GALLOPERS VIEWS

6.12.11 Notice To All Racing Authorities - Easy Way To Increase Turnover

.....  Racing NSW today released what they call "Enhancements" to their Benchmark handicapping system following a review completed by their Racing Industry Consultative Group. One of the main reasons given for some of the decisions taken by this Group were in regard to betting turnover.

Now, we all know, owners, trainers, punters, all industry participants, that most, if not all decisions made by race clubs & administrators are dependent on what affect these decisions have on betting turnover. In fact, changes are only made in this day & age if administrators believe betting turnover would be affected positively.

Let's leave the debate of the ongoing court action between Racing NSW against Betfair & Sportsbet to one side. Let us also leave the complaints of Racing Victoria executives saying corporate bookies are alleged parasites on the industry.

Gallopers can in fact provide one simple strategy for the Australian Racing Board, & all state racing bodies to increase turnover, and the increase will happen over night.

About three years ago, state racing bodies adopted a ratings based handicapping system. This system basically allocated a rating each & every horse racing within their jurisdiction. Happy days, once all states introduce this ratings based handicapping system, everything would be fine & lovely in the Australian world of horse racing. Right? Wrong!

Alas, each state adopted a different approach. This meant horses travelling from one state to another, may not actually be meeting on a level playing field because they are not assessed in the same way & therefore may not be given a weight that equates to their actual form. In fact one state, Queensland, only adopted ratings based races this racing season, after all other states had been scheduling these races for the past three seasons.

Think about how confusing this is to owners, trainers & especially punters. Sure, some of these industry players are only interested in one state, only want to race horses or to place bets in one state. So these people are only interested in that states rules of handicapping.

Seriously, those people would amount to less than 5% of the industry. The majority of owners, trainers & punters are looking at race in at least three states, probably more. And for each & every state there is a different set of handicapping rules.

So, Gallopers simple strategy is this. The Australian Racing Board should instruct all state bodies to implement immediately, one, & one only handicapping system that is put in place Australia wide. How easy would that be! Every owner, trainer & punter in every state of Australia would be operating under exactly the same set of handicapping rules.

Once all & sundry understood the handicapping system & knew exactly why every horse was handicapped in a certain way, turnover would sky rocket over night.

So come on Bob Bentley (Chairman of the ARB), Gallopers challenge you to enforce all state bodies to adopt the same handicapping system throughout Australia. The Australian Racing Board controls Australian racing, surely they have the power to initiate such a move. Surely.

Alas, surely not. The ARB is the typical toothless tiger, scared witless of upsetting each individual state for fear of losing funding. In saying that, individual states would not take too kindly to being told how to run their own operations, especially Racing Victoria who host the holy grail of Australian racing the Melbourne Spring carnival featuring the Melbourne Cup. No one, absolutely no one dare tells Racing Victoria run their show let alone how to handicap horses.

Therefore, owners, trainer & punters alike, the life blood of this industry, are left lamenting, scratching their heads in trying to understand why if they race a horse at Wodonga one week, then Albury the next, the two divided by a line on a map, their horses race under different handicapping systems. Or if you race at the Gold Coast one week, then Murwillumbah the next, the two less than a half an hours drive apart, the horses will be racing under different handicapping systems. And if a trainer from Sydney, or Brisbane takes their horse to Melbourne for their cherished spring carnival, once again they will take with them handicaps rated under a different system.

Does this happen anywhere else in the world? Do horses racing in England go to Ireland to race under different handicapping rules? Do horses in France go to Germany to race under different handicapping rules?

In fact, in this global age of horses travelling throughout the world to race, there should be one international handicapping system adopted by the entire racing world. Whoops, getting a tad ahead of ourselves there, should fix our own backyard first, shouldn't we.

Changing or allegedly enhancing the benchmark system is akin to changing taxation laws. All it does is complicate the system even further than it already is complicated. It simply makes it harder for the people involved in the industry & makes others like lawyers, accountants, administrators richer & more secure & industry participants less secure.

Please keep it simple. One set of handicapping rules for the entire country. With simplicity like this, it will be easier for all participants to understand, & it will encourage more people to have a bet.

Come on, we challenge the ARB to take action now!

Gallopers 6.12.11