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Probably would have been better off.  However the flaw in the plan was not enough capital was released to fix the issues.  As it is there isn't enough to fund operational costs. As us evident from thw comments of many the industry still runs as an amateur hobby rather than as a self sustaining business.

Galah, wash your mouth out! Why would anyone want to be gambling on gallops? I have looked at all the harness fields this week, and can not see a single horse that is worth offloading on! Just no value and when you have 5 horses in many races paying less than $2 for top 3, then you are wasting your time. Just a poor state of affairs at the moment with where harness racing is and unfortunately I do not believe the ones making the decisions really understand ?

Well just imagine the landscape if they had closed those tracks by 24 25 as was the theory.

Southland did race on Sunday, so what does one expect, Cambridge had good fields last week but no Auckland the day after, it's not rocket science, Southland do need a longer season but the winter rewards series in August was complimented by one of their better July August weather period and yes the gallopers are more interesting most times in the South, I think the lack of overkill does help.

the quality of the betting prioduct has never been worse in the history of harnesss racing in new zealnad. No one could argue otherwise. Southalnd fields are shocking betting races these day. today 3 x 6 horse fields and 2  x  7 horse fields.  nearly every race has a hot favorite,well under the odds.. the form is often inconsistent due to the horses  being over raced. Southland should not have as many meetings as they do. They should be closed down over winter. But the people running the industry seem to have no idea just how much they are turning off punters with the very poor quality betting fields. As you say,cambridge has 1x 5 horse and 2x 6 horse races tomorrow. Auckland has a couple of 6 horse races. addington has 1. if they are going to run these small filed races,they should not be paying the lavel of stakemoney they are in them.You can't keep running things at a loss like they are. for these races. The fools that said the 2 year old bonuses would get more horses racing,they been proven well and truly wrong. The people who said you would get more horses running in the age group races if they changed the season to 31 december,they were very obviously wrong. the clever people in charge show time and again how they are far from smart.And the worst thing is,that was all pretty obvious from the start. Then they have been paying all these big stakes out in top end races ,only to see the aussies win all the big races. If you look at the stakes won,you would see  7 or 8 aussie horses can start here 2 or 3 times,thats the equilvalent of the total number of starters you would get in 2 races run in nz each year,yet they win 10% of the total stake money paid out in nz harness racing each year. So they have about 2800 races run in nz each year and you can have that minute number of aussies winning all that money,because the administrators have top end loaded the stake money. people can ramble on about how good racing in cup week was. No one is denying it wasn't. But when will people wake up and see cup and show day are not even 1% of the nz racing product. The other 99% is where it matters as to the state of harness racing. as an aside,i haven't seen the hrnz website  ramble on about the betting figures or the numbers that attended,like we know they would have,had they been good.Silence tells a story of its own,you just have to listen for it.  all that goes on in nz harness racing doesn't effect me much,i just observe whats going on,but its so sad that the people running the show have degraded the product to the extent they have. i can see why hrnz tried the odd different strategy,but when they are failing,why do they keep on with the doomed strategies.Like running extra race meetings in the areas of nz which were already struggling for numbers,how can anyone not think that was just so dumb. From a betting perspective,the answer to me is very clear. Punters who bet on south island  harness racing, should be redirecting their time to south island  gallops.At least they ahve good size fields and there isn't the dominant favorites in every race that you get in so many of the the harness races.

How good has it been watching these 2 race against each other. Marketplace clearly the better early on, but Got The Chocs now has the edge and the staying power. Reminds me of Starship Vrs Tuapeka Knight in the 80s, Starship had edge early but Tuapeka Knight soon turned out to be better. I do remember Starship beating him one day at Addington, only to be relegated as Ian Cameron closed the gap.    Sir Castleton Vrs Basil Dean, Gammalite Vrs Poppy…. What other match ups can you remember?

I thought 3k but could be totally wrong, by blarney kiss I think, what a bargin either way, great to see his colours still going around with Snows granddaughter Jamie Lee, lostcause was my tip for the nz cup, but pulled out before final field, shame as would have relished those conditions, nice mare bit unlucky in last years nz an Auckland cup, bad draws an tough runs.

I think the complication and overload of computerised and analysed information can be a turn off.  Sometimes a one line quote from a trainer in their own environment as opposed to raceday is more valuable and usable.  There is a misconception about what does and doesn't drive turnover.  Not every customer is equal.

The article may be slightly misleading.  The scribe says the horse has been retired to Windsor Park.  Mark Walker says Wild Night will see his days out as a pleasure horse.  Windsor Park wouldn't have enough paddocks to retire all the horses bred by them.  My money is on Wild Night joining Gina Schick's Event Stars for a time until rehomed to a different equestrian discipline.