I dreamed I moved among the Elysian fields,
In converse with sweet horses long since dead;
And out of blossoms which that meadow yields
I wove a garland for their living heads.
(with apologies to Edna St Vincent Millay)
Mythological Elysium is said to be situated at the end of the world and described as an abode for the souls of the heroic and virtuous. Now Maitland may seem unlikely accommodation for an Elysian Field, but nonetheless, there it is – on the corner of Camp and Hely Road in fact – and it is called the Form Organization.
Charles Faull shows me in. On arrival, it looks much like most busy offices – desks covered in paperwork, a few conscientious people still hard at work well after the 5pm cut off. I try to be polite, shake hands and remember everyone’s names, but can’t keep my eyes wandering to the piles of books and paperwork.
I am not a history lover per se, but am a slave to the printed word. I firmly believe that all the wisdom of the ages is committed in writing somewhere and available to the conscientious student, if only one knows where to look.
As an enthusiastic reader of all things equine, the sheer volume of printed material was enough to make me quite giddy. Catalogues, books, pedigrees and photographs. Little bits of printed horses tucked tantalizingly just out of sight. And that was just the office. When Charles showed me through to the back I had what can only be described as a religious experience. The entire area was filled with rows of shelves, neatly catalogued and labeled and all containing reams of books, magazines, catalogues and photographs – a veritable shrine to the Thoroughbred racehorse.
Charles Faull
This incredible collection is Charles Faull’s life’s work. Originally a BComm Law student, Charles’s legal ambitions were waylaid by a pretty girl with an interest in racehorses. History does not relate whether the relationship with the young lady stood the test of time, but the one with racing definitely did and the law’s loss was definitely the racing industry’s gain.
It all started back in 1973 when Charles bought The Peninsula Turf Guide for the princely sum of R1. His prodigious energy and intellect resulted in a massive revival of the publication as well as spawning several new ones, including The Stallion Register and The Thoroughbred News. The latter enjoyed support from the TBA and was enormously popular until Charles’ public assertion that a betting system that condoned insider trading was immoral and bad for racing. In a sad parallel with other current events, Charles was vilified for his opinions, support was withdrawn and after the March edition of 1987, the presses of The Thoroughbred News fell silent.
In 1988 the wonderful tome which was the Stallion Register relented in the face of progress and with the modern demand for instant gratification, was reborn as ARO (hailed in its first year of existence as the top sporting website by the Mail & Guardian). However, all the information that these publications were built on was still carefully being collected and stored in Maitland.
Thoroughpedia
With the invaluable support of Mike Javett (co-owner of Politician), Charles recently embarked on the mammoth task of converting this vast collection into electronic format, starting with the photo and negative library. The title of this ambitious project – Thoroughpedia. As the relevance and value of the project has grown, support has come from Phumelela, Gold Circle, the TBA and the RA and Charles is currently focused on documenting the histories of the Queen’s Plate, the SA Derby and the Durban July.
I believe several members of the public have offered to contribute to the project – either by assisting or donating photos or information. I appeal to all and any of you who would like to help or be involved in any way to please contact Charles – your support would be much appreciated.
Resurrect, Preserve, Index, Interpret and Illustrate
Charles is passionate about preserving our racing history and his motto is Resurrect, Preserve, Index, Interpret and Illustrate. Charles wants to apply this ethos to the achievements of both equine and human within our sport since the beginning of its formal history in the 1880’s. It is a large and ambitious project and with new information and data being generated every day, they are running simply to stand still.
Charles is particularly keen to document the history and influence of our owners. As he so emphatically states, racing could not exist without our owners and their contribution in terms of finance, passion, dedication and imagination and they are as integral a part of racing’s story as the horses they helped grow and race.
The Horse As Art
Any fool knows the old joke ‘How do you make a small fortune ? Start with a large fortune and buy some horses’. Horses are much the same as any high end leisure item – be it a painting, a ‘signature’ piece of jewellery (this is an equal opportunities column!), or a fancy car. They are lifestyle accessories enjoyed by people with a certain amount of disposable income. However, similarly to these items, they start to depreciate the minute they leave the show (or auction) room floor and seldom resell for the original purchase price. But despite the cold, hard dollar signs, like a unique piece of art, the true value of a horse lies less in its actual monetary value as it does in the pleasure one derives from owning it as well as the status and lifestyle that ownership implies. And of course, it allows one to dream.
