Thousands of under 35's sign up to Thoroughbred Racing!

[Chief Stipe]

12 hours ago, curious said:

That's a 5 day game. Also one of younger people's complaints that I've heard is that racing is boring because it only lasts a few minutes then you have to wait half an hour for the next one.

That's oncourse surely?  On Trackside you have back to back racing on two channels!  About one race run per ball bowled.  Or 103 per one Mark Richardson style batsman runs.

12 hours ago, curious said:

I heard another similar complaint from a group of corporate professionals that had their Xmas function at the races on Friday, even though they were well entertained with food and drink in between races.

That's easily fixed turn the TV up in the marquee!!  Sounds like they're the type that are easily bored although I guess you bored them with your negative views and complaints on NZ Racing.

[Special Agent]

Maybe more thought needs to go into how the Christmas race day functions are sold.  What are the customers expectations?  And what are the racing club hosts providing?  Unless the clients are really into racing there's a bit of effort required to keep everyone punting and entertained.  I've often given cheap combination bet options for racing newbies.  If they get a $12 return for a $6 bet early in the day they are hooked.

[Huey]

12 hours ago, Special Agent said:

Maybe more thought needs to go into how the Christmas race day functions are sold.  What are the customers expectations?  And what are the racing club hosts providing?  Unless the clients are really into racing there's a bit of effort required to keep everyone punting and entertained.  I've often given cheap combination bet options for racing newbies.  If they get a $12 return for a $6 bet early in the day they are hooked.

The only thought that's gone into is get people on the grog , that's been racing easy fix. Ask most of them what they associate with the sport and it isn't betting its the booze. 

[Chief Stipe]

15 minutes ago, Huey said:

Ask most of them what they associate with the sport and it isn't betting its the booze. 

When did you do that survey?

[Huey]

1 minute ago, Chief Stipe said:

When did you do that survey?

While I was doing the mahi on a committee and you were talking about it! 

[Chief Stipe]

11 minutes ago, Huey said:

While I was doing the mahi on a committee and you were talking about it! 

BS.

If you had been doing that you would have realised that the margin on booze is a damn sight better than on betting for the Club.

Instead of being a Grinch just be grateful that they are coming in the gates.  Soon to be frequent flyers.

[Huey]

2 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

BS.

If you had been doing that you would have realised that the margin on booze is a damn sight better than on betting for the Club.

Instead of being a Grinch just be grateful that they are coming in the gates.  Soon to be frequent flyers.

I'm not like you and concerned with fly by nighters and how much margin I can make out of them at the races (don't see a lot of it going back into stakes), I want them going because they enjoy the sport and want to come back for that very reason not the piss up.

I guess if they go with you to the races they have to drink to enjoy their day out though!

[Chief Stipe]

32 minutes ago, Huey said:

I'm not like you and concerned with fly by nighters and how much margin I can make out of them at the races (don't see a lot of it going back into stakes), I want them going because they enjoy the sport and want to come back for that very reason not the piss up.

...and we wonder why Clubs can't make enough revenue to look after their core racing assets when a Club man such as @Huey doesn't get that the racing industry is competing for every other entertainment hospitality dollar.  You are also have an arrogant unsurveyed belief that those that are going AREN'T interested in racing.  

35 minutes ago, Huey said:

I guess if they go with you to the races they have to drink to enjoy their day out though!

If they walked in with you they'd leave by about race 3 they would be so miserable.  Get with the programme @Huey people go to the races in the first instance to have a day out.  Unless they are an Owner, Trainer or Jockey of course - the ones that put on the show.

Put it another way how many of your "true racing enthusiasts" complain about the price of drinks and the quality of the food all the time?  Surely they would be happy just dinning on having a punt on a horse!

[hesi]

41 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

...and we wonder why Clubs can't make enough revenue to look after their core racing assets when a Club man such as @Huey doesn't get that the racing industry is competing for every other entertainment hospitality dollar.  You are also have an arrogant unsurveyed belief that those that are going AREN'T interested in racing.  

If they walked in with you they'd leave by about race 3 they would be so miserable.  Get with the programme @Huey people go to the races in the first instance to have a day out.  Unless they are an Owner, Trainer or Jockey of course - the ones that put on the show.

Put it another way how many of your "true racing enthusiasts" complain about the price of drinks and the quality of the food all the time?  Surely they would be happy just dinning on having a punt on a horse!

And they do a very poor job of it; in fact you could not call it competing.

This is when it all started to go wrong in the 1990's when others started actively competing for the entertainment/hospitality dollar.

The whole concept of a 'day at the races' is a very attractive proposition, but you have to actively market that to the general unwashed, not just for 6 weeks, but year in year out

[Huey]

3 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

...and we wonder why Clubs can't make enough revenue to look after their core racing assets when a Club man such as @Huey doesn't get that the racing industry is competing for every other entertainment hospitality dollar.  You are also have an arrogant unsurveyed belief that those that are going AREN'T interested in racing.  

