My concerns for racing are well known and shared by many and it is tragic that operators locally and worldwide seem content with the sport sliding into obscurity.
When will those responsible for racing realise that it can be a gold mine by being a source of great pleasure to multitudes not yet acquainted with racing?
Leon Smuts writes that the many reasons for racing’s demise and the difficulty in marketing it to new participants are well documented and need not be highlighted again.
Would it not be better to rather work on a few compelling reasons to get involved and offering these to a market constantly seeking new entertainment and affordable past times, than to only offer excuses as to why it is not happening?
It is very evident that the few trying to promote racing are up against it with very little support from those that stand to benefit or the media and appears to be flogging a dead horse most of the time.
The lack of creativity and general care displayed by operators is sickening and suggests that the wrong people are in charge of growing the sport to the detriment of everyone earning a living from it.
Many years of involvement in both marketing and racing suggests that alternative product development could offer tremendous benefits in delivering new and more viable markets for the sport.
It is not a case of current products being bad or not comprehensive enough but they are simply not effective in the role of supporting new interest in racing.
To experienced or skilled players they offer useful variety and purpose but for racing to prosper again the sport has to appeal to an entirely new group of players.
Exotics hold the key to new interest but pools and rules must be player friendly and supportive of promoting participation.
Right now this is not the case with game rules, take out percentages, the ability to win and the cost of a competitive permutation making new involvement anything but attractive and of little support to any sales team trying to promote racing.
This could be easily remedied with more creative formats designed to make racing fun and affordable and created to promote longer term and more regular involvement.
The objective should be to generate mass appeal and an enjoyable platform for skills creation, the cog around which involvement and long term value extraction actually turns.
Without skill and enjoyment, constant losses will put paid to any chance of securing longer term interest in racing.
The old belief that being knocked out of a game will produce further involvement in other race products relies heavily on addiction and unrealistic optimism and should never be a supported argument if new markets are being sought.
Give both new players and existing supporters, formats that will underscore the enjoyment that racing has to offer and that will make involvement a long term exercise rather than a chore for which the novelty and reason for participation soon wears off.