Much as fishing enthusiasts will spend a fortune on rods, tackle, hooks and bait for a fish they don’t even eat, racing enthusiasts can spend a fortune on horses which don’t even make it to the track. I think the reason lies in another fishing analogy which goes ‘Fishing is worth any amount of effort and any amount of expense to people who love it, because in the end you get such a large number of dreams per fish. And in the end, that is what racing is built on.
Trust Deficit
Unfortunately the public perception of racing is one of insider trading, amplified by the sheer lack of available information. This incredibly damaging idea has been allowed to continue unchecked for so many years that it has become entrenched even among industry professionals. By withholding such basic information as timed gallops, the well-being of the horse, etc. we disempower and disenfranchise our customer base (the punter). In centres such as Hong Kong a horse cannot leave the stable without having its every movement tracked, the speed of the work out recorded, etc. This is the sort of information punters should have access to first – not as an afterthought in the post race interview (if at all). By leaving our punters out in the cold, we alienate the very life-blood our industry depends on and reduce the art of betting into a random game of chance. And once it’s sunk to that level, then they might as well be feeding coins into the local Grand Slots.
Betting Exchange or Sport Of Kings?
The current marketing strategy seems to be one of portraying racing as a (poorly explained) betting exchange based on uncertain internal machinations, rather than an intellectually challenging, ancient and prestigious sport worthy of the title, The Sport of Kings.
It is this perception of misinformation and insider trading that Charles is so eager to change and manage with his Thoroughpedia project. Racing is and should be marketed as a thinking man’s game, not a random lottery. By sharing information, and making it transparent and available to all, we level the playing fields. But it has to be based on first principles. You cannot love what you do not know and trust. First must come knowledge, then understanding. And with comprehension will come trust. Because without those, we cannot generate the love and enthusiasm we need to keep the industry alive.
The Thoroughpedia Charles envisages will paint a rich picture of the multi-faceted and multi-layered industry to add depth and understanding and enrich the racing experience. Because when it comes right down to it, no other gambling avenue can offer what racing can. We have history, we have colour, we have horses !
If we could catalogue and codify the vast wealth of history and information and collate it into a central resource, we would have an enormously powerful resource and marketing tool. Because to quote the old song, to know us is to love us !!
No Cohesive Strategy
Unfortunately, at the moment no-one knows us and trying to find information on us is challenging. This is not helped by the fact that we seem to have an awful lot of administrators, but no strong leadership. There is no sense of direction, no sense of identity, no brand. Without branding no product can survive in today’s highly competitive entertainment industry and we simply have no Brand DNA.
Brand DNA
Brand DNA refers to a product (or service)’s Distinctiveness, Novelty and Attributes, as compared to those of the competition. We currently have none, which is appalling for a sport with our history and heritage.
Interbrand recently released the results of their top 100 brands for 2010 along with an explanation of their selection criteria. It makes for fascinating reading. One of the criteria that racing should score highly on is no 5 on the list – Authenticity. According to Interbrand’s definition, ‘authenticity asks if a brand has a defined heritage’. It goes on to say that ‘customers’ desire for authenticity has always been essential, and the recession has only magnified this need’. This is evidenced by the fact that brands currently showing the most growth are high end luxury brands such as Moet (up 7%), Lancome (up 5%), Hermes (up 4%), Louis Vuitton (up 4%).
We all know we are in a recession and customers are much more selective as to where they spend their leisure Rand. They want to trust the brands they purchase from – and a large part of how brands elicit this trust is through authenticity and a strong heritage.
Racing should score highly on this area alone, but for some reason we determinedly play away from our strengths. Our industry seems to focus almost exclusively on the gambling aspect with little or no attention given to the thing that makes it all work – the horse – the real reason we are all at the track in the first place. As an example, Pocket Power won his third Green Point Stakes on Saturday – how many people were on the rail to watch this piece of history in the making ? Exactly 29 according to my source. For pity’s sake !
One can wait a lifetime for such a horse to come along. Here we have one right in our lap and we are ignoring him. That horse is a little piece of magic and magic is exactly what it’s going to take to spark some interest in our industry again.
But the clock is ticking. If we don’t grab this opportunity with both hands, we are in danger of moving out of the realms of Dante and into the science fiction world of Douglas Adams. And I for one am not quite ready to say ‘So long and thanks for all the fish’.
