Quote Originally Posted by eliteblood View Post
Who can name these horses ?

How many of the stars do you think you would be able to name if the colours were removed from the image? The horses colours IMO become an integral part of the horse.
Those of use old enough can instantly recognise Gammalite with his yellow colours and black sash. If Brian Hancock had been wearing his own orange and black checks, I wonder how many people would have known who the horse was?
I am all for promoting our drivers and feel that a lot more could be done to utilise the star appeal of the Chris Alfords, the Kerryn Mannings, the Natalie Rasmussens, etc. but I don't think them wearing a consistent set of colours is an overall benefit to the industry.
The champion horses are the real stars of the sport, those that the public identify with and get excited about. We should make it easier for this to happen by making them as identifiable as possible.
I would be surprised if drivers racing in their own colours increased betting turnover by 0.1%
The sooner this idea is discarded the better.
Our Sir Vancelot, Hondo Grafton, Blacks a Fake, Popular Alm, all of these without the colours, but I musnt be old enough because I didn’t recognise Gammalite with or without the colours. Brian did wear his black and orange checks on Our Sir Vancelot which certainly didn’t seem to stop people recognising him, though Brian would have driven how many horses out of Teeny Lodge over the years in those colours?

Lazarus raced downunder in both the All Stars colours and the Lone Star colours, I don’t think anyone had any difficulty recognising it was Lazarus. He raced in the green chevrons of Yannick Gingras in North America which can only have helped make him recognisable to them, the All Star or Lone Star colours would have meant nothing to them.

Don’t thing anyone who from downunder watching Lazarus race in NA would have struggled to recognise Lazarus, geared up in black with a subtle touch of Takter green with Gingras in the bike in his own colours. Nor anyone with more then a passing interest in NA harness racing struggle to recognise another champion in McWicked in those same races, decked out in the blue and yellow equipment of Cassie Coleman, driven by Brian Sears in white colours. Two champion horses, Lazarus and Mcwicked, two champion drivers, Gingras and Sears, the green hornet and the white knight, all recognisable to their fans and a promoters dream.