Cam Brown interview.

JayJay · September 5

Jasper said:
I have returned to the sport after 10 years of not being involved and it seems to me that Racing WA are hellbent on closing harness racing in this state. Some of the decisions and reluctance to change are quite mind boggling. Who makes these decisions and why are they not accountable? If you look at the board of rwwa most of them don’t seem to have any or much experience in sport administration let alone a sport with unique challenges as horse/dog racing. They seem to be professional board members with expertise in the bottomless concept of governance. Individually they may be great people for all I know but collectively they are responsible for the demise of our sport.

RWWA Board are advised by the Harness Racing Consultative Group and therein lies one of the sports major issues. The make up of that group and the dominance of the pro Gloucester Park interests as per the old days when the WATA ran the show sometimes makes it appear as if the legislative emergence of RWWA never happened. You could be forgiven for thinking the WATA trading as GPHRC still held the controlling body rights to the sport.

This, and the need for reform of the HRCG group, was raised and discussed in depth in the WACHRA submission made to Minister Whitby and at several follow up meetings, a submission that was enthusiastically received with promises of close scrutiny and action, statements in Parliament etc, prior to there being a cabinet reshuffle, with the submission doubtless gathering dust on the shelves of the new disinterested Minister, happy to see the disappearance of the basis of the Industry on his watch.

However, the floundering decision making of Harness Racing Australia cannot be discounted. They have collectively lead the industry into the wilderness, along with the various state bodies and seem to be clueless about reestablishing the sport. I read a quote from a very prominent Industry insider the other day about there being a toxic relationship between HRA and HRNZ over many decisions made such as the fees and taxes (some call them tariffs or worse still rorts) that HRA have imposed to protect the Australian Industry ....and we all know who eventually ends up paying for tariffs, the poor old consumer.

Think no further than the horrid Breeders Tax that in part is funding this ridiculous slot race on Saturday night, a decision that is so bereft of logic in terms of how it will assist the overall resuscitation of the Industry, that it is scary. And haven't the chickens come home to roost on the disastrous decision to allow AI if you want another example. Or that doozie of a call to change the Interdominion concept a few years ago, a change that it has never really recovered from, despite RWWA's valiant but ultimately colossally expensive decision to revive the original concept. Breath taking incompetence from HRA

"HRA's record as a failed organisation is there for all to see. They have driven and continue to drive a failed agenda that has produced the greatest mass exodus of participants, breeders and punters ever experienced by the Industry".

sonny · September 5

I hope he spend a lot of time in the stabling area, tote windows and talks to those who are younger and betting on their phones instead of sitting in the members bar talking s.....

AbbysAce · September 6

Tonight would a great night to promote the product and try and get a few new people thru the gate.

Decent prizemoney , only 1 x $9360 race. last week there was 3.

Cracking game of AFL finals on, promote free entry and a drink special when the footy on.If you get them in the gate on a Friday night, they will spend and bet.

Have a promotion for a " owners race night experience" for a lucky patron.

Have a race book competition for a ride in the back of the mobile for the beginning of every race.

Should be 2 x pony trots on for any young kids, have the pony trot westbred finals.

There will be a few hundred people there ( 90 % owners and family ) but the grass near the finish post will look better than most friday nights.

Trying to intice new people to the game , this is one of about 3 nights GP looks ok, there could be some passion and atmosphere.

Or do nothing, and watch the ship sink.

P.S All my above suggestions, the cost would be next to nothing.

JayJay · September 6

Don't think they have a marketing department or a promotions officer any more. Busselton and kellerberrin (and most country clubs) actually promote their meetings and encourage people to attend,

I reckon patrons on course are an unfortunate distraction and an irritating annoyance at GP. It is an Industry deflating lonely hearts club down at Johnny Burt's deserted and decaying Fun Palace.

JayJay · September 6

warrenrobinson said:
Surely the CEO of GP would be in attendance for the big Westbred night.

To quote Normie Rowe:

"It ain't necessarily so". .....is the word from the Fun Palace.

warrenrobinson · September 6

Missing in Action one CEO.

warrenrobinson · September 7

Also missing in action on Westbred night the President of GP.

TimmyBee · September 7

warrenrobinson said:
Missing in Action one CEO.

