A decade ago Harness Racing International magazine printed an open letter to harness racing participants which was written by Ray Chaplin
It began with
Despite all the rhetoric you may hear or read from many of our self congratulatory industry leaders the fact is that the sport you love is gradually sliding into oblivion as a mainstream entertainment pastime for Australian sporting fans
The letter went on to detail that between 1980 and 2009
the number of drivers, trainers, local sires, total foals and horses named
ALL FELL BY OVER 50%
despite the Australian population Increasing 46%
In 2014 Ray updated these figures to between 1980 and 2013
and showed that they had all fallen further with all these key stats DOWN by 57% plus
In this updated report which he sent to all HRA Board members he concluded:
The ever widening gap between costs and returns for most owners resulting in a continued weakening in the supply and demand model for the breeding of Standardbreds (the racing product) will, in the not too distant future, bring a once wonderful sport and past time to its knees
He never got a reply
Now we come to current times and in his latest report Ray notes that:
The Inaugural HRA National Conference was held on Friday 14 December 2018 at Flemington Racecourse and is being hailed a success.
.........
Of the 19 initiatives listed above not one is focussed upon the key breeding crisis issue confronting the sport nor the need for a comprehensive investigation into the effectiveness of the sports integrity management
It is now 7 months since the conference was held and no full review has been published
Ray has just done the maths on Total Services 18-19 compared to 17-18 and there has been a 13% decline
He also notes how the following two David Martin statements don't reconcile
“The signs indicate we have started to turn the corner…
I sincerely hope that the improved performance already evident gives you confidence that the industry’s future is now more secure”
David Martin Chief Executive Officer 2018 Annual Report
However in his April 2019 CEO update David Martin stated:-
Frustratingly, since January 2017, we have made a number of changes to Victorian programming that have clearly improved wagering turnover on our product but the positive impact of that is being offset by factors outside our control, reducing our share of revenue from the JV and in turn our ability to increase prizemoney, invest in breeding, clubs, industry training et cetera.
How is this more secure?
If you are interested in Ray's full report please contact him at
contact@equineexcellence.biz
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