The big question is why the Jockey Club felt it necessary to centralise metropolitan racing on Morphettville – walking away from more than 100 years presence at Victoria Park and selling Cheltenham for $85 million. The answer is simple. No Cheltenham sale, no money.

The SAJC needs cash to keep operating – to fund prize money for races. Its cash flow situation has been deteriorating for years. Revenue from the sale of the TAB to Queensland helped prop up finances for a while but cannot disguise the fact that horse-racing, along with harness and greyhound racing, is losing ground against other forms of gambling.

There are just so many alternatives in 2009 for spending entertainment dollars – and racing is just one of the gambling alternatives rather than the only legal one as it was 50 years ago. Poker machines and the casino have made huge inroads into the dollars available for gambling and racegoers are an ageing breed.

Young people will go to the races for special occasions, enjoy the refreshments and entertainment in the marquees, but few will be back for a regular Saturday’s racing. The SAJC has made big efforts to attract younger racegoers through advertising and special areas, although how they’ve been recruited to become members and how much they paid – if anything – plus their support at a meeting for the sale of Cheltenham, is in the Lipman Karas Report.

Younger racegoers might enjoy their day out at the races every so often, having a great time eyeing off the opposite gender, but betting is far from their top priority. Dwindling crowds are one problem – the cost of horse ownership is another.

There are now few individuals who can afford to own and race a horse by themselves. It’s not just the purchase of a horse, it’s the cost of the upkeep. In full training, expect no change from $30,000 a year in having a racehorse trained at Morphettville.

Few local horses are good enough to be first to the winning post in a race worth $18,000 to the winner at Morphettville. Victorian trainers every week target SA Saturday races for their poorer-performing horses who cannot win the much more lucrative races in Melbourne.

Prize-money in SA is not keeping pace with other states. This means our best horses go interstate in pursuit of big returns from the Group One events. Boosting or even maintaining prize money is critical to racing’s future in SA, and that is why there is so much reliance on income from the sale of the Cheltenham racecourse.

The State Government patted itself on the back when it injected $ 3.5 million in tax relief for the racing industry this financial year, ignoring the fact that for years successive governments have grabbed between 15 and 20 cents out of every dollar taken across the counter at TABs.

Racing has long been a convenient cash cow to provide revenue for state governments. The only cure to this whole-of-body disease is for the SAJC to lure more people to the track. In mid-winter, only the most hardened punters come through the turnstiles, and their numbers are dwindling.

Meanwhile, though, the affairs at the SAJC are far more colourful than the jockey’s silks.