How do we make Harness Racing strong via today's sports betting market

[Danielle]

This is a very specialised area - media and marketting. How to ramp up the image of the sport needs professional advice from people who are qualified and expert at giving such advice. I would recommend that the industry invests in professional marketting consultants to make an informed report with key recommendations for the board and membership. Sadly, many industries have dwindled because of poor marketting, research and/or investment decisions. I can tell you as a social scientist, we know that the most successful businesses engage in ongoing research and development to ensure that their product is ahead of the market and provides what the market needs. Is Harness Racing Australia engaged in ongoing Quality marketing and research. I underline the word quality - because there are some people who do such consultancy work, however, they are not suitably qualified or skilled to do what is needed.

[Mighty Atom]

My incursion into "trotting'' as it was called in those days occurred way back in 1967 when at the age of 17 I attended the Interdominions in Perth which was an unbelievable event. The interest generated by media saturation was one of the reasons a huge crowd was in attendance. We are talking horses of the calibre of First Lee ,Tongue Twister from N.S.W., Goulburn View ( second in final ) from Vic, Robin Dundee and Waitaki Hanover from N.Z. ,Minuteman, Bon Adios from S.A., the great Halwes from Tassy and Blue Pennant, Binshaw ( winner of final ) and Coneeda (third in final) from W.A. and 7 other interstate horses. I know that trotting was held in higher regard back then but media advertising was a lot more prevalent and I think more advertising is needed today particularly in all major harness events (not just skyracing ads where you are preaching to the converted) if you want people on track. The fact that so many interstate and N.Z. horses were in W.A. before the advent of chartered air flights shows how important the I.D. was on the pacing calender. Back to my story.........I continued for the next few years as a punter until I considered it a mug's game but my love of the horses and racing steered me towards owning my own horse, I was not interested in syndication as I wanted to be more personally involved. I purchased a city horse I had seen racing and sent him to trainer friend of mine. After a time he decided to cut back on his team and as my bloke was just running around with the field he returned the horse to me. I was in a dilemma what to do so I decided to take out an owner/trainer permit without having any experience in training pacers. As I considered myself reasonably intelligent and a lovely horse that taught me a lot we never looked back. Under my training he improved out of sight. Here lies another dilemma in getting people interested in trotting/pacing, back then as an owner I was able to obtain a trainers permit on a fairly limited knowledge of training I'd be surprised if that is the case now and it appears the only alternative is syndication with a million other owners to reduce training fees. I feel the stewards now have take control of horses out of the trainers hands to some degree in an attempt to make it more professional and at the same time taken the fun element out the equation. Burgeoning costs is another show stopper many years ago it was the battlers sport where any person could have a horse or two in their back yard - not any more. The solution to these problems I don't know but one thing I am certain of is that city racing has to return to Saturday nights not Friday especially at Melton if you want people back at the track. Who wants to rush home from work on a Friday night and then race off to the track? - not many.

[gutwagon]

YES Rod, must get city racing back to Saturday nights. Couldn't agree more.
As for melton they should run free shuttle busses to and from the city on race nights. Its way to expensive to get a taxi there and to hard to get public transport.
Another thing not helping is that there are just too many races to bet on nowadays , you can bet on races somewhere in the world all day and all night !

[Amlin]

Without doubt social media is the way forward, but what we are seeing at Victorian level no doubt needs some work. We do see pictures of the winners after each event at Melton but they are almost always blurry, clearly captured on a mobile phone camera. And by the way, how many people photographed in the stalls after a race with their horse have inappropriate footwear on!


Agree regarding syndications, have seen numerous examples where there have been many happy owners, but also recall having 50 individual owners of one horse proving an inconvenience for the board as they had to register 50 new owners in the computer!


Horses aren't household names like they used to be. For those on Facebook, below is something I have had a bit to do with which just shows how people will warm to the right campaign to positively promote our sport in social media.


