| INDUSTRY |
Dr. Paull Khan
ARCSA2020, Laura Green, Dr. Paull Khan, Janse van Rensburg
E M HF S P R I N G U P D ATE ASIAN RACING CONFERENCE 2020
T
he Asian Racing Conference (ARC) is the most venerable such institution in our sport. It may seem strange, but the Asian Racing Federation (ARF) is older than its parent body, the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA). Its conferences, while only biennial compared with the IFHA’s annual get together in Paris after the ARC, go back further – 60 years in fact. And, because of the liberal definition of ‘Asia’ employed by the ARF, the conference found itself this year in Cape Town, South Africa, just as it had done once before, in 1997. What might one glean from conferences such as this about the state of racing globally? Well, attendance at the Cape Town event could be taken as evidence of an industry in reasonable health. The gathering attracted around 500 delegates from some 30 countries, but despite the Coronavirus effect, a large contingent of intended delegates from Hong Kong and smaller numbers from mainland China were unable to travel. Ten years ago, when the conference was hosted in Sydney, 550 attended from 36 countries. So, attendance has held up well over the past decade. But the content of the conference perhaps tells a different story. Back in 2010, the ‘big debate’ centred on the funding of racing, and the relationship between betting and racing in this regard. What struck me about the subject matter in 2020 is that it was less about maximising income, more about the long-term survival of the sport. By
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way of evidence of this, there were sessions on the battle against the scourge of the rapid expansion of illegal betting, the threats to horse racing’s social licence in the wake of growing global concern for animal welfare and the mere use of animals by humans, and the urgent need to engage governments to retain their support for our industry. That is not to say that it was all doom and gloom. Far from it. The conference opened with a stirring discussion of the potential benefits of 5G technology and closed with a session explaining why there is now real optimism that, after years of isolation, South African thoroughbreds will soon be able to travel freely to race and breed. The 5G (fifth generation) standard for mobile internet connectivity is 1,000 times faster than its predecessor, can support 100 times the number of devices and enables fulllength films to be downloaded in just two seconds. While the technology is already here, coverage is limited to date but is predicted to expand with searing rapidity over coming months. The implications of this are manifold for all of us. Indeed, it was said that the opportunities it presents will be like ‘a fire hose coming at you’. Potential benefits that speakers identified for all aspects of horse racing came thick and fast. These benefits include: • Real-time horse tracking, enabling punters watching a race to identify ‘their’ horse. • The ability to provide more immersive customer experiences – you will be able to ‘be’ the jockey of your choice and experience the race virtually from his or her perspective.