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Off The Pace: how our industry must change July 3, 2017 Ask anyone in horse racing how the Australian horse racing industry is going and they would answer ‘pretty darn well’. Our prizemoney is relatively sustainable across all levels, our bloodstock prices are among the highest in the world and our racehorse quality is now appropriately recognised by international standards. We have Winx, Chautauqua and a national treasure called the Melbourne Cup. However, the startling reality is that the majority of Australians wouldn’t know that Winx is a horse - let alone what a Chautauqua is, and have a waning interest (at best) in the Melbourne Cup. The most concerning thing? Not only are we not addressing it, those of us immersed in horse racing don’t actually realise how irrelevant the industry is, especially to young Australians. Horse racing is my life. I spend my weekends at Randwick or Rosehill (or at the pub watching Randwick or Rosehill); my Twitter feed is filled with racing journalists, my Instagram with horse photographers and Longines, and I’ve culled any anti-racing commentators from my Facebook page. However around nine months ago, about the time of Premier Baird’s incredible (since reverted) decision to suddenly ban Greyhound Racing in NSW, I was forced into a fairly depressing realisation. I’m currently studying part-time and in class we were asked to discuss our jobs. Everyone was at first surprised, then very interested, when I said I work for a horse stud – not being a lawyer, engineer or project manager like the rest of my 40 classmates, it was rather exotic, especially for a 30 year old female. At first the questions they asked seemed innocent enough, but then things got a bit heated. ‘What do you do with the slow horses?’ ‘How long do you think until thoroughbred horse racing is banned like greyhound racing?’ ‘ How many horses die racing each year?’ At first I was annoyed, so I went on the defensive. I couldn’t understand their ignorance. But their questions stemmed from genuine perplexity about why I would work in such a “controversial, antiquated industry”. My classmates, comprised of a well-educated, gender and culturally diverse mix of under-35’s, simply had little to no knowledge of horse racing. When pressed on their reasons why, it was because they had limited interaction with the sport; it rarely hit their radar. When it did, the content was so negative they didn’t like what they saw. Their perception of horse racing was that it either challenged their moral compass on social issues, or they thought it was outdated: a sport for old men in dingy pubs. I left that class rather dejected, but still hopeful that perhaps my classmates were not representative of the typical young Australian. So I went on a fact-finding mission. First stop iSentia, a media monitoring company who have detailed access to traditional and social media content. iSentia completed an analysis to determine the attitude of young Australians toward horse racing, during the 2016 Spring Carnival when maximum attention was on the sport. iSentia found that Australia’s horse racing industry is in perception crisis and its future is under threat. We’re losing our audience. Our supporter base is getting older every year, and the number of Australians who percieve racing negatively is increasing. Young Australians – up to 35 years old – either have no opinion about the sport, or if they do, it’s more likely to be negative than positive. A lot of their concerns relate to animal welfare. Despite being the biggest Facebook users, 18 to 34 year olds were the least engaged least on horse racing topics. 47.5% of horse racing social media content during the period was unfavourable in tone, while 28.7% was favourable and 23.8% neutral. In total there were 248,000 mentions of horse racing in association with animal cruelty. Users aged 18–24 had the highest proportion of interactions on negative posts about animal cruelty. When Roy Morgan Research published its annual analysis of Melbourne Cup viewership and wagering, the findings were equally concerning: The Melbourne Cup audience has declined by 39%, almost 1 million Australians, over the last decade. Ten years ago, one in four Australians placed a bet on the cup; today it is one in six. Audience age of the Melbourne Cup flipped from majority under 50 in 2006 to a majority over 50 in 2016. Fewer than one-quarter (22%) of 14 – 49 year olds are ‘occasional’ Cup viewers, down from more than one-third (34%) in 2006. Finally, a scan of NUVI Social Media Intelligence metrics revealed that in January 2017 alone, there were more than 9,495 negative mentions online in association with horse racing. The horse racing industry hasn’t changed much over the years – if anything it has become better regulated, and there have been positive animal welfare initiatives of late. For example, Racing NSW and Racing Victoria have been proactive in their rehoming initatives, dedicating significant resources to addressing this issue. But positive efforts like these aren’t shared with the right audiences beyond the industry choir. Expectations of society have changed, whether we choose to accept that or not, it will guide our future progress. Social media is killing us. iSentia found that as an industry, we’re good at ensuring messages are favourable (or at least neutral) when they’re promoted through traditional media outlets such as newspapers, television and radio, because historically we have been able to control the narrative. The problem is that traditional media coverage does not reach young Australians, who are unlikely to engage with it, and are sceptical about any messaging from it. Young people are most active on social media, where content is often inflammatory and not scrutinised for factual accuracy. It’s where animal welfare groups recruit ambassadors for their cause through emotionally shocking material and largely fabricated statistics. It’s a given that our industry will be vulnerable to criticism from certain sectors of the population. We’re unlikely to convert animal rights activists into race-goers, punters or owners. But there are 10 million Australians who feel neutral about the industry – we just need to give them the right information to become supporters. Those who have a strong positive opinion of horse racing can influence their own social media communities if they’re given the right tools and information. We need a new plan. The horse racing industry needs to show Australians how wonderful it is. Tell the stories of the horses, and the people who dedicate their lives lovingly tending to them. Share accurate statistics on thoroughbreds being rehomed post racing. Show the farms where the horses are raised, the high level of care and attention they are given, and explain the regulation and integrity processes that protect them. Teach people about the incredible biomechanics of the thoroughbred and how they are trained like high performance athletes. Our goal should be to give those who are indifferent to horse racing a reason to care, and to respond well to positive messages about the sport. Negative messages are currently dominating the discussion – especially where it occurs online. We need to work together as an industry to create a shared vision that will safeguard the future of horse racing. We must achieve nothing less than a radical shift in the perception of horse racing in modern society, and we must focus our efforts on young Australians. If you work in the racing industry and feel as I do about the horses, the racing community and the sport, then you are sick of defending racing against fabricated statistics and slanderous innuendo. It's time we did something proactive about it. Vicky Leonard

Danielle finished in 3rd place in this championship. The final top three standings: Ist Maryline Eon from France 56 points 2nd Sara Slot from Denmark 52 points 3rd Danielle Johnson from NZ 40 points Congratulations.