Take notice next time you are in a waiting room somewhere - people are always on their phones, and I reckon they are on Facebook or similar, not looking up topics on a search engine.


https://www.facebook.com/popularalm


Regarding Cranbourne, the facilities in place are more than adequate for a Saturday night type crowd in terms of dining room, lawn area etc. And the population is out in this area too, though they won't commit to getting involved in an activity that is only on occasionally. It needs to be say the first Saturday of the month, so everyone knows that's when we go to the trots.


You would be relying on patrons in cars though as the train takes a good hour from the city and then probably a half hour walk from the station to the track, so this places Cranbourne in a similar position to Melton. It would be quicker to catch a country train to Warragul where the track is 500 metres from the station and the population growth is projected just as high as Melton or Cranbourne in future years.


In order to capture a city and inner suburban audience and bring them back to the track (like when they used to go to the Valley) you would need a track built in the inner east/south east, no further out than say Oakleigh.


Ironically there is a training track in Oakleigh still - perhaps a deal could be done with the council to develop this and surrounding land into a second, true "metro" track?

[Lucky Camilla"s Lovechild]

Kyle, I dont think we can support 2 metro tracks in Victoria. And besides , I dont think Oakleigh council will tie up crown land in harness racing, when they can flog it off for housing development if they get crash strapped. We really needed to develope the showgrounds further, but I guess it would have meant getting in bed with the Agricultural society, and then it may have been the same scenario as it was with Moonee Valley racing club.

[Mitch]

In my opinion there are 5 key things that need to be addressed collectively by all state bodies, endorsed and supported by HRA for harness racing to sustain its rightful place. I have summarised them below.

1. World Class Integrity. This includes but is not limited to;
Comprehensive drug testing regime including out of competition testing.
Introduction of transparent levels for certain substances.
Consistent enforcement of race tactics and driving capability (including the COT rule and how it is applied).
Restricted access to race day stalls to licensed persons and properly identified owners only at all venues Australia wide.
Introduction of relegation rule.

2. Improved Professionalism Across the Industry. This includes but is not limited to;
Introduction of a premium drivers licence for professional drivers only. Limited by state and capability tested.
Introduction of professional drivers only meetings in all states.
Dress code for trainers & drivers at all TAB meetings.
Strict rules re use of mobile phones and other communication devices on course by licensed drivers competing on race day.
Investment in youth development programs.
National Trainer/Driver development centre.

3. Programming & Alignment. This includes but is not limited to;
All states to align to either Friday or Saturday night for feature Metropolitan meeting with 30mins between races at all venues.
Better coordination across all states in programming of feature events, especially juvenile races & mares races.
Ongoing review and adjustment to the balance of conditioning racing based on current horse population.
Improved programming for fillies & mares to prolong racing careers and to earn genuine black type status.
Ownership of the PM time slot. Minimise TAB meetings during the daytime, leave this space for non TAB events.
Introduction of a Sunday grass track racing calendar in eastern states by 2016.

4. National Consolidation of Services. This includes but it not limited to;
Creation of RISA style services centre for Harness Racing to remove state duplication for administration functions such a registration, racing etc.
Complete review of all governing body functions and realign duplicated functions into a national centre

5. New Minimum Standard for Infrastructure & Facilities. This includes but is not limited to;
State by state review of tracks and facilities. Reduction required.
Greater accountability placed on clubs re general standards of all services.
Free entry for owners with horses engaged for all meetings Australia wide.
Free entry to general public for every meeting outside 1 nominated feature meeting per club each year.

There are more things required under each area and plenty of detail to be determined and agreed but hopefully the summary above gives a reasonable insight into my point of view.

If we are able to achieve the above then, and only then, will we have a product that is worth investing in a comprehensive marketing, attraction and recruitment program. Investing without the above is pointless as the product isn't good enough or consistent enough.

I was once taught a very good lesson:
'great execution will always make up for poor marketing but great marketing will never make up for poor execution.'

The above will also create a wagering product that is more desirable to punters, big & small.

Harness racing needs to be rebuilt brick by brick starting with the core fundamentals that make a great product. It requires ruthless intent and application of a clear set of goals collectively by the state bodies, ably supported by HRA.

It can happen.

[Messenger]

I like your thinking Mitch. Realizing that we must get the execution right first cannot be overstated.

