IDEAS on how we can improve Harness Racing

[Halwes]

Kevin I hear what you say, I do.
You raise the issue of crowd attraction. It is of course relevant. However the crowd issue is in fact a separate matter. Whats important is to list topics and tease each of these topics and flesh out points in a problem solving way. In the Quality Management world there is a tool called Ishikawa Diagram, also called Fishbone Diagram. This is a tool to facilitate identify key areas where inter-relationships exist. Where there are issues that cross overs, these become part of the equation to help arriving at potential solutions.
It's a shame you and me and others aren't heard.
Crowd attraction is difficult and does need a lot of discussion as indeed does the issue of the spectacle.
In my next post I an going to talk about AFL and Soccer and how it is difficult to get heard too about critically important issues.. I just can't seem to log on on my lap top. I find it painful and error prone to wrote posts on my phone as I do all the time

[Halwes]

I don't like Peter Vallandi much.. But occasionally he says good things. He is in the news today re the Premier's decision not to proceed with an $800 million upgrade of the ANZ stadium in Sydney. He wants to spend good money on mostly regional places... this pleases the locals..youre doing more things at regional places rather than spending heaps on one stadium with the $800 million..though I think it would be less than 800 millions due to the need for dough everywhere...His idea about crowds is similar to your one. He says that places can become community assets , if the customer experience is a very good one... he said all.this today but of course he is talking about a code, rugby, ( although he might be thinking more broadly) the rugby code has more grip than Harness.. he talks about crowds of 20000. Despite the very cold place of Ballarat, I do agree with you, largely for the reason that Ballarat is a festival place, sport is a big thing there, and Eureka stuff is still powerful but should be even more powerful. The Council are proud, Premier Andrews was behind the AFL playing regionally there. The problem with Melton is that it has no soul, it's populated by families too buggered to go to Harness, plenty of undesirables etc etc. Melton Harness was thrown money to get its home track set up, but not a Zac was provided after that in essence. So in my view it has failed. It suits trainers to be at Melton, but if they are making a modest living... It's ok as far as they concerned.
Ballarat is s good choice.. Scheduling winter races requires more discussion but it's too cold in winter. The set up years ago was awful...The betting area was down in a low area ... I thought it shocking..but I am a fan of Ballarat. Meetings could be scheduled to dove tail in with an AFL game on the same day. Again though if Harness Racing ignores or only consults who it thinks it should, it will likely fail... of course if I dont see improving the spectacle like I suggest,I won't be interested . I am a good person to attract as living far away, I'd use Ballarat
accommodation, probably go to the sound and light show again (blood on the southern cross.. fabulous) and the sovereign hill dinner etc etc
Kevin, they will have to find money among competing interests. The AFL fanatics wherever they are, will want a lot of dough thrown at ground redevelopment for the footy ground.. And every govt is broke because of COVID so getting dough for Ballarat Harness will be exceedingly difficult . Pray to the Lord and get the rosary beads out too to pray to Our Lady
PS we here at albury wodonga suffer because of the tyranny of distance... forgotten, yet the region is large and earns a lot of money in agriculture.. But harness up here is not nascent, it's dying...
Finally, it's instructive to look at the demographics.Melb pop is 4.9 mill so is Sydney's rounding up . But when you compare pop in NSW and Vic , the difference is stark...8 mill in NSW and 6.49 mill. That suggest on the surface that NSW regions might attract more crowds because there are simply more people in the Regions.. though it's not that simple.. as NSW is so big. Lots of things for discussion... again such a pity we don't become part of the discussions.
.. you know I the next 10 years or less, people will demand to be consulted...im certain of that... so the position description of CEOs will mandate community consultation and expect these people to bring very very good data with them.

[Mighty Atom]

Rod may be right Terry
1609m dominance was IMO all about the fascination of posting fast times (to go on a horse's record), copying of the North American scene, and competing with the gallops and dogs codes who's races take less time (for broadcasting). Not that I can see how that is really relevant with the gallops as they take forever to get them in the barriers but then again they are the dominant code and the time generally goes hand in hand with previewing their race - something they don't really do for us.
A huge number of people would agree with you about continuous mile racing being boring but I cannot agree that the MM is just another race now (although I have said that it often falls flat and IMO that is due to it being a mile)

The people they need to get interested are also the young. I have rarely got to Melton and have only been to Menangle for one big night but I think they are endeavoring to attract families from their regions - I wouldn't know their crowd breakdowns. Some believe that where these 'metro' tracks are located is a big problem. The off track offering needs to compliment the racing as competition for the entertainment dollar is red hot nowadays. Time between races has to be utilized or reduced. Us oldies who used to be happy dashing up the concrete steps at the Showgrounds now want a good meal and a comfy seat . In this regard I can recommend a couple of tracks such as Ballarat. It has been along decades since I have been to Bendigo and Shepparton and must get there to see how they stack up nowadays.

