Summer Cup day looms large but as it stands at midday on the day, there is a major delay in the weather, more weather moving in on Sunday and a dampner of spirits overall.

This is very much in keeping with the realist's feelings who know the storm that racing faces in the overall scheme of things and when they look in the mirror in the bright of day, the optimism will naturally fade. The numbers just don't work out.

The day itself, Summer Cup Day, was meant to be the unofficial big 'launch' of sorts of the 4 Racing brand as much as they are only officially taking over on Wednesday December 1. This was their showcase event of the year. Sadly, not going to plan which is out of their control.

In the overall picture of racing, the reduced number of races in the ailing Western Cape also means more stakes and less races, akin to robbing Peter to pay Paul. In the end the decline is obvious and the lack of races will no doubt be felt by the well healed Cape Owners let alone the struggling trainer base, who bar the top three or four, struggle to put bread on the table.

However, there is a major lack of understanding of the growth market and the skills and understanding base to attempt to grow those areas is startling.

The first thing is that one would need market understanding within Joburg and Cape Town and the right people simply don't exist as they were never developed by the failed systems racing had in place. Gold Circle is not exempt from the decline. They just have the luxury of a solid Indian punter base to keep them afloat for now. 

Coming back to Cape Town, with respect to the colored community frequenting the GrandWest casino, how is it possible that racing cannot attract the same crowd to the races? Well it's years of decline and poor service that turned major races like the Met, now not even sponsored, from Cape Town's premier event to a non-event. In fact, it's decline was so dramatic after J&B left the sponsorship scene that members of the management and marketing teams should have been hauled over the coals and fired for the handling of that decline alone. It's embarrassing.

The Western Cape will soon become if not already the bloodsucker of the 4 Racing reserves. The toll it will take on the already bleeding Joburg tote, will be irreversible in a short time. Gold Circle didn't divorce that bleeding entity for no reason only for the now failed Phumelela to take over. Look where that got them.

The storm in Joburg prior to the biggest event in that city for racing, is it an ominous sign for the future or is that too a negative output to stomach for the racing romantics?