“Pride in racing has died, no longer do you see trainers in a collar and tie, jockeys arrive on course dressed as if they had just left the disco. The stands are devoid of people and the in-fighting among owners and assorted associations make you wonder if it’s worth owning a horse. Law suits, threats and vile insults seem the order of the day on each and every racing web site. This is not the way of attracting new owners into the game. Problems big and small have to be addressed by all members in the racing fraternity.” – reprinted with kind permission of a poster on SFRW
We have been treated to another stonking weekend’s racing with some fabulous horses carded at home and abroad – Igugu, Pierre Jourdan, Ebony Flyer, Goldikova, Zenyatta and a wonderful win by homebred Pluck (congrats to Team Valor and connections). But instead of enjoying and debating the turf battles, all eyes are focused on an NHRA meeting later this week.
I’d really far rather be discussing horses, but it seems I need my broomstick and pointy hat again.
General Rant
For those of you living on a desert island, the meeting is to discuss alleged breaches of Rule 72.1.26. Now folks, forgive me for being simplistic, but the fact that there is no formal platform for healthy discussion and debate does not mean that it does not exist. You only have to look at the history of racing in this country to see that our racing folk are by and large, an intelligent, opinionated and resourceful bunch. If they are not provided a platform to speak their minds, then as has happened, they will simply create one for themselves. However, unlike most of what happens at admin level, at least these discussions are held in a public arena.
NEWSFLASH – Julius Malema is not going to shut down Twitter. And if the NHRA is going to host a meeting every time someone voices an unpopular opinion, well, then you’d better up the tea and biscuit budget because it’s not going to stop until this lack of communication is addressed.
I have recently been criticized and told that I shouldn’t say negative things in my column because it’s bad for racing. Well for pity’s sake. For those of you who need my short words and sentences simplified, I would hereby like to state categorically that I love horses. It’s true that I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with racing, but the gogga has got me good, so I occupy my bed in the incurable disease ward along with the rest of you. Unlike Dorothy’s scarecrow, I do have a brain and my parents went to some pains to ensure that I learnt how to use it, so I don’t make apologies for having opinions and stating them publicly when invited to do so. I don’t do it out of malice; I do it because I care. I am worried about racing and want to see change for the better. If I annoy a few people in the process, well, so be it.
And I’m not the only one. We have a wealth of intelligent, passionate, knowledgeable people in this industry who all want the same thing – for racing to not only to survive, but to thrive. Unfortunately things have become horribly fragmented and we all seem to be pulling against each other, resulting in little movement in any direction. If we could somehow all pull together, we might actually get somewhere for a change.
Let’s stop taking things so personally people. We don’t live in the dark ages anymore. Just because someone holds a slightly different view to the next person doesn’t mean a fight to the death. Call me critical or bad for racing all you like. I am grown-up enough to know that it’s just a difference of opinion. And sometimes fairly constructive things can be gained by entertaining outside views. Use it, don’t use it. But don’t simply ignore the fact that those ideas and opinions exist. It’s rude, and as I wrote in a previous column, lack of communication makes people nervous, feeds the rumour mill and leaves people to leap to their own conclusions. Which is going to mean more of these ‘interventions’ and more time wasted. Because honestly, if the NHRA has nothing better to do than police who said what to who, then we’re really in trouble.
Let’s look at some stats
This year’s Melbourne Cup was run on a horrid, rainy day and still drew a crowd of 100,000 people. Breeder’s Cup Saturday had a crowd of over 70,000 spectators. I recently went to watch Pocket Power contest the 1500m Pinnacle Plate and the stands were all but empty. Barring two gentlemen in the crowd wearing Pocket Power silks and waving a pink, white and blue flag (which was super cool by the way), you would have been forgiven for not knowing he was there.
Pocket Power is a NATIONAL HERO. Where was the fanfare ? Where was the publicity?? Where were the fans ???
Why are we all so bad at celebrating and promoting ourselves and our sport (otherwise generally known as marketing?). And I’m not just talking about the guys who are paid to do the promoting. I mean each and every one of us. What do YOU do as an owner / trainer / rider / breeder / industry professional to promote your sport ? When last have you gone to the races ? Better still, when last have you introduced anyone to the races ?? If we as industry insiders cannot find anything good to say about our sport, nevermind actually supporting it, then what chance do we have of generating new interest ?
