The Turf Guide, Saturday 24th February 1973
Editor: Charles Faull
THE WRONG ATTITUDE
Have you ever listened to punters discussing the race-card before a meeting? What are the questions usually asked?
“What have you heard? … What’s good for today? … Do you know if they are having a go with this or that horse? … Do you think jockey X will try against his own stable on horse Y? … Do you think jockey so and so will ride better today than last week? … “
And the answers! “I got this as a good good thing from jockey Smith or trainer Jones … Don’t touch that horse it’s not on the job … They gave me this as the business … The stable are not having a go with horse Z because the owner is away …”
And the post-mortems after the race! “Horse A should never have got beat. The jockey was no good … Did you see jockey Smith get boxed in deliberately? … Horse B was no good for horse C … Horse D was pulled up because they stole their market and the price was’nt right …”
Now, if you were a stranger to racing and you heard this sort of talk, what would you think? Certainly not that racing was straight. I doubt whether you would ever consider making racing your favourite pastime.
The sad part of the whole story is that anyone who makes a careful study of the form of horses racing in South Africa, and knows what effect weight carried by a horse has on it’s performance over various distances, will realize that racing under the strict control of the Jockey Club is ninety-nine percent clean.
What causes this harmful “wrong attitude” of so many race-goers? An obvious cause is complete ignorance of handicapping and the effect weight has on a horse’s performance. How many races-goers realized that In Full Flight was giving eight lengths in weight to a horse of the calibre of Gold Flame in the Metropolitan Handicap, or that Mazarin was conceding seven lengths in weight to In Full Flight in the Durban July?
Just as much as ignorance is a cause of this “wrong attitude”, so is human weakness. If I back a winner, it is I who have shown good judgement. If I back a loser, it is someone else’s fault – someone like the jockey or the trainer. Have you ever heard a punter who backed an eight-to-one winner accuse the rider of the beaten favourite of dishonesty?
Racing has been cleaned up over the past twenty years, but unfortunately it’s pas remains “dirty”. The only way to clear the name of the game is to put punters in a position where they can blame only themselves when they back a loser.
To do this you have to teach them everything about the technical side of the sport and then feed them with all the other information needed in assessing the chances of horses engaged to race; information regarding a horse’s fitness when he has been off the course for some time; information regarding a horse’s ability when he appears on the scene for the first time, or after a long lay-off,
This information has to come from the owners and trainers who must now begin to realize that stakes can only increase if betting increases. Because you own or train a horse, it does not mean that you are entitled to be in a privileged position in the betting market when this horse is running.
Off-course tote facilities will not attract many new punters into the game. They will only make it easier for existing racing enthusiasts to lay their bets.
It is time for South Africa to follow the example of leading racing countries such as Australia, New Zealand and America, where it is not only the Jockey Club who treats the punter as “king”.
There the trainers feed the public all important information regarding their horses via the press, thereby making the selection of winners purely a matter of studying form.
The Turf Guide – Saturday 10th March 1973
Editor: Charles Faull
QUANTITY FOLLOWS QUALITY
Off-Course Tote
There has been a trend in recent years for the retail trade to decentralise their outlets so as to obtain higher turnovers.
This geographical dynamism has been brought into racing in the form of off-course tote facilities which have similarly resulted in substantial tote turnover increases.
From where do these increases come? Primarily, from existing racing enthusiasts who previously did not pursue their sport to the full due to inertia or geographical disadvantage.
To a lesser degree, it attracts impulse punters from amongst office workers and residents in the neighbourhood of the tote office itself.
Then of course there is the inevitable gambler!
Off-course tote facilities obviously boost tote turn-overs but this QUANTITATIVE BOOST has a finite limit unless accompanied by a QUALITATIVE boost.
This qualitative boost we seek must have two objectives:
(1) Removal of the wrong attitudes of punters on the one hand, and owners and trainers on the other; and
(2) Improvement of the standard of horse being bred and allowed to race in South Africa, as well as the standard of racing.
As pointed out in our article two weeks ago, these wrong attitudes are a function of ignorance, lack of understanding, and human weakness.
Lack of understanding can be removed by publishing technical information generally about horses and racing.
And how do we combat ignorance? We have to give the punter all the information he needs. This brings us to the role of the PRESS and the racing administrations (the Jockey Club and the Turf Clubs) in improving racing.
The Role of the Press
It is not the function of the qualified racing journalist to simply please those in control of racing, or those who own, train or ride horses. It is surely up to him to provide constructive comment on and criticism of jockeyship, the attitudes of owners and trainers, and administration whenever this is necessary. This is certainly a characteristic of racing journalism in Britain, Australia and North America where the editors of newspapers realize the great part played by their racing journalists in increasing newspaper circulations.
Why do the press in South Africa only give coverage on the gallops and the condition of horses engaged in the major races such as the Durban July, Holdiday Inns or Metropolitan? Perhaps the newspaper editors do not permit them sufficient space on other occasions.
In Australia, the leading Daily Newspapers contain as much as four pages of information regarding forthcoming meetings and the horses engaged therein.
There are some owners and trainers in the Cape who are prepared to provide the necessary information required by the public for all races, and thereby further the cause of racing. Those withholding this information can surely never complain when the growth in tote turnovers, and therefore racing stakes, fall below much published expectations.
To conclude, I would like to publish an extract from a letter written by one of the leading racing , correspondents in the U.S.A.: “Regarding your question on “speed tests” – or, as we call them – “workouts”, it is almost universally required in racing states in the United States that these trials be reported and published in our paper …..before a horse may start.
In California, for example, there must be published a horse’s three latest workouts. At most tracks, when a horse comes onto the track for a speed trial, his exercise boy must notify the official clockers and press representatives of the horse’s identity before he works…” – Leon Rasmussen.
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