It's the horses that have to run through the mud, not the jockeys! And they get well paid for it to, not knocking Danielle!

Interesting read. I'm 34, and the post pretty much mirrors entirely my experience with trying to get friends/workmates into horse racing, they simply couldn't give a toss about it and think I'm a strange person to be able enjoy spending my Saturday afternoons watching/betting on the races. Most of them, their exposure to racing in a year would maybe entail a flutter on the Melb cup, or going to Cup day once a year at Riccarton or Addington at most which in reality is more about the party then anything to do with horses on show. Pretty much the consensus is that its a sport for rich fat cats or degenerate gamblers and has no relevance to the world most of them live in. Most would be 10x more likely to place a sports bet, than 'wasting' a dollar on a horse race.

You're in.. Jill'o...!!!!.....have to keep on the good side of the Aussies ...for when we finally have a Melbourne cup runner..Per Incanto..Capain Rio....may take time though...couple of mums away..

Firstly very well done Vicky, on great , well written article. If we believe the ads I see online about how many Australians have a share in a race horse ( I can't recall the exact figure but it is a very significant proportion of the population ) then what Vicky mentions about lack of interest by young people becomes even more startling.

I also ventured down to the Bay to brave the elements...mainly alcohol. Anyway...as stated it was a good day jumps racing. Agree BarryB re: shoddy steeples. Heard a few comments about how ragged they looked...even a rider on the day made comment. Can't beat a live fence...looking forward to seeing them at Te Aroha this Sunday 9th July. However Hastings had many highlights for me..... 1. Caley Myers - What a ride in the Amateur riders race! 2. How good did Kim Clapperton look on her horse...shes still got it! Turn professional again girl! 3. Wait A Sec was very good in the Open HCP. 4. Brat Pak jumping the outside fence and heading to Pak N Save! 5. Kirsty Lawrence doing fantastic work with her camera catching all the action on raceday. 6. Atomosphere was great!

Mooseman , hi , It was a huge pleasure to be part of your team in another great PJ 's Thoroughbred Tipping occasion. I really appreciated the warm welcome extended to me by your good self and my fellow team members , Sir Gallivant , Jason and Damion. It shows, once again, how relations between the Kiwi's and North Queensland lovers of Thoroughbred Racing has been transformed into a real positive fun time Mooseman , it would be a pleasure to be a part of any future THUNDERBIRDS team if i'm drafted for same . Have a great Spring Racing Season everyone. Cheers.

Aquaman, years and years ago (like before the ARC f*cked up the Christmas/New Year Cups Carnival) I used to fly up to Auckland on Boxing Day morning and fly back again the day after the (then) fourth day of the Carnival, usually January 3... Banks (Stats and Weekends) were shut more often than not for most of the days, heh heh, and there were no such things as ATMs. Because I invariably stayed at one of the motels opposite the Trotting Course in Epsom (which itself offered two good nights of action in the week in question) I arranged with my local TAB here to send a specimen of my TAB details to the TAB up there and effectively used my account as a bank (if needed) whilst up there. Never had to provide any ID other than my signature. I guess I'd be done for money-laundering or something equally as heinous if I tried that these days.

Amazing Chase Thrilling Surge withdrawn according to Agrc website yet we can still bet on him. Amazing if you back him now see ya later money. No refunds. You back someone else congrats... get the better odds on everyone else before its adjusted. Come on .. we are promoting this event on a daily basis on trackside yet up to date information isn't getting broadcasted.. Don't want to see anyone getting ripped off as we already are with NZ tab

Hookers and blow like all the cool kids

Vicky is Marketing & Projects Manager at Arrowfield.Stud. Well written piece above Vicky.

Yep and complaining about it to head office is only likely to convince them they don't need pub tabs at all. Which would be a bloody bad thing

A good summary of what some of us have been saying all along. Longer and larger fines/suspensions should be on the way for those who you describe as plain stupid above.

A "kind" horseman. Rode one for me in a deep bog at Trentham which was the result of heavy rain on the day. Horse never handled it and came home last in his caring hands. Won the next week!

Surely this can't be for real. You get a guy from the post office or wherever and he gets a bunch of other guys he worked with at the post office or wherever and they come up with a plan to borrow money to run a business that a teenager should be able to run blindfolded and make money from without borrowing a cent. It's a legal monopoly! I've heard some funny things before, but this has got to take the cake. Where has the video gone?

Thank you all the T'Birds ..we had a lot of close matches and hung in there till almost the end...proud of to have been captain cheers Rex,Jase,Jill & Damo.!..be nice to have ya's back anytime Thanks heaps to the main man Peter.J. for being a great host & keeping our equine thinking caps on..! Cheers mate Virgil out.

I really think you need help Ohoka, it is not healthy to harbour such hate. We all know Globe has drink problems, but living in Masterton would drive even the most sane person to the bottle. But you Ohoka live in a very affluent area, and your cut and paste attacks on a decent man such as Donald Trump, who is without doubt the best President since the great Ronald Regan is decidedly unhealthy. Have you considered Aged Concern, they maybe able to help you through this dark period. I shall include you in my prayers.