A couple of small points. I understand that night slots are preferable but I am worried about making day meetings non TAB as I am not sure they would survive and I would miss nice sunny days at the trots. Of course this also means a lot of country tracks would have to light up or die. Most of us want a shorter time between races but I wonder whether the TAB has something to do with this too.

There are a lot of cluey people putting valuable thought into this question. I think I will email HRA CEO Andrew Kelly again to let him know that this thread compliments his recent survey - I did not receive any acknowledgement of my first email (that to me is something that should be mandatory for any well run administration)

[Amlin]

Agree Leigh - the remaining land at Oakleigh as an example is too small anyway, and the present board will be flat out paying for what has been developed at Melton anyway.


While the location of Melton is on the right side of town for the participants, the higher amount of disposable income is on the opposite side of town. A dilemma well beyond the control of our sport, and something we are stuck with. Melbourne is a big place, and potential new owners from the Eastern suburbs won't travel out to the other side of town to watch their horses race in peak hour traffic for a 5:30 start on a Friday.


Regarding Mitch's views on where the future direction should be headed for the sport, these are the kinds of strategies that should be being discussed and implemented at state and national level but are the various boards thinking of intelligent ideas like these? If not, what are they discussing for the future at their monthly meetings?

[mightymo]

In my opinion there are 5 key things that need to be addressed collectively by all state bodies, endorsed and supported by HRA for harness racing to sustain its rightful place. I have summarised them below.

1. World Class Integrity. This includes but is not limited to;
Comprehensive drug testing regime including out of competition testing.
Introduction of transparent levels for certain substances.
Consistent enforcement of race tactics and driving capability (including the COT rule and how it is applied).
Restricted access to race day stalls to licensed persons and properly identified owners only at all venues Australia wide.
Introduction of relegation rule.

2. Improved Professionalism Across the Industry. This includes but is not limited to;
Introduction of a premium drivers licence for professional drivers only. Limited by state and capability tested.
Introduction of professional drivers only meetings in all states.
Dress code for trainers & drivers at all TAB meetings.
Strict rules re use of mobile phones and other communication devices on course by licensed drivers competing on race day.
Investment in youth development programs.
National Trainer/Driver development centre.

3. Programming & Alignment. This includes but is not limited to;
All states to align to either Friday or Saturday night for feature Metropolitan meeting with 30mins between races at all venues.
Better coordination across all states in programming of feature events, especially juvenile races & mares races.
Ongoing review and adjustment to the balance of conditioning racing based on current horse population.
Improved programming for fillies & mares to prolong racing careers and to earn genuine black type status.
Ownership of the PM time slot. Minimise TAB meetings during the daytime, leave this space for non TAB events.
Introduction of a Sunday grass track racing calendar in eastern states by 2016.

4. National Consolidation of Services. This includes but it not limited to;
Creation of RISA style services centre for Harness Racing to remove state duplication for administration functions such a registration, racing etc.
Complete review of all governing body functions and realign duplicated functions into a national centre

5. New Minimum Standard for Infrastructure & Facilities. This includes but is not limited to;
State by state review of tracks and facilities. Reduction required.
Greater accountability placed on clubs re general standards of all services.
Free entry for owners with horses engaged for all meetings Australia wide.
Free entry to general public for every meeting outside 1 nominated feature meeting per club each year.

There are more things required under each area and plenty of detail to be determined and agreed but hopefully the summary above gives a reasonable insight into my point of view.

If we are able to achieve the above then, and only then, will we have a product that is worth investing in a comprehensive marketing, attraction and recruitment program. Investing without the above is pointless as the product isn't good enough or consistent enough.

I was once taught a very good lesson:
'great execution will always make up for poor marketing but great marketing will never make up for poor execution.'

The above will also create a wagering product that is more desirable to punters, big & small.

Harness racing needs to be rebuilt brick by brick starting with the core fundamentals that make a great product. It requires ruthless intent and application of a clear set of goals collectively by the state bodies, ably supported by HRA.

It can happen.

I think you need to get into racing administration...we need exactly these kinds of ideas and the execution of them

[Viv Strangman]

+1