ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, 2013 WILL BE A WATERSHED YEAR FOR RACING IN QUEENSLAND

By Graham Potter | Sunday, January 6, 2013

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily which appears every Sunday. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily

So here we are … 2013!

To suggest it is going to be a critical year for racing in Queensland is an understatement.

Did I hear you say you’ve heard that before? Perhaps at the start of 2012 … 2011 maybe, and even the year before that?

You are absolutely right, of course. You have … and therein lies the crux of a massive problem.

When an industry is under a constant, sustained level of pressure that is threatening to burst the bubble of future prosperity two things can happen that are of no value.

Firstly, the current status quo, with all its inherent flaws, gradually becomes the normal way that racing goes about its business on an on-going basis … in spite of the fact that the system is failing with an entirely predictable and unhappy outcome.

Secondly, the bruised and battered mindset of management has trouble negotiating a better deal for the future when they are so mired in the present malaise in which racing finds itself. In fact, most have seemingly retreated into defeatist mode.

“You can’t get people to the racetrack anymore,” various officials have told me.

They then shake their collective heads at the sad state of play.

To me that statement reflects a surrender of sorts. It seems some have given up … which is their prerogative, but then they surely should step aside and give somebody else a chance who sees a challenge in the situation.

Mediocrity does not draw customers.

Negative thoughts seldom lead to positive outcomes.

In 2013, it is simply essential for racing to lift both its game and its attitude.

**********************************************************************************************

Let’s recap for those who might have misread the opening section of this column.

2013 is not a year to be negative but it is a year in which to tackle negative issues … and management, in particular, needs to embrace that difference.

This simple two point plan would be my starting point.

One: ‘The customer is king’ is an old saying that became lost in translation as racing moved into the modern era. It is a rule that needs to be reinstated. It has to be unbending and it has to be applied with the understanding that racegoers are there for racing’s benefit and not the other way around.

It is a matter of priority that racing keeps its present customers satisfied. Only once that is achieved can the search for new customers expand with meaning as the experience on offer will be then be sellable.

If clubs cannot negotiate that first step, they will fall at the second!

Two: Racing’s core participants, who play the major role in keeping the industry alive, need to be treated with absolute respect and the common courtesy they deserve by racing’s hierarchy. This hasn’t always been the case.

I have sat through several Trainers’ Association meetings where it has been stated by respected identities that, “We wouldn’t have been treated this way in the old days. In fact, we wouldn’t have put up with it in the old days.”

The new Queensland Racing board has already moved some way towards rectifying this situation but the fact remains that for racing to find future success, still more time and effort must be invested in the relationship between the rule- makers and the core participants.

*********************************************************************************************

Neither of the two points raised will cost a lot of money, so we can immediately sidestep that general excuse for not getting on with things.

For implementation of my two options to be effective, it will take a major mind-shift, a huge effort and will require a genuine intent to achieve the specified aim of getting racing back on track buoyed by a strong belief that it is an attainable goal.

I guess is essence, what I am really talking about is simply called plain hard work.

This could be a watershed year in the fortunes of Queensland Racing.

So, who is ready to roll up their sleeves?

From the Sunshine Coast Daily, Sunday, January 6

More articles