent times is a consequence of current workload and to a lesser degree a desire not to stifle debate and discussion. As you know, I welcome your views and that of others who are passionate about improving our industry, even if we don't always agree.
In regards to questions regarding short term v long term thinking, I would respectfully suggest the easy, short-term and popularist option would be to increase prizemoney across the board, which would have the effect of worsening the industry's financial position and increasing risk to the long-term future. Instead, we have taken sometimes unpopular decisions (such as spreading prizemoney from the Vic Cup to a broader number of industry participants), with the aim of guiding us all through the difficult financial situation the industry finds itself in, whilst implementing plans to secure the long-term future.
Kind Regards, David
Thank you David for taking the time to respond, I appreciate your busy. I posted the following in another thread ( Tiered Racing) some three weeks ago and was hoping you could provide the rational for increasing restricted race prizemoney ahead ( as it appears, I apologise if I missed it but I've seen no press release with regard to country front racing in the new season) of addressing the disparity of losing a country front penalty in a $5000 race which you've said yourself has been of more concern to participants then $3500 non penalty races
" From my interactions with many people, there is a strong desire to retain the no penalty 3500 races. Most attention focuses on the $5000 races where a penalty is incurred, so as we prepare plans for 2018/19, that will be an area to review."
Above is an extract from a post from David Martin, and below a link to a press release announcing an increase in prizemoney from $3500 to $4000 for restricted races, and an increase in the number of restricted $4000 races. Perhaps David could drop in and advise what is happening with C class races, particularly $5000 races, now only $1000 more then a restricted race and at the cost of a country penalty.
https://www.thetrots.com.au/news/med...es-in-2018-19/
Last edited by Dot; 08-05-2018 at 01:00 AM. Reason: Bad grammar, not uncommon for me!
Thanks Dot. As announced, stakemoney for Restricted class races will rise from $3500 to $4000 effective 1 September 2018, which has been welcomed by trainers who compete with horses at this level. We anticipate trainers will most often choose that option or that of the $7k Career penalty races, rather than take a 'penalty' for a $5k win. We have however retained $5k Career penalty races as an option for trainers, which may be particularly relevant for horses trying to secure their first win along with the full $7k Vicbred bonus. Cheers, David