Of late World Sports Betting renewed it's sponsorship of the struggling Cape Met with a R5m stake, increased from R2m, admirable indeed. This in turn is slightly short of the R6m put up by Betway for the Summer Cup and equal to the R5m Hollywoodbets puts up for the 2024 July. However, in the 2025 case of the latter that's like funding ones own event, considering they now own the operation and it would be a huge surprise to not see that race increased to above the R6m mark to reclaim its richest race in Africa tag. 

 

Some bookmakers keep using the excuse that racing is dying or dead and reflects too low a percentage of their turnovers yet they still invest heavily in racing whilst forcing operators to cower for their money knowing they are the only willing sponsors. They cannot claim to be immune from placing racing in this position in the first place via paying almost nothing to put on the show bar recent sponsorship and minimal government taxation on winning bets from their gamblers. Let alone the 'open bet', allowing bookmakers to offer tote products effectively placing pressure on the totes viability. It was a perfect storm of destruction for past operators coupled with their own business decisions. It has led to this situation of racing at its worst position in the history of the glorious sport. What's also amazing about some in those positions, who gained huge financial windfalls, is that they are back in current systems even though promises of 'never to use' certain past failed personal were mentioned in the corridors of the sport. This has to be fully played out, so time will tell. 

 

But for Mary Slack and daughters (MOD), racing would have been gone totally. In many ways, the saviour of the sport and she should be remembered as such - saving many jobs and allowing the mess of the past administrations to be partly rectified - at a huge personal financial cost. 

 

Regarding the Cape Met stakes increase, it's a move in the right direction for an event that has lost its position as Cape Town's flagship racing event under former long term liquor sponsor J&B. Remember, when it used to be one of the most important events in Cape Town let alone in Cape Racing circles. Today, it is a pale shadow of itself with numerous contributing factors leading to that downfall, almost none having to do with the current operators who inherited the problems. 

 

Post covid many things have changed including the Durban July losing some its former lustre with the operator patently aware that in another two to three years, it could start a dangerous downward spiral, following the Cape Met route. Lessons must be learnt and one bad year could lead to another. It's far more stable than the Met but the lack of an outside corporate sponsorship doesn't help its growth. Like with its past long term sponsors Rothmans (Tobacco) and Vodacom (Telecoms), giants of their respective industries, they bring in their own followers. A rightful argument can be made that corporate sponsors aren't easy to come by, in fact, it's a no go area with no corporates involved in race sponsorships of any consequence. Bookmaker sponsors don't necessarily bring that punch of the corporate sponsors and their non racing clients and hence the lack of associated exposure to new markets. It's a different base that energizes the event and the sport in general.

 

Racing has far too many newbies in the various systems to know the loopholes. Each coming in with ideas of freshness not knowing that it's all, by and large, been tried before, at huge costs. It's a lesson that many have learnt and the less speedy on the uptake, keep learning at a huge cost. 

 

Setting up expensive photoshoots with models and sending out patently obvious 'Ai type' driven press releases aren't going to move the needle in an expert sport nor is hiring expensive PR and marketing teams with zero knowledge of the base to perpetuate it. Arguably few changes can move the needle but optimization and better use of funds can atleast, prevent major losses. This all happens whilst relationships at the base level aren't established. It just enhances the impression of lack of understanding exhibited by the some of the sports decisions makers. Many, to be fair, have their hands tied. Others not so. And so the decline will continue. 

 

In the same light, so too are the so-called themes announcements. Each trying to copy the tried success of the Durban July, only to find out that the marketing and event spend to get to that entertainment level followed by the lack of client retention at the event only leads to the patrons arriving oncourse enjoying a great event at huge cost to the organizers, only to return the following year for the same without investing a cent in between. This all whilst the flawed investment in the tote continues under 'strategic policy'. Another chapter in itself. 

 

This 'rinse and repeat' model will further be perpetuated by the newbies who wish to use concepts from other sports or marketing models without understanding the isolated racing base.

 

The base continues to shrink and has shrunk over years and the result is here. Yet the same is repeated year after year.

 

Bookmakers are scrambling now to 'save' the sport and in turn sponsoring almost every aspect of the value chain. All of this, we are told, for a sport that has limited worth to them in terms of their bottomline. Almost every bookmakers has given the same reason; a 'love' for the sport itself yet the truth is that when racing was the only gamble in town, it was the core of their business and how they got here in the first place. They owe horseracing everything and hence the sport deserves the investment and saving, it's more than just a moral 'right thing to do' or love for the sport. Others, more recent market players, claim that sponsorship keeps out the competition.

 

These are interesting times indeed.