Which clubs, you keep making reference to clubs but you never back it up with any names. So which clubs can't maintain their assets?

3 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

If they walked in with you they'd leave by about race 3 they would be so miserable.  Get with the programme @Huey people go to the races in the first instance to have a day out.  Unless they are an Owner, Trainer or Jockey of course - the ones that put on the show.

Put it another way how many of your "true racing enthusiasts" complain about the price of drinks and the quality of the food all the time?  Surely they would be happy just dinning on having a punt on a horse!

If they went with you they'd have to sit on seats covered in bird poop cause you'd be too busy telling everyone what needs to be done without lifting a finger to make things better, I'm sure they'd love listening to another one of your lectures about what should be done while you do nothing.

[Chief Stipe]

1 hour ago, Huey said:

Which clubs, you keep making reference to clubs but you never back it up with any names. So which clubs can't maintain their assets?

None of them.

For example the so called favoured Club - Auckland Thoroughbred Racing had an operational loss of $10m for the last two years.  

[Chief Stipe]

1 hour ago, Huey said:

If they went with you they'd have to sit on seats covered in bird poop cause you'd be too busy telling everyone what needs to be done without lifting a finger to make things better, I'm sure they'd love listening to another one of your lectures about what should be done while you do nothing.

You are sounding more like @Reefton every post!!  When was the last time you did anything for a Club?

 

[Murray Fish]

2 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

When was the last time you did anything for a Club?

I recently donated some historical photos to a Club!

From the last meeting I went to! I posted (gave away) some photos of that Day! 60,000+ views...

[Special Agent]

10 hours ago, hesi said:

And they do a very poor job of it; in fact you could not call it competing.

This is when it all started to go wrong in the 1990's when others started actively competing for the entertainment/hospitality dollar.

The whole concept of a 'day at the races' is a very attractive proposition, but you have to actively market that to the general unwashed, not just for 6 weeks, but year in year out

Unless you have been to the races with family from a young age I think a day at the races as a form of entertainment can be a foreign idea.  Social event usually means going as a group, and generally consuming alcohol.  Clubs really must be responsible hosts and ensure food is available.  This is where the race day packages are a good idea.  I think all of these packages should include food.  If they are sold a fair way out it gives the customer time to budget for drink, food and betting.  I think all race day packages should include betting element of some kind ... punters club, easy bets, or betting vouchers.  I think a host or racing personality should be assigned to each group to explain racing jargon and bet types.  A lot about racing is confusing.  You won't get repeat custom without a good experience.

 

[hesi]

5 hours ago, Special Agent said:

Unless you have been to the races with family from a young age I think a day at the races as a form of entertainment can be a foreign idea.  Social event usually means going as a group, and generally consuming alcohol.  Clubs really must be responsible hosts and ensure food is available.  This is where the race day packages are a good idea.  I think all of these packages should include food.  If they are sold a fair way out it gives the customer time to budget for drink, food and betting.  I think all race day packages should include betting element of some kind ... punters club, easy bets, or betting vouchers.  I think a host or racing personality should be assigned to each group to explain racing jargon and bet types.  A lot about racing is confusing.  You won't get repeat custom without a good experience.

 

Well done, a bit of innovative thinking there.

They could also extend the packages to the less formal situations like the outdoor picnics.

There are lots of top-quality food trucks around these days that would love to get the opportunity to provide food on a racecourse

[Huey]

13 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

You are sounding more like @Reefton every post!!  When was the last time you did anything for a Club?

 

When was the first time you ever did anything for a club?

Get on a committee and show me up.

[Chief Stipe]

2 hours ago, hesi said:

There are lots of top-quality food trucks around these days that would love to get the opportunity to provide food on a racecourse

I believe Ruakaka do it for their Christmas at the Races meeting.  

[hesi]

Better than a stale ham sandwich

[Chief Stipe]

8 minutes ago, hesi said:

Better than a stale ham sandwich

The problem with many Clubs is they don't have commercial kitchens nor even a standard kitchen that meet Food standards.  Cost a lot to maintain a kitchen and keep it up to standard.

[hesi]

2 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

The problem with many Clubs is they don't have commercial kitchens nor even a standard kitchen that meet Food standards.  Cost a lot to maintain a kitchen and keep it up to standard.

All the more reason they should get creative and have a whole range of food trucks on course.  Knowing how negative people are in racing, I'm sure they will find a reason not to.

Imagine, Ellerslie could turn both Boxing Day and New Years Day infield into a race day food truck extravaganza.  Every gourmet food, different ethnic food you could think of.

Might even be worth going, maybe not, might run into the Dog, that would spoil it lol