I asked someone the question there last night and apparently he was away due to a family incident

Markovina · September 7

Boy is there some utter absolute garbage in this thread in relation to the Euraka

Harness Racing Aust wide is in the doldrums , what they are trying to do is attract a hell of alot more young people to be interested in Harness racing , the Eureka was launched at the Opera House and prominent and very successful advertising man John Singleton is heavily involved . This isnt a couple of old faarts at Kellerberrin having a discussion about saving Harness racing

They called it Eureka , because it is to Advance Australia , advance Aust bred horses , well what in hell is wrong with that - very good/sound ecomic principles id say

They are desperately trying to get a big new audience of young people interested in Harness Racing like the Gallops have succesfully done . This isnt some tin pot promotion , this is a huge promotion , with very experienced Advertising people behind it

As Chariots said a year or 2 back quite correctly , quite alot of harness racing participants only want what is best for them , not what is best for the industry . So the Eureka doesnt allow their precious NZ horses to be involved thus they rubbish the concept , and they have got no idea and are totally ignorant of how big a promotion this is over East

Gilgamesh · September 7

2 million dollar snorefest.

Get more pressure at trials.

Jasper · September 7

Nail on the head re Eureka race/trial. That was not a good showcase for the sport I.e leader dominated off a slow pace. Kerryn Manning, outside of McCarthy, was the only driver to show any initiative. Breeders should ask for a refund of their Stallion tax.
What I saw of the sky channel show was excellent, especially pre Eureka. If they want to keep the Eureka an age race they should shift it to four and five year olds and improve the depth of the field.
Great to see CAW back to his best.

Chariotsonfire · September 7

Apart from a lack of initiative by Jnr, Never Ending was still disappointing compared to his previous run at Menangle. Jnr should have went before Kerryn Manning and High Above who justified the move by breezing and finishing 3rd beaten 2.7m. I am confident that Never Ending would have been very competitive from that position..

Sectionals were not dissimilar in the two races and Never Ending did not hit the line as strongly in the Eureka.

Frog · September 8

NOW, Racing Victoria has warned thousands of jobs statewide and $1.2 billion in economic activity could be lost unless the Federal government a sensible review. Just seems like Vic and NSW gallops are shopping at Harrods and the punters are shopping home brands and Aldi. Increases in prize money and a down turn in betting and an increase in gallops night meetings means a downturn in harness and greyhounds betting. There is NO up side as interests will go up as the government spending and giving away increases on pensions and doll increases more than police and nurses. Labour adding to the problem. Plus now we loss more per person than any other country in the world. There is NO positive turn around on that. YOU CANT GET BLOOD OUT OF A STONE. We are running for the wrong prize money. To stay alive.

Frog · September 8

There is no benefit from increase prize money as the betting turnover decrease. Your selling to a very small crowd with 80/90% who cant get a bet on. There is the biggest problem corps dont what harness betting.

Frog · September 8

You fix the corportes and that's a small win.

JayJay · September 8

Corps don't want harness betting because the product is broken. They can see what the product is like and limit their exposure to any sizeable betting moves with ridiculous percentages.

The average run of the mill "ex TAB" punter has abandoned the $1.10 gate speed leader wins unhandicapped, snorefests whether it be for $2 Million at Menangle of $2k at Marburg.

Those who think "red hots" is a term of the past are mistaken. The public don't trust the product, they are not confidant of the integrity, they still rightly or wrongly think and say that every second race is a boatie however misguided their thinking may be. Pop into one of the few remaining Pub Tabs and just listen to the "commentary".

HRA and State Bodies keep tinkering around the edges, closing tracks, making superficial adjustments, running theme nights, impossible to fund breeders stakes and slot races etc , all the while "fiddling while Rome burns" so to speak whilst the Industry crumbles around them.

Often said, worth repeating, because it is a truism..."No handicap, no integrity, no turnover, no industry". If we are being absolutely honest with ourselves and looking globally, two things have shafted our Industry.....the Mobile Barrier slaughtered handicapping on the racing side of things, undetectable advanced highly sophisticated drug cheating put the cream on that cake and monstrous blunders from controlling bodies such as Artificial insemination suffocated the breeding industry and eliminated all the hobbyists.

