WHY HORSE RACING SHOULD BE DOING MORE.

Writing in Idol Horse, Adam Pengelly wrote a piece on Tom Prebble and how he’s doing today after his life-changing fall and how he’s working himself back to life going on around him. 

Mentioned was the support group around him- his parents Maree and former champion jockey and Melbourne Cup winning jockey Brett, former jockeys Tye Angland, and Chris Symonds and the World’s Best Jockey James McDonald rushing over to see Tom right after winning the Cox Plate.

Adam painted a picture of words and expressions, we tend to use way too easily- human resolve, resilience, determination etc- but there was a very human side to what was written that made one think that we’re often here to help those we know and how this help is a reciprocal thing- a two way street.

The words that come together is compulsory reading. I can’t do justice to what Adam has written.

Here’s hoping those running racing clubs read this and perhaps makes them think just how far behind the eight ball they are when it comes to empathy and understanding how they might be able to help those in need.

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While nearly every racing club and Bloodstock agent in Australia are busy patting themselves on their backs about horse racing attracting more and more “younger people” to the races- and let’s thank Peter V’Landys and Everest Day for that- they seem blind to a few other things that could make their product more attractive and engaging than it is.

For example, horse racing is more than likely attractive to those “younger people” on the BIG racing days, because these are seen as fun filled, inexpensive big day outs, and with the Everest heavily marketed with the usual onslaught of bells and whistles that are not missed by anyone in Sydney.

With sustainability in mind, and new thinking built around empathy, horse racing can be seen to be doing its part to raise awareness of the many “younger people” who are confused, depressed and angry- and what can be done to help them heal.

For me, these days are all about trying to offer Hope and Happiness to those who need it.

It goes without saying that we are all living in an uncertain and powder keg world with a young generation lost in space and needing help that many of them don’t believe they need or don’t know who to trust to provide them with answers.

We all need help in one way or another and only fools believe that they are invincible to the various winds of change blowing throughout the rollercoaster world.

Of course, racing clubs, despite reciting the “integrity” mantra are still saddled with mandatory government warnings for consumers to “Gamble Responsibly”. 

This is because of a business model based on wagering and turnover with bookmakers dangling so many carrots in the faces of people wanting to be rich that it all looks rather cheap and desperate.

The problem with those often given the job of marketing horse racing and most of the big Poohbahs in charge of running racing clubs is that they might have been doing it for too long and have lost touch with the world outside of wagering.

They either don’t know, or don’t want to know how they are looked at by those much bigger consumer driven businesses that want nothing to do with gambling on the horses and their age old ways to feed the forty thousand with a steady diet of The Punts- and we should know with what that rhymes.

This one dimensional and blinkered mentality is hardly attractive to potential sponsors, new business partners, governments, anti gambling bodies and many families.

It also does nothing for racing clubs to increase their likability, their relevance and visibility and increase audience share. It’s a turn off.

Coming from advertising, one wonders if any of these racing clubs have thought about producing PSAs- Public Service Announcements- that are created by those who understand their power and know how to produce content relevant to the medium- nothing preachy, but making everyone aware about some extremely angry “younger people” who need help before things reach boiling point?

Would those running racing clubs even understand how, when effectively used in tandem with strong communications strategies, the right PSAs can work to enhance and maybe even modernise their image?

When taking on whatever their tacky looking Sassy Wednesday was meant to be, and creating the game changing Happy Wednesday brand for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, I made it clear to the head of wagering at the time that this was to never become a School For Punting and include the selling of more irrelevant racing apps.

Those smart, young, attractive people who had become regulars each Wednesday at Happy Valley would have run for the hills as gambling on horses and seeing them being whipped was not for them and they had zero interest in understanding gambling on it.

They were coming to the racecourse for its themed nights and to interact with others their age before taking in whatever was available after the races were over.

The thing is that these people had other options to go out and have a good time. They could “Love The Horse” in other ways including, for instance, making donations to the brilliant people involved with Living Legends in Melbourne or perhaps even working for them.

Happy Wednesday succeeded for at least eight good years. This was until Covid struck along with the lockdown years followed by protests between the yellow group and the blue group and some off kilter pro democracy movement in Hong Kong.

This saw hundreds of thousands of Westerners exit Hong Kong including our core group of regulars and their departure put a huge dent in the city, let alone having the right crowd to enjoy a Happy Wednesday.

Today, at least in Hong Kong, the HKJC and its horse racing are trying to be part of “entertainment”.

The question is if they have those who can make this happen or is this something to just appease a government who might not know what it wants?

What has been seen to date is silly weak kneed dross with everything at odds with the majority of racegoers and hardly relevant in 2025.

It’s hardly ammunition for the future of horse racing at a time when even longtime racegoers are referring to horse racing as a “sunset industry” on its last legs- and not wanting to see their children be part of it.

Perhaps the horse racing industry is so terribly outdated in the ways that it advertises and markets its product that nothing is making sense or creating the necessary awareness?

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