The Winton Harness Racing Club is aiming to give punters what they want on Sunday.
In conjunction with the Southern Harness group which administers all Southland harness clubs and some in Otago, the club has been busy studying details of the declining turnover trends in the region.
It has picked out the races punters have supported the most recently and attempted to produce a race card full of them in a bid to revive declining betting figures.
“Our concern is that if we don’t try to promote our product a bit better the punters will lose interest,” Southern Harness Racing chairman John Earl said.
“So we have taken a look at our turnovers so far this year.
“The trend is that punters want mobile races and small and compact rating races. They are leading the way as far as turnover goes.
“What we decided was instead of having one or two of those races at a meeting, if we tried a whole day’s racing and tried to get a captive audience all day it could drive turnover.”
Sunday’s meeting is the starting point for the concept that could evolve, depending on its success.
“This may not be the total answer, but we as an industry need to have a discussion about what we can do,” Earl said.
“It is not really about what we want, it is about what the punter wants which is the future.”
It is hoped the Winton initiative might prompt a wider discussion about what clubs and industry bodies can do to revive turnover.
“We are not driving turnovers like we would like, so we are going to change things and this might start a discussion,” Earl said.
“Other people might have other ideas – but we have got to let the tote do the talking.”
On-course turnover has dropped significantly in Southland this season, like much of the country.
That is of particular concern to the Southern Harness group as low on-course betting could affect other parts of the industry, such as the drive to increase horse owner numbers.
“Having low turnover on-course can’t be good for ownership. It can’t be good for getting people in to syndicates. We want to get more people to the races and we want to make it a bit more vibrant. The drop off on-course is pretty scary, really.”
Earl said the TAB welcomed the initiative.