Markovina · September 10

Harness racing Aust wide is in the doldrums but reading this thread the dogs and gallops their turnover has also gone down , and that is nothing to do with handicapping

Its a tough gambling market at present , and the modern tech world there are heaps of betting/gambling options and its underwhelming what they have tried re the Trots - i heard M Radley approx 10 yrs ago , on Karl Langdons sports show say quote " I better get on an Aeroplane and go over East and have a look at these 1100 metres races they are running at Fairfield Nsw " Ten years later they have given them another go as the saviour , dear oh me

If i was in charge , trying to increase turnover , basically trying to get/lure cross code punters accross to gambling on your code the Trots . The one thing all punters ( no matter what code they follow ) are attracted to is free money - jackpots , they are attracted to jackpots , like blowflies are attracted to fresh cow shiit

Thus this is what i would do , say race 4 ( early enough for the E/S punters ) bring in a new bet type at GP the Superfecta , yes it failed 35 years ago in NSW , but thats a long time ago . So the Superfecta ( the 1st 6 in order ) you advertise it extensively plus most importantly you say we are putting up 50k jackpot each week of our money , thus your working on the premise that you can bring 200k of fresh money on say a 25% tax take rate , so the 50k is costing you nothing . So you have attracted punters from everywhere , what you are hoping for is plenty stick , alah this GP is quite good , im hanging around and having a few more bets here , and guess what they will be back next week having another go at the jackpot

And dont stop their , have on every WA Trots meeting , on a clearly designated same race a 20k 1st 4 jackpot , again on a 25% tax rate your trying to get 80k of fresh money into that pool so it costs you nothing . And gamblers being gamblers they will come from everywhere to have a go at that jackpot . Again you after the premise that some stick or get hooked on WA Harness Racing

That to me in this very competitive gambling market is your best chance of bringing new punters to your racing code

warrenrobinson · September 10

The best customer for racing are it's participants ( all codes) so as long as we continue to lose our best customer we will struggle. Harness for example down 60% plus over the last 30 years with the population for Australia up 60% plus. The facts state this in harness with all KPI'S (Breeders, Owners,Trainers, Drivers all in decline and when you add clubs, market share of turnover it's certainly doesn't paint a very good picture.I agree with Markovina add Jackpots etc but if we don't have value for the customer nothing will change.

JayJay · September 10

All well and good with Jackpots, carryovers and Superfectas and I get where Marko is coming from but Radley doesn't run the TAB, or RWWA, at least not on paper. It is not his domain or Gloucester Parks domain to institute such things, it would have to be RWWA Board driven as they own the TAB. The money would have to come from RWWA/TAB touch coffers at the expense of the other codes and with Harness currently only generating 12.4 million dollars of the 59 million spent on running the code, that will not happen. Put simply, the harness code is broke and fundamentally trading insolvently. It is hugely subsidised in order to offer the stakes it currently provides.

Western Australia's harness racing's unique management model, with the prime metro track owned privately (and prior to RWAA, being both the owner and the controlling body under the old WATA), and with RWWA being responsible for all three codes and supposedly promoting each one equally, creates all sorts of quandaries. This is not understood by some who propose simplistic solutions such as get Peter V'Landy's in charge. As what, CEO of RWWA or CEO of Gloucester Park or Chairman of the all code RWWA board?

Gloucester Park Harness Racing Club still believes it is running the show and it still has, through various mechanisms, immense influence way beyond what it should have. But it doesn't have any money to institute jackpots or superfectas or carryovers(or to even maintain the facility it seems), they are cap in hand to RWWA for money to redevelop a private facility which happens to be used for prime metro meetings (25 million and rising was the last call). The decision by the Board to agree to providing that funding to a Private club with little future remains one of the most mystifying decisions I have seen. Sort of like ordering another barge load of coal to be sent to the floundering Titanic. How a Minister could not intervene on such a decision is astonishing.

