MY CALL - WE JUST HAVE TO ACCEPT THE SOBERING TRUTH THAT RACING IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT

By David Fowler | Tuesday, December 3, 2013

David Fowler is the principal thoroughbred caller for Radio TAB. David, who is a keen form student and punter, has enjoyed a lifetime involvement in the racing media. His personal blog, ‘My Call’, appears exclusively on HRO.

There is a horrible truth confronting me that many will want to deny.

Racing was never a spectator sport. Never was and never will be!

The final upshot is that whatever grandstands are built, whatever big money races are programmed, healthy attendances are a thing of the past.

I don't say that with any glee but I say it with confidence. Crowds generally will become less and less, if that's possible.

It's a fair call to say racetracks Australia-wide were awash with people over the decades because they were there to have a bet, not watch the horses.

Yet, on occasions, they did go for the horse. Champions like Phar Lap, Bernborough and Tulloch were household names. Racing played a stronger role in our psyche then.

Even in my old stamping ground of the trots, names like Paleface Adios, Hondo Grattan Pure Steel were well known.

But they're the exception to the rule.

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Year after year, technological development made it easier and more convenient not to go to the races.

The advent of off-course TAB agencies is the most glaring example followed by the introduction of race telecasting through Sky Channel.

Clubs and pubs improved their style. Internet and corporate bookies loomed large and are now a powerful force. Racing was beamed into the home.

Over the same period, bookies were fading away at the races. Long-time racegoers died. Young people had more entertainment options at their disposal.

The off course juggernaut grabbed the on track experience by the scruff of the neck and virtually got rid of it.

So most never went to the races for the horses. They went to bet and they don't have to go anymore.

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Black Caviar transcended this line of thought.

They went in their tens of thousands JUST to see her. Racing had a fleeting embrace with big crowds again but it was only temporary.

Carnivals will survive, naturally. But they are events. Groups go to party, often asking "who won that race?"

To close off this line of thought, I'll give you a little experiment.

If you still go to the races, go and sit in the grandstand - minus binoculars - and watch a race in progress.

Tell me if racing is a spectactor sport or a betting medium.

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But the races will go on.

Non TAB meetings still retain their charm and atmosphere but again it's an event for the township. A social gathering of sorts.

But metropolitan and provincial clubs must diversify their interests. Attract new income streams.

If they don't they will wither on the vine because, to repeat, the people aren't coming back.

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Back on the horse-front, I've half fallen in love with Emerald Duke.

It's that sort of affection made up of a genuine enthusiasm in his racing future and a horse that has been very kind to me in the punting department.

You stick with these sort of horses until they let you down. And, even then, you might be forgiving.

I was prepared to be forgiving if he was beaten on Saturday, running on a heavy track and his first attempt at a mile.

The records show he came through the assignment with flying colours.

As the veteran of only eight starts, where his forte will be is quite an exciting proposition to grapple with.

He is the most exciting galloper I've seen in Queensland for years.

Till next week.

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