I received the following via pm

"Agree with Toohard, you won't get the punters back to the track, it is easier for them to punt from home, and the gaps between races are not too long for stay at home punters, they're often punting on something else in the interim.

Kev we already have a point of difference with the gallops without revisiting the whip issue, our horses are in harness pulling a sulky and you don't have to be a tiny or emaciated human to drive one in races or in training.

The days of drawing large crowds to race meetings are largely gone and whilst we do need to provide some entertainment during our meetings we, as you said Kev, aren't a music venue and providing alternative entertainment to the racing shouldn't be our first priority, though something/somewhere to entertain/deposit the kids would be helpful to allow their parents to focus on the racing. And a little music between or after races, even if only piped over the PA can't do much harm. And quality affordable food and drink is a must.

Something that animated racing will never be able to duplicate in the future is the ability for humans to engage first hand, one on one, with that wonderful animal the horse. We need to accept that the large crowds are gone and do more to integrate those people who do come to the races, because of an interest in the races, not because of free alternative entertainment, into our harness racing family.

Our horses have largely disappeared from urban environments, the ability to see up close, to touch and interact with a horse for so so many people these days is gone. We need to bring that back at our race meetings. To have people be able to get close to a horse, to touch and feel their silky coats and feel their warm breath on the back of their hands, to be able to look into a horses eyes and see the love, trust and bond that they have with humans. We need more people to be able to experience the feel of sitting behind a horse.

We need to get our people interacting more with those who go to the races to gain and retain their interest, changes need to be made which allow our race day guests to interact with our participants more without compromising or suggesting integrity is compromised on raceday by doing so.

Stable areas have become sterile zones, with access denied to non participants, drivers aren't allowed to bet anymore so are rarely able to interact with the public for fear of being caught too close to a tote machine ( or these days I guess standing next to anyone with a betting app on their phone could be crossing that line).

We need our drivers to mingle with the public whilst wearing their colours, how else do we expect newbies to recognise them. Our trainers if not quite adopting "colours" such as American trainers wear should be encouraged to wear embroidered polos or shirts proclaiming their and their stables identity and mingle with the public. We need to modify our stable areas and pre race parades ( on track as in the U.S.) and give the public every opportunity to view our horses and what we do.

We need locations in the public areas where our human stars can be found and interact with the public during a race meeting. And we need harness racing ambassadors amongst the people at the races who can answer questions from the public on all things from explaining different bet types to how to place a bet. On how to become part of a syndicate, to where to find horses for sale outright, or when our yearling sales are on, to how to find a trainer in their area and an idea of what training costs maybe and what deals can be done with trainers or breeders. How much prizemoney can be won and the bonus schemes available. What the gear on a horse is, why some horses wear more and others less, what happens to former racehorses. What the different license categories are, and how to get one, how to join their local harness club, the identities of our social and regular media outlets, etc etc etc. Paying someone or someones to specifically interact with the public one on one, or one on small groups between races is more important then paying a musician to entertain them.

In other words we have to stop relying on people knocking on harness racings door of their own volition to get in but go out amongst them and invite them in. We don't need huge crowds in the hope that some get involved, we need to make everyone in our small crowds feel welcomed and keen to be more involved"


The highlights are my doing
The HERO program front and centre at the track would certainly fulfill the first highlight