Originally Posted by
Danno
The point is not lost on all! Maybe JUST MAYBE....... there is a glimmer of hope that a trainer may be able to place a horse where it has a better chance to reclaim some expenses for the owner.
[VVV] Others may see it differently but the way I see it....if a horse that you have is only ever going to be competitive in a short series of specially designated, specially conditioned standing start races at Penrith & you're wanting it to pay it's way...then maybe it's time to think about getting another horse. One of the biggest mistakes Owners make is hanging on to a horse that is going to cost more to keept & to train that it will ever have a hope of earning. I've done it myself in the past. Not anymore. If they can't go...then off they go.
Forgive me guys but this game is not just about punters and turnover.
[VVV] I don't neccessarily disagree with that...but you try telling the TAB & the various State Adminstrative bodies the same.
Personally I think we're WAY too TAB focussed especially so in terms of Clubs not going forward with races that have less than 8 noms etc.
I don't expect them to do it with every class but for classes that from time to time or generally tend to struggle...such early season 2yos, fillies & mares races etc...they need to get their individual & collective heads out of their arses and look at the greater, longer term good rather than taking their leads from some bean counting TAB wanker sitting in an office in Ultimo/Pyrmont.
Someone needs to feed the bloody horses and if that means we have to re-educate punters (and trainers/drivers/horses) to sustain owners who are the lifeblood of the game then so be it.
[VVV] I've absolutely no doubt whatsoever that off-course betting is directly responsible for a general dumbing down of the Punters, no doubt about that at all.
Back in the days when you had to be on-course to bet the Punters generally knew more about racing than they know these days.
I remember many years ago the move to mostly mobile racing, we were all told how the yanks were paying so much prizemoney cos they had all mobile racing. What a load of crap!!
[VVV] You must be well older than me (& I'm 43) because I've been around these bay, brown, black, sometimes chesnut & occasionally grey things since I first learned to walk & in all that time never heard anyone suggest such a thing.
look at the US now, can't run a track without the support of "slot machines" cos the punters are bloody bored to death and have been punting on numbers for years!
[VVV] Two completely different industry models & so that's a very long bow to draw. The only thing that we have in common is that both use Standardbreds.
Mobile racing in this country has been pushed by the commercial breeders to falsely enhance the value of stock in order to enhance their own returns, just like mammoth prizemeoney for juvenile racing.
[VVV] Pound for pound that's one of the more ridiculous statements I've read in quite a while. If you can, could you supply me with the name of just 1 of these fat cat Australian commercial breeders? I'd be most appreciative because I'd like to ring them and find out what their business model is. I've got a pretty wide range of friends & contacts throughout the Industry and on the Breeder side, let me tell you...virtually nobody is making any $$$.
Some are keeping their heads just above water but the vast majority are losing money.
ie; look at what the major yearling sale "providor" did to their own series recently, carved it up to further promote two year old racing ( I like to call it two year old ruining... the more you push the babies the more you wreck).
[VVV] You need to do your Homework before shooting from the hip.
Way back at its inception the APG was a 2yo Pacing Colts, Geldings & Fillies Series ONLY.
The man who was the driving force behind it all, George Aiken, only recently passed away.
I attened the 1st APG sale ever and the following year sold a yearling in the 2nd APG Sale held. I've seen it every single step of the way. A 2yo Pacing Series was all it was ever meant to be and it is all that it should ever have been.
The 3yo series, Trotters & so on was added much later on down the track & upon being judged as largely unsuccessful those additions were dropped.
As for ruining 2yos, again...do your homework.
Statistical analysis of a huge number of Australian Standardbreds with regard to wastage in fact revealed the EXACT OPPOSITE to that which you claim above.
Not only was there no appreciable wastage occurring as a result of horses beginning to race as 2yos but in fact there was an indication that horses who started early had more starts lifetime & earned more $ throughout their career than those who started at 3yrs & beyond. Did it occurr to you that despite falling foaling numbers in both Australia and NZ over the past decade or more...we are running pretty much the same number of races in 2011 as we did in the mid to late 1990's...with close on half the number of foals per year?
The Australian Standardbred of today is starting its career earlier, having more starts per year and it is racing for more years than any of its predecessors.
God save the owners who, for as long as I can remember, have been getting the rough end of the pineapple due to the selfishness of a number a noisy groups.
[VVV] Again, you need to do your homework.A recent industry wide HRA survey revealed the vast majority of Breeders (nearly 80%) are also Racing Owners.