I was astounded to read some of the comments on the Youtube after Zenyatta’s Breeder’s Cup defeat on Saturday. There was a mix of fans wanting to enthuse and pay homage and a few cynics saying thank goodness she’s retired so we can finally get rid of all you idiots who know nothing about racing. Well isn’t that nice ? What a super image to project to the world about racing people ! Instead of embracing these potential new fans and using the opportunity to educate and take them into the fold, here was someone quite happy to make ‘proper’ racing people look like cynical, sour old farts.
But then again, can one blame them ? How many of you are going / have got a group of friends together to dress up in Green & Gold (or the colours of any of the visiting nations) to support our International Jockey Challenge this weekend ? Yes, I thought so.
When did we lose sight of the fact that we are PRIVILEGED to be involved with horses and racing, not ENTITLED to do so? We should be doing all we can to care-take it, preserve it and build it up. Not deliberately alienating people.
So my ‘kick in the pants award’ for the day goes to everyone. Guys (and girls), this is a partnership and we are all a part of it. And being a part means active participation I’m afraid.
A dentist once commented that “if you ignore your teeth they will go away”. Same applies here. If we ignore our current problems, our customers (and in fact our industry professionals) are simply going to find other avenues for their time, money and enthusiasm. Because there are plenty of other organizations out there trying to woo them and those guys mean business. Those are the people we should be fighting, not each other!
Marketing 101
Not only are we in a recession, racing is not the only avenue for gamblers anymore and the competition for the gambling Rand is fierce. If we want to stay in the game, we need to up our game. As per the column title, we’re not in Kansas anymore Dorothy. We need to be faster, smarter, leaner and more innovative and we need to do it from the grassroots up. Yes, it would be lovely to have a foreign fairy godmother, but charity starts at home folks. And we need to improve what we are offering our dwindling number of current, die hard supporters before we can go canvassing for new ones.
We need to get our basics right and make people want to come racing. If we can do that, racing will become desirable again. We are not going to change people’s perceptions through one-off, big race days or flagship events (fun as they are), change needs to be earned through our actions. I know budgets are tight, but we don’t need to be big and we don’t need to be clever. We just need to get it right. Get the right horses into the right stalls, get the results correct. You know, the stuff that doesn’t cost money – the BASICS.
Because then people might just stick around. And if we all start enjoying ourselves again, we might just start inviting our friends. And that way we WILL win new support.
Research suggests that word of mouth is the most influential form of advertising. People believe the opinions of their friends and neighbors and will remember them for a long time. Any organization generates word of mouth advertising, whether they like it or not. And because people are sociable creatures, they like to discuss things. The trick lies in ensuring that they are saying positive things.
Unfortunately, if you provide someone with bad service, very few people will complain directly to you. They will simply take their business elsewhere. The majority of those dissatisfied people will then tell their friends and family. If the customer was really unhappy, they will tell everyone they know.
However, before we all go jumping off the nearest building, in a bizarre twist, unhappy customers can present the biggest window of opportunity. Because research also suggests that unhappy customers who a) have taken the time to complain and b) have had their complaint addressed and satisfactorily resolved are far more likely to be loyal in future and end up saying positive things about your company. This is one of the major reasons companies have customer service departments. Clever, huh ?
So let’s recap. Not getting any complaints is bad, because we simply lose custom. Getting complaints is good as we are given the opportunity to learn about our customer’s needs and wants as well as the opportunity to turn that person into loyal customer.
OK, so if getting people to complain is an effective tool in replacing negative word of mouth advertising with positive word of mouth advertising, then really guys, there are plenty of big fat shiny opportunities out there. And you don’t even have to go looking for them – they are handing themselves to you on a plate !
In conclusion
So let’s get the frigging house-keeping out of the way. Let’s sort out our basics, open a few lines of communication and gain some ground for a change.
If it’s going to take a combined effort to breathe some life back into racing, then let’s frigging well MAKE SOME already !!
