2014 Gr2 J&B Jet Stayers (Hamish Niven Photography)
Despite being mercilessly dumped by our irrational national broadcaster at the eleventh hour, the 37th J&B Met went up the hill and full steam ahead on a beautiful Kenilworth afternoon on Saturday. With the Pick 6 leading the field and breaking all previous records, the Cape social institution was a winner on paper. Well, certainly on the betting front.
As the leading independent racing media platform in South Africa, we have never shied away from dishing out the swipes at officialdom and the racing authorities generally when they are deserved. We know that proactivity, PR and communications are not generally a strong point in this industry.
No Sympathy
But when the SABC are involved it is difficult not having sympathy with the racing folk empowered with dealing with these clowns. The troubled public broadcaster has just been plunged into a fresh leadership crisis as we go to print and alongside SAA they have to be the epitome of a corporate sitcom.
In the end the Met was only shown outside of mainstream racing on a pay channel on the Multichoice platform. It is called Vuzu. Don’t worry, we haven’t heard of it previously, either. But whatever we may think of the SABC, the loss of reach of the coverage means that the wider appeal that is surely required to be nurtured to ensure the sport’s survival in the medium term was lost and the elitist tag was once again reinforced.
Perceptions
The fact that the same guy owns all or a piece of three of the top four finishers in the Met won’t help change any of that either. And that theme appears to have been enforced (maybe unwittingly) to the on course venues and catering facilities, with many regulars having to play second fiddle to the ‘one hit wonders’, who come racing once a year.
In their Winning Ways show this week, Paul Lafferty and James Goodman touched on the anomaly of fanatical KZN punters spending big money to travel down for the big race, only to have to walk around in the sun trying to find a beer. “There is a big Indian following of racing and they weren’t exactly welcomed,” said Lafferty.
In his mischievous way, Goodman suggested that we wait and see what happens when the July comes around. It is patently obvious that South African racing has been segmented by developments over the years and at the end of the day, the punter shouldn’t be the loser.
Numbers
While Phumelela CEO Rian Du Plessis claimed in the Met post race speeches that all records were broken, the attendance of ‘more than 36 000 people’ is surely down on the halcyon days of years gone by when Gold Circle then claimed to have closed the gates as the throng had grown to as much as 50 000 people?
Unlike the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate day that catered for the regulars with a free entrance facility, the Met is really for the well endowed and connected only and discards the loyal few who patronise racing, come rain or shine. We have said it before. There has to be an enclosure that caters for the regular punter. Reward the man that keeps the game going in winter through a casino type MVG loyalty system. What message is being sent to your regular customers when they get shown the middle finger on the very day of the year that everyone aspires to?
R200 for an access ticket may not seem like a helluva lot of money, but for a punter who loves the game and spends R40 on his Place Accumulator, it is a major item of expenditure. When leading owner Hassen Adams won the Met with Past Master in 2011 he proclaimed that the win was for ‘our people.’ How many of those people were on course on Saturday to enjoy the pinnacle of the Cape racing year?
No Information
Then the marketing and information available about the various on course facilities leaves a lot to be desired. That is if one is able to fathom out which department actually handles the bookings and provides the information. While Larry Wainstein’s Racing Association has done plenty of value added work down South, does one contact them, the marketing department or the catering department?
Why the racing operator does not also start by engaging the various marketing staff employed by the local trainers as a platform, is puzzling too. These are the folk who interact directly with the owners and they need to be empowered with accurate information to add value to the marketing effort.
Bright Light
But it was a big day for Phumelela Executive Vee Moodley. His department was the bright shining (slightly purple?) light on a good day. The net Pick Six pool of R8,6 million inclusive of the carryover was the highest ever recorded in South African racing history. The Pick 6 pool was up from 3.5 million last year and the payout was a handsome R78 615.
Turnovers grew by an amazing 15,88% overall from R39,1 million to an all time record of R45,3 million and as Moodley points out, it is very promising indeed that the growth in the Western Cape region was up almost 20% from R10,3m to R 12,3m. Moodley said that an exciting announcement would be forth-coming in the next two months as regards the popular exotic.
Marketing
The general marketing of the betting aspect was in fact the highlight of the Met. There was plenty of pre publicity. Moodley also appeared on a Met panel shown on the Tellytrack loop in the build up week. The discussion was chaired by his colleague, Clyde Basel, with the equally charismatic Andrew Fortune and his former boss Joey Ramsden ragging each other.
Moodley did not escape their attention. But he hardly seemed to care or even notice. The show was a lighthearted and entertaining success, but was also an important information tool. Moodley wears his heart on his sleeve and his dogmatic and assertive form assessments are a breath of fresh air, which can obviously open him up to ridicule, but he had quite a good run on Met day, judging by our assessments.
Results
He told punters that Happy Forever was carrying 5,5 kgs too little and was the best bet on the card, The Ramsden horse won the third race in style. Acting as a spokesman for the Snaith yard , he then told us that Arria was a ‘certainty.’ The filly romped home in the Pick Six opener. Moodley also said that the fifth race winner Futura was carrying about 2,5kgs too little and then warned that Snaith fancied Legislate to win the Derby.
For the Met he tipped Yorker as his best 5 place bet and cautioned that Jackson was about 9 MR points too high in the ratings. His personal PA costing R 36 returned about R1300. And on Met Day to prove that he is completely unbiased, he wore the famous Hollywoodbets purple. While he ran unplaced in the best dressed stakes it was probably the least he could have done to acknowledge the huge supportive marketing role of the Hollywood team who dished out 10 000 of our publications in a marathon stint at Cape Town International Airport.
