A NEW attitude is brewing at the Arima Race Club (ARC).

Just one month into the job the new management team already is signalling change is underway at Santa Rosa Park.

The management team is introducing initiatives that some industry observers doubt would ever have happened previously.

Reports are circulating that the new team is forging relationships and cooperation with an outstretched hand.

Horseracing is now poised to provide entertainment not just horse races.

Santa Rosa Park faces several challenges, including exceeding patron’s expectations and shifting paradigms within the industry.

Mandela in Winners' enclosure
with happy connections.

Deo Maharaj (second from left)
owner of Windjammer pose
with relatives in winners'
enclosure

In today’s world, where the customer is really setting the agenda for change, Santa Rosa must change as well.

It must evolve. It must be more consumer-focused and more innovative than ever before.

Santa Rosa will have to seek input from all corners of the operations to achieve its goals.

In addition to regular meetings with key personnel, they should all be available by cellphone as needed. Conventional office hours should not exist.

The new management team is expected to have its own management style. A team approach seems to be the preferred choice, which will bring stability and credibility to advocate change.

In addition to the Chief Executive Officer (who was appointed last week), there are other members who bring experience and know-how to the table -- vice-president of finance and administration who will have her finger on the company’s financial pulse and the vice-president of racing (responsible for local live racing, race day officials, plant, equipment and premises).

Each of these members brings something unique to the table and their perspectives and experience will serve the organisation well. The world is getting more complex every day, especially with marketing and the organisation is poised to have an experience base capability in that regard providing advice in all those areas.

Today, more than ever, organisations need a lot of information and people who know how to use that information.

The industry has changed more in the past few years than in the previous 50 years.

Five years ago a lot of existing systems and procedures were discontinued.

All these changes will have to be revaluated. A solid management team should improve Santa Rosa’s ability to achieve worthwhile goals with strong execution, confront strategic choices and take calculated risks.

Some racing officials are saying that this new management team is doomed to failure because over the past decades a number new management committees could not put racing back on the right track.

However, a number of other stakeholders feel the changes will come and that the new racing body cannot wave a magic wand and transform a dying horseracing industry overnight.