Different Aspects to Programming

[Messenger]

Well, he deserves a 6000 reward

[Fan of Jate]

Cheers for that feedback Richard. You are right , as the framework is developed the IT system does take a lot of work as well. I believe the software for the draft WA system will take some time to develop hence the slowness of its implementation. So there may be lessons there for HRA.
One thing we don't want is any new handicapping system coming in halfway through a season.


But most important of all my psychic abilities don't seem to transfer into my punting exploits, a couple of small losing bets last night are testament to that.

[Messenger]

It seems strange finishing a meeting which has six $120k Gp1 races on the program, with a $7k C1 as the last (Melton on Saturday night)
On the positive side, I guess they know that it will pay its way

[Messenger]

41 minutes between race 4 and race 5 at Horsham today - you have to be joking

[Messenger]

Ray Chaplin has done more work on his report regarding the importance of Excitement and looked at HRV following the American business model again in its decision to go with more races but less meetings
Here is an excerpt:

"The USA model has failed to grow wagering
Latest 2017 Year to date wagering statistics

Race days – 3.21%

Purse money + 1.75%

Total wagered – 6.6%

These results follow a similar wagering decline trend in recent seasons

Problem – Inability to fill large race number programs with sufficient field sizes to maximize wagering

Fundamental Reason – Lack of racing product due to less foals being bred, due to declining participation rates and public interest in harness racing

USA industry remains reliant upon slots income to survive


Ramifications of reducing total Victorian Harness Racing Meetings by 30 in 2017 /18 season, but increasing total number of races and stake money

What will the TAB (Sky Racing 1) replace these meetings with – 30 more thoroughbred meetings, 60 more greyhound meetings or a combination of both?

How many of the additional harness races programmed will fall outside of prime waging hours?

What will be the impact of these changes on market share for harness racing market share over time – positive or negative?"

It really got me thinking - if our reduced meetings results in extra meets for the dogs and/or gallops, our market share would have to struggle to grow

[Fan of Jate]

You are spot on Kev. From R.Chaplins excerpt, the fundamental reasons stood out for me. This is where you go to fix the problem. We need a couple more home grown champions such as Lenny and Hector and draw the crowds the money then follows. For those who dont get it, if you dont help and then reward the local smallish breeders, trainers/owners and other plebs involved then you die on the vine and slowly. The facts speak for themselves, especially in the breeding side of it. I support the local stallions and overseas stallions 50% each but if you breed to sell from a local stallion then you are on a hiding to nothing.
Will people go to a race meeting that has 12 races on a Wednesday night in winter anywhere? I doubt it. So does that mean everything will be squeezed into a Friday night? I hear that figures are up at Menangle so there are some lessons there.

I cant work out why greyhound racing is/seems to be getting more of the Govt $,good exposure in the print and seems to get a good run on SKY 1 & 2 as well. Probably because the action is fast and there is plenty of it. Races last about 20 seconds (Think T20)

Having said that, states are going through handicapping/programming change as we speak and that needs time to settle in- probably 12 months.

[Messenger]

Ray Chaplin has done more work on his report regarding the importance of Excitement and looked at HRV following the American business model again in its decision to go with more races but less meetings
Here is an excerpt:

"The USA model has failed to grow wagering
Latest 2017 Year to date wagering statistics

Race days – 3.21%

Purse money + 1.75%

Total wagered – 6.6%

These results follow a similar wagering decline trend in recent seasons

Problem – Inability to fill large race number programs with sufficient field sizes to maximize wagering

Fundamental Reason – Lack of racing product due to less foals being bred, due to declining participation rates and public interest in harness racing

USA industry remains reliant upon slots income to survive


Ramifications of reducing total Victorian Harness Racing Meetings by 30 in 2017 /18 season, but increasing total number of races and stake money

What will the TAB (Sky Racing 1) replace these meetings with – 30 more thoroughbred meetings, 60 more greyhound meetings or a combination of both?

How many of the additional harness races programmed will fall outside of prime waging hours?

What will be the impact of these changes on market share for harness racing market share over time – positive or negative?"

It really got me thinking - if our reduced meetings results in extra meets for the dogs and/or gallops, our market share would have to struggle to grow

I received the following reply from David Martin:

"Thanks for the question. In isolation, any increase in race numbers by other codes would have the effect of reducing our market share. That’s what I talked about in the forum, whereby the Vic Greyhounds had run 480 more races this year than last year (till end of May), and by comparison Vic trots had run approx. 150 less races (due to decisions taken prior to my arrival).



In terms of reduced meetings, the timeslots become important. The majority of our 30 meeting reduction in 2017/18 will be on the Wednesday day timeslot, noting that we will still run a Wednesday night on those occasions. The gallops or dogs may elect to fill the Wednesday day timeslot, or irrespective of our decision they may choose other timeslots as the dogs have already been doing over the last 2-3 years. Wednesday day was one of our lower wagering timeslots, so by transferring those races to other meetings in more preferable timeslots, there is a net benefit to the industry by way of wagering and reduced cost. Also, bigger meetings have enabled meetings to start in the 5-6pm window which has the highest turnover/race for trots. In summary, it’s not the number of meetings that’s important, it’s the total number of races, and the wagering/race.



In reality, we have to take positive actions to grow wagering and market share. We can’t continue on the path we were on, which has reduced our turnover and market share for a number of years. The changes we have made in the last 3-4 months have already increased the number of horses participating, as well as turnover and market share. That is evident just by looking at race fields and turnover each week/month."

[Messenger]

Sad to see only 6 races at Horsham on Thursday - they extended noms for the Horsham Guineas (big title for only $7k now) and made a field but the Princess of the Wimmera (another big title for a $7k race now) didn't come up

https://www.harness.org.au/fields.cf...&fromstate=vic

[Amlin]

When clubs raced for $5000 the extra 2k made it a race worth aiming for, now it becomes just another race like the rest of the 7k ones each week in my opinion.

Perhaps they should have been made 10k, though the argument would be that you might struggle to get a field at Horsham for 10k!

They still deserve a chance to run a good quality race though, like the other "smaller" clubs.

[arlington]

When clubs raced for $5000 the extra 2k made it a race worth aiming for, now it becomes just another race like the rest of the 7k ones each week in my opinion.

Perhaps they should have been made 10k, though the argument would be that you might struggle to get a field at Horsham for 10k!

They still deserve a chance to run a good quality race though, like the other "smaller" clubs.

Totally agree Kyle, $7000 would be a drop in prize money for this "smaller" club's signature races.