the stakes for the guineas at greyville saturday..joke

Correct Cats,

A percentage, what %...? how much...?

Not just the betfair revenue, what about bingo revenue and the future revenue from the impending installation of more slot machines than customers on course and in TAB's.

Transparency, lets have it.... %, great, how much? disclose the full stakes agreement, every last sinew and it will help the sport move forward.

Why does the stakes agreemet which not only affects owners but all interested stakeholders wishing to see the highest quality of racing in SA have to be a secret...?

If money seems to be the problem, then why have,chapter challenges for the mediocre with such high stakes.
And what's the need for the All Stars incentives ??

Even the Kzn Derby has been degraded. What next ??

When are you dim-wits that continually bitch about satkes finally going to come to the conclusion that Phumelela doesn't give a fuck about you.As I have said over and over,their objective is to grow the Phumelela share price,not fill your pockets.They will only do enough to keep people in the game as owners,without really worrying about the cost to the owner.It's just like the employer/employee relationship,the boss only pays the employee enough to stay there,and not a penny more.You are all being employed by Phumelela boys,like it or not.

The Ave yearling price at Germiston was R398 000 - draw your own conclusions as to the stakes on offer - I don't want to be the prophet of Doom but if stakes at all levels(particularly the lower divisions that make up most of our horse population) are not increased the breeding industry may become a wholly export market as local owners cannot continue to buy at these prices with little chance of getting a return without having a few serious punts on their investments(which just adds to the risk element) I'm sure that I read somewhere that Gary Player felt stallion service fees were out of sinc - I was amazed to hear the head stewart of Quatar Racing saying that everything in racing has become very expensive - if this is the view of the orginisation that is now sponsering the Arc then our local industry needs to take action soon before we have a breeders nightmare on our hands - this is my personal view

Thanks Steve for the comprehensive answer.

However I find it hard to comprehend, and ask, is it in fact true that such amounts are 'secret' and witheld/unknown outside of P in said 7/9 provincies?

And if so why is that so?

I mean if the money 'belongs' - I presume via some form of licencing agreement -to the Horse racing Industry as a whole - knowning what the total amount available is, imvho should be a matter of 'public' consumption, so that 'we' all - participants in the various areas - have an input in it's distribution - no?

Know I fully understand, that the RA in is the body that handles such issues, however, as I said, surely that information isn't 'secret' - how can persons have any input on issues like 'Stakes' levels - when the available amounts are unknown?

Respectfully, Jim.

There is much to consider Jim, 6% of a straight forward Tote bet is SA will go to satkes, but P also co-mingle (they love to tell us about the technology, little else), an Isle of Man platform is used in co-mingling, % depends on source of the bet I think. Then there are the peripheral revenue streams stated earleir, Betfairs "royalty", the bingo and slots. Race sponsorship (what little there is) goes to P's bottom line, that I find incrediable.

The seemingly eternally binding confidential stakes agreement holds the key, anyone who can get a full and comprehensive copy and publish it would be a hero.

Alas, Mr H's fears are well founded, and sadly, JAP is 100% correct.

Thought this may be of interest?



Levy Board set to collect
record yield


PRIZE-MONEY in Britain in the second half of the year is due for a significant boost, thanks to a larger than expected increase in payments from betting operators to the Levy Board.

However, not all the increase will go to prize-money due to the decision to retain the levy system until an alternative is found.

When sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe announced the government's determination of the 2008-09 levy scheme in February, he said the board anticipated collecting between £90 million and £100m from bookmakers for the year that ended in April 2008.

But within days of the announcement the Racing Post revealed that racing could actually expect to receive around £106m from the betting industry, including at least £8m from the Tote.

Now, reliable sources suggest that the total is virtually certain to pass the Levy Board's record yield – £110.68m in 2003-04 – and could even reach nearer £120m.

The exact sum that the board will have available will not be known until June, when all bookmakers' payments for 2007-08 are in,and on Monday chairman Rob Hughes was prepared to go only as far as saying: “The yield is likely to be way north of £100m.”

However, indications from last week's annual Levy Board strategy meeting, which considered spending for 2008, are that the figure could settle between £115m and £120m.

