ARE WE AT THE DAWN OF A NEW AGE..LET'S HOPE SO..
TROT TACTICS"...06/06/2009..
After the longest night in the history of the light harness sport in Australia,(just 30 years or so),the sun may be showing on the horizon.In race caller and Albion Park Vice chairman,David Fowler's column in Harness Racing Queensland magazine,David reported on a national marketing meeting held recently in Sydney.It seems that the administrators have finally realised that the switch to the descriptive term,"harness racing" in place of "trotting" or "the trots" in the early 80's achieved only one thing.Two words,innocent in themselves,managed to consign a well known and loved code of horse racing to the shadows,while senior administrators chanted the same two words like some universal mantra.The Gods and the Punters turned their backs.
D.Fowler further reports that it is now realised that the product we place before punters is in many ways far too complicated for the very demographic we must pitch to,Joe and Jo-Anne Average..Simpler,easily understood form guides may be forthcoming.That coupled with the severe curtailing of whip use may put us in the market place with a serious chance of growing a fan base and some real TAB turnover.Maybe,just maybe,this new awakening may be strong enough to head off the latest minefield for punters and participants alike.It's called the National Handicapping Reforms.The net result of this document is 19 rules which further compound the problems for the punter which are inherent in the mobile conditioned racing format. ..Denis..