To say that the problems of Harness Racing have nothing to do with handicapping or programming is profoundly wrong, it has everything to do with a product, nationwide, that is broken and that punters have rejected. Bandaid after bandaid has been applied but the product is still being rejected, and yes, turnover is down on all codes, but with Harness's share of overall turnover at around 10%, the preference of punters is still clearly on show and it ain't with the "Red Hots".

savethegame · September 10

No doubt serious decline but the Spike in turnover re Covid the honeymoon is over, 3 .05 million people accessed there super the payout was. 37.8 billion dollars April ,--Dec 2020, everything was rosey TAB touch went from 60,000 account holders to 110,000 account holders sitting at home .in lockdowns.
Themakeup of rank file punters. is varid with huge percentage will not have account's as they don't trust themselves, they have a level prepared to lose be 20 or whatever limit.
..

Chopchop43 · September 10

warrenrobinson said:
The best customer for racing are it's participants ( all codes) so as long as we continue to lose our best customer we will struggle. Harness for example down 60% plus over the last 30 years with the population for Australia up 60% plus. The facts state this in harness with all KPI'S (Breeders, Owners,Trainers, Drivers all in decline and when you add clubs, market share of turnover it's certainly doesn't paint a very good picture.I agree with Markovina add Jackpots etc but if we don't have value for the customer nothing will change.

Doesn't help when you have to deal with people in the office , like a particular licencing and registration administrator , who not only is rude and arrogant, but also takes so long to process paperwork, to the point as a new participant why would you even want to get involved if that's how your treated, I know of a couple of younger people who applied for there trackwork licence , who were treated like absolute pieces of garbage by this particular person, bad look for the industry holding on to people like that

savethegame · September 11

Things going to get whole lot worse when Entain re Ladbokes slowly but surely ,will control New Zealand &Australian codes, the government's aren't interested. actually glad .

They are taking on the ones on life support first,South Australian Harness. ------With New Zealand TAB got them signed up for 25 years with all broadcasting rights there' as well probably dictating who can bet in that.country re- other corporate's
, When you see that Adam Hamilton's name you are deadset gonski, the mike players, can't say anything against him, otherwise there careers are on skid row.His totally against Standing Starts, Sprint lanes, short distance racing minimal race times is his baby.
They had look at Tabtouch but 1 billion too high , they will be back on there terms.

Worth a look to see how they are going forward, they are trampling the. codes.

Frog · September 14

WOW, another night out at Bunbury and I cant believe how low the turnover at Tabtouch and Betfair has come down. It makes Wagin look huge Friday night. They need to rethink Wednesday mornings a promise sky 1 (if still can do ?) or only 2nd Friday nights. Saturday nights seem to be getting worse by the week.

Frog · September 14

I enjoy the Tris, St 4s and quaddies but how can you bet into these pools. There is chance of a fair value return.

Frog · September 14

Maybe my last trip from Pinjarra to Bunbury. Better of staying home.

SLIPPERGOLDEN · September 16

Why does anyone bother to race against Emma Stewart?

savethegame · September 16

SLIPPERGOLDEN said:
Why does anyone bother to race against Emma Stewart?

SLIP. See you mentioned P..P.. on Galloping site re. pre race.swabs
P P Wether his right or wrong , l believe a number of times his on the money regards being right.

Found strange after his intial take on G.P changes & rearranges, that after ,three hour phone call with Radley, that he apologised reJeavons family having anything to do with the implementation or even put forward the intial proposal for breakup of G.P .Land

Surely someone knows who tabled the idea at committe meeting.

Frog · September 16

Yes, you cant sell your soul or land for a discount. The land cost proposal is a joke.

Use the land to profit it already has the WACA with apartments so shopping or parking would bring in a income plus town houses around the outside would get a million dollars a block. Perth racing with Ascot is all about income from land rentals. (so why sell your soul) GP didnt put forward a plan 2/3 just the easy way out selling its heart and soul not the same as Ascot. GP has taken the easy way out for not fixing problems and that would pass onto a developer with no risk ? plus keeping there well paid job for doing nothing. Until retirement. (DREAM COME TRUE)

Frog · September 16

So stay and redevelopment for income or move to Pinjarra were the horse population is. As per Cam Brown. NR rating is not the answer Jan 1ST, just ask VIC trainers its not a great result. Dead man walking for some stables.

.

warrenrobinson · September 16

The Gloucester Park Committee plus the Management in any other club would be voted out by it's members for non performance. They have shown no respect for the iconic GP and allowed it to deteriorate to it's current condition, but as we are aware they are the kings of propaganda and people believe them.

G'day Punter!

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