Racehorse TALK

Kingston,

I would be less worried about the gallops and more worried about the greyhounds.  The greyhounds get good turnover, despite being screwed by the trots when it comes to timeslots on TAB/Sky.  If ever non trot people got hold of TAB/Sky, trots could well be in desperate trouble.

The greys have had better turnover than trots for years now, so throw in more gallops and the trots are in dire straights.

The greys have better turnover because of the amount of meeting they have.
Harness Racing has to move with the times to survive.  We must move to Saturday Afternoon meetings as they do now in NZ.  Will only get sky2 coverage.  In Vic would only need to run the $3000 restricted meetings.
We also need to stop running bloody restricted meetings at Melton!!!!  It's like running a picnic race meeting at Flemington, stupid!!!!!!
We have bowed to the pressures from the gallops with night racing etc so surely we could have a meeting on a Sat arvo.
Also we need to move our main meeting to be all on the same night and that should be a Sat night.  Vic won't do it though because of holy Melton and the revenue they can get from functions on a Sat night.
Holy Melton is turning into a fizzer IMO.  Only been a couple of times and have no plans on going back in immediate future.
Will be beneficial in the long term but we are talking 30 years down the track!!!!

Yes harness racing needs to get its act together NSW to its credit seems to be having ago at it. I have held a harness racing  license for  30 yrs and my family has been involved in the sport for over 50yrs so i feel i have enough knowledge to make a few comments. Firstly you say no more$1.20 pops and then you say standing starts must go? These are a true handicap and make for a more even betting race. Now remember the scandal in the greyhounds about ten years ago? well they recovered from that just as harness racing will recover from the current scandal.
And if you believe that a lot of crooked things don't go on in the gallops,then i have forty acres of land under Sydney harbour i can sell you cheaply.

Mate the fact is that the gallops will never do anything about what happens in their code.  Too much money involved.

Agree ...all they do is a bit of cosmetic work every now & then

Of course the gallops are not 100% clean but the Trots have been turning over less each year for a decade now while every other form of gambling has increased so that in itself tells you something.

alcazar will you take a cheque for that prime location 

How is harness racing going down the shit tube exactly? It may need a bit of a tweak but the way people crap on sometimes you'd think it's doomed. I hear people in a lot of industries saying things are really tough, but what I think is Australians don't know how lucky we are living in such a great country and too many people want top dollar all the time for everything they do and too many people take luxuries for granted and expect them as life's minimum now. Fancy phones and tv's and computers and gaming consoles and designer clothes etc heaps of stuff that used to be considered rare expensive luxuries and now considered common necessities. Finance companies have done a fantastic job remoulding the psyche of the masses over the last 20 years. Gen Y and all that they are entitled to!

What exactly does harness have to do to be considered to be in a healthy state? Provide for a life of luxuries to everyone that has anything to do with it?

Not everyone can sell million dollar yearlings like the gallops. Harness is not gallops and the two shouldn't be compared in my opinion. With a bit of tweaking I think harness is still a fantastic industry for the common man to be involved in. And an infinitely better alternative than gallops where 99.999999999% of owners or people interested in becoming owners can only afford a few tail hairs of a moderately bred horse and all the best bred types go to oil sheiks and stud owners and forget about it if you don't have at least 7 zeros to your name.

I can go to the sales and have a crack at a regally bred harness horse for less than the price of a base model commodore! Harness racing is awesome stick the gallops up your ringer!

You ask what does Harness have to do  to be considered to be in a healthy state.

Get rid of the  crooks (being done now)
Take the doubt away that some horses and trainers have an unfair advantage over others.This is a wildly held opinion by people in and also punters like it or not.
Push the good things about the sport that you have mentioned but until the other things are cleaned up and guilty parties banned for life we will still live with the tag of Red hots Cheating Chariots etc.

I have held licences for a long time in the past and been involved in sport for nearly 50years, my involvement now is only tipping on a couple of websites with some success.And i am disalusioned with it so how must a casual punter feel.Get rid of Betfair Hate the idea people can back there own horse to lose.
Rant over.

Barney I agree crooks need to be removed, but isn't that a fact for every industry?

That and programming are the tweaks I refer to, otherwise I don't share all the doom and gloom about the trots being on death row. I think it's a fantastic sport to get involved in for anyone who likes the thrill of racing a horse. I've raced both gallopers and harness horses and I can say the harness is a far better all round experience. Anyone earning under 2 or 3 million a year needs to have their head read buying into gallopers over harness horses. Trainers fees 120 per day compared to 40 per day????? Those gallops folk are just laughing at you and taking the absolute piss.

The biggest problem harness racing has?  If the three codes got revenue based on turnover, trots would be dead.  At the moment, they are being subsidised by decisions made 15-20 years ago in a different era.  At least the administrators in NSW & Victoria seem to realise they may not have that prop forever and are making plans to generate non betting revenue streams.

To answer the original question, what is the future of trots?
Ribbons!!

The reason: Bad publicity due to obvious corruption of the industry.

People would rather bet in a lottery than an obvious fix.

I agree with Beautone.....you get a lot more bang for your buck with  a harness horse......regrettably tho  the glory days are gone.

Generally harness trainers are complete horsemen.....from toe to tail.....not too many galloping trainers could match it with them IMO.

Can't be done on turnover due to the many more meeting dogs have.  Drop the dogs to the same amount of meetings harness has then you can se turnover!!!!