A combination of circumstances has produced the remarkable rise from the forecast estimate of £85.5m, which was tabled by the Bookmakers' Committee last July and led to an immediate cut in the board's prize-money allocation from £55m for 2007 to £49.5m for this year.

The figure of £85.5m appears to have been a pessimistic forecast from the betting industry, which was about to embark on negotiations that turned acrimonious and led to the government determination.

Changes to the SP collection system seem to have worked in the bookmakers' favour, leading to greater gross profits as a result of increased starting price margins.
In addition, Ladbrokes, one of the biggest contributors to the levy, reported huge benefits to their balance sheet from high-roller punters, which has translated itself into extra, unexpected levy payments.

As a result, Hughes revealed that the Levy Board has decided to put a significant slice of the windfall into cash reserves, which had been allowed to run down to around £4.2m on the expectation that the levy would disappear.

Hughes explained: “Now that it looks as if the levy system will be around for some time, perhaps even five years, we have to be prudent, and since we cannot guarantee another high-roller effect in the future, we will put about £10m into the reserves, so that the money is there if we get another emergency.”

The next immediate call on the extra yield will be prize-money, and the annual level is expected to be returned to the pre-cuts figure of around £60m, which the board hopes will provide a significant boost to morale within British racing.

Hughes said: “Since prize-money took a hit in the lean years, it's only sensible that it should be increased as quickly as possible.

“We are looking to make the extra contribution in the second half of the year, and we hope to give more details shortly.”

The Levy Board, with new chief executive Douglas Erskine-Crum at the helm, has also decided to alter its management accounting period to a calendar year beginning January 1, although the statutory accounts will still follow the financial year.

The idea is to cut out uncertainty that surrounds an annual strategy meeting held in March or April, which decides spending for the following year before final payments have been made.

From next year the strategy meeting will be held in June or July.

And this!



Haydock Park announces record prize money for 2008

Haydock Park: prize money boost

PARENT company Jockey Club Racecourses may recently have revealed that it is aiming to save £6million a year but that did not stop Haydock Park announcing record prize money for the 2008 Flat season on Monday.

There will be more than £2.2million on offer over the track's 22 fixtures, with £300,000 up for grabs in the feature Betfred Sprint Cup in September.

The same sponsors are backing the Group 2 Temple Stakes, which has been moved to Haydock from Sandown this year and had its purse boosted from £85,000 to £100,000.

The JW Lees John of Gaunt Stakes has been upgraded from listed to Group 3 status, while the Bet365 Old Newton Cup will be worth £100,000 for the first time.
Reflecting on the Jockey Club review, which could threaten the jobs of up to 75 employees of the company nationwide, Haydock managing director Dickon White said: “Obviously we are going through the whole process now as part of the group, it is a fairly difficult time for all the courses in the group and at this stage we don't know what impact it will have directly at Haydock Park.

“We have got a fantastic team who are very conscientious in everything they do and have a lot of loyalty to the place, a lot of long-serving staff and we just hope at the end of this period we can just continue and run the can business as we are.

“It has had no impact on prize money - we are onwards and upwards, we want to invest in all our racing programme both on the Flat and over jumps. It is some internal money from ourselves - we are committed to doing it and fortunately because of our relationships with a number of sponsors they have come alongside us and are investing as well.”

So basically guys all that is 'public' is the 6% tote part - the rest 'co-mingling' etc. is concealed no doubt under 'commercial sensitivity' to P?

Another 'rookie' question I have: do 'we' have 'image rights' afforded to our Horses, like in many other countries around the world - so owners at least receive some type of 'royalty' for allowing for the 'broadcast/form etc'

We are the pricks that buy the horses, look after them, make them available to Phumelela free of charge to show world-wide and race for peanuts.
Why ? Because we love the game.
These are just some of the issues that the RA and Gold Circle should be focusing on for their members.

Was mentioned by GHawkins on Keeping Track that there was complaints from the overseas racing authorities that SA had to many grade 1 races and had to be scaled down.

High calibre fields for the two grade 2's.Even MdeK is hurling two kitchen sinks!

After comments made by A Fortune,am disappointed that 'Lostintrans....' didnt make this field.

heard lostintranslation is a very unwell horse... not good news... but getting back to the stakes money - its pretty discusting how the higher powers in racing exploit those of us who care about and support the sport as much as they do....