As an attendee at the 4Racing engagement meeting yesterday evening, it was interesting to see the dynamics at work between 4Racing, Cape Racing and other parties.
Michael Jacobs writes in the Sporting Post Mailbag that the 4Racing strategy is clearly a work in progress, and needs far more finesse; particularly on the TV broadcast front and the customer experience.
4Racing and Cape Racing either need to decide to work together or move on, as Ashwin Reynolds said Cape stakeholders need to talk urgently! Cape Racing needs to make things happen, they cannot wait to see what happens! Or they will be wondering afterwards what happened!
But I talk as a ‘customer’- the punter, not involved in the financials or the politics or the agendas of SA racing!
The millions that is being lost is not the punters’ fault- years of mismanagement, neglect and disregard for the customer has got racing where it is today.
Unless the punter is at the centre of the racing strategy, nothing will change and racing will continue its decline.
We all want to see horse racing succeed and thrive- punters, owners, breeders, trainers and everyone else.
There will always be punters- but if there is no horse- racing punters/gamblers will just move on to casinos, sports betting and online gambling activity.
The punter needs to be looked after to keep them engaged and participating.
The next step in this process should be a punters forum/market research exercise to hear from the customers what needs to be fixed to bring them back to the tote, to the racecourses and start betting again.
A total overall of the customer experience is urgently needed. The “quick wins” are the Tote, the exotics, the Pick 6 refresh- couplings and consolation payouts; and of course the woeful broadcast and TV experience.
Address those things quickly and maybe there is hope for racing to continue into the future.
- Images – kind courtesy of Candiese Lenferna