You, I and everybody cannot be disillusioned by people who disagree as we don't know it all

Hi Kev, you are right it's the younger brigade we have to entice back to harness racing it's going to be a struggle. A huge problem there is no media coverage or very little when it comes to harness racing unlike thoroughbreds so the Millenials just don't know much about it.
When I was a very young bloke back in the 70's newspaper coverage in WA was on par with the gallops. I used to cut out full-page ads advertising the horses/trots. Never liked the word trots it conjured up some bad images but no one called it harness racing back then. Remember running up the lawn embankment to the betting ring (barely legal gambling age) then over to the tote for my quinellas having no idea what I had in my hand then down to the rails close as I could get to the action. That's what we gotta get back to the fun and the excitement of the horses racing although big ask I think these days. I still have many newspaper cut-outs from way back showing the extent of marketing harness racing it would be a huge boost if we could replicate this today. I've posted a couple below circa 1968.

[Mighty Atom]

Hi Terry, you probably got stacks of Halwes pics but this is one I found after his Miracle Mile win 1968 (black and white, unfortunately). The caption below read: Tasmania's Pegasus on wheels, Halwes at Harold Park recently, Jack Watts, the doyen of Sydney trotting trainers, was even moved to say he might be better than Walla Walla.

[Halwes]

Hi Kevin
Thanks so much I hadn't seen the words in the caption, so good to find something new. You know, the doyen of trotting In NSW, Jack Watts really knew who was the best horse horse ever in Australia. It was such a pity he was scratched in the 68 Inter.. he was so superior to any horse. I keep remembering that I never ever saw him weaken on any run. He was fast and training was different then, so forget the times of others, and nothing could beat him over 3000 m. Blacks a Fake didn't look like a top horse in running, but Halwes would beat him from the death seat if they met .. which of course couldn't happen

[Messenger]

Thanks Rod

[Messenger]

I know HRA http://www.harness.org.au/media-room/top-stories/#lead is the place for news
But searching for an announcement I looked at HRV's https://www.thetrots.com.au/news/articles/
When you hover on News on the homepage and select All News you will get 5 large pics/stories and 8 smaller pics/stories to choose from (on my desktop anyway)
BUT this site is wasting opportunity and somewhat insulting as the 5 large stories are from October 2019 ????!!!!!

[Halwes]

I wrote a detailed post about harness and included a related and also detailed rationale about the notion of improvement in sport , it took me 40 minutes .. I lost all of it ... it is trying to recall it but it’s a goner. It included a very Very detailed Rationale about afl too... detailed arguments to improve that sport a lot.. all lost .. not happy
But in relation to standing starts. This is a bare bones summary of what I lost. I’d start to reintroduce them in the premier race .. the interdominion. I’d make the longest heat ( probably) a standing start. I’d give trainers notice to adjust 12 -18months . This would reintroduce the skills of horsemanship, diligence, persistence, patience and spectacle.. the miserable punter can then do their homework and see what trainers and horses do the work with selected horses and prepare them. You might have heats of pacing cups and also have a standing start in those. We need to get races with the top horses entered, so pacing cups and interdominions would contain a standing start You might have to shave small amounts of winning dividends of other races, or have meetings which drop of the last race to divert winnings to the premier races. If we get more horses like Poster Boy to enter the premier events, the better. The name Group 1 is well known but it’s not really a marketing term really, nor does it distinguish harness from thoroughbred racing. Having said all this, yes it’s improvement but not game changing. We need more Hunter Cups, we need more of those tortuous 3000 metre races and 3000 metre heats in big races .

[Messenger]

Terry, you will have to convince the industry there is a benefit to returning to stand starts again - $$$
The top horses already target the premier events. The bigger the prize the more you attract. These big prizemoney events are already generally receiving more money than they bring in - money diverted from general revenue - people understand this and seem to agree with the system

[Messenger]

Surely every job has a person who is responsible
It is now 10pm and the replays for the 7.30, 8.00 and 8.30 races at Terang are still not up