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i was commenting the other day on cup day and it got me reminiscing about the good old days. Now harness racing was still a very popular sport,especially in canterbury, even as little as 20 years ago. but i will go back even longer to my initial memories of addington on cup day. i used to always take the week off and would travel to christchurch and stay with my auntie for the week.Monday was the day for travel to christchurch ,then cup day,riccarton,ashburton then back for the dogs that night,,initially at qe2,then show day and finally cup day at the gallops. During cup week i was always running into people from where i came from or people who worked occassionally in the area i lived and were from christchurch. Cup week was just an annual pilgrimage to christchurch for so many from all over the country and notably they all followed harness racing throughout the year. cup day started with turning on the tv around 8 in the morning when eating breakfast, in time to watch the main nz tv channel cross to someone on course, who would set the scene for the day,with about 5-10 minutes of mainstream tv coverage,that was the pre cursor to the coverage latter in the day. Then about an hour before race start time it was off to addington in just enough time to ensure a park was going to be available in the back street i had long sussed out for the day. Then there was the routine i had for getting in that i referred to in a recent post. Then it was a matter of filling in a bit of time and waiting for the horses to parade in the parade ring next to the old stables at the top of the addington straight. Now days it just seems a vacant carpark with a few cars which i don't know what they do with,sometimes there seems topping for the track sits there. But back in the day it was where all the floats were parked and where on a non cup racenights, you could park your car as well. then ,when the horses for the first race proceeded down the laneway towards the birdcage i would wander over and watch each one go past just over the fence almost within touching distance.everyone in the stand could see each horse,with their attendants walk in front of them for all the races down that laneway.That was part of the connection people had with the horses and attendants. The stable attendants for each horse got recogntion from the public and then it was into the birdcage where the drivers would be waiting. Then the drivers would take the reins ,3 or 4 loops of the birdcage and then out onto the track. as i said,it was that pre rece routine which provided a connection with the public,but then when they built the new stables they did away with any connection that people could get with the horses and drivers and attendants before or after they went on the track.They just stopped going into the birdcage.Thats something that several tracks did in recent times and i really do think its part of why people stopped going to the races. Anyway,then it was working my way to the tote and lining up. You had to allow enough time to work your way through the ques to the tote window then factor in getting a seat in the packed grandstand.Often on cup day my parents would be there and they would spread themselves out just enough on their grandstand seats to enable me to squeeze a seat next to them as they gave up a bit of room where they were. that grandstand was full of so many enjoyable memories for me over the years. After each race i would walk to the top,get the binoculars out and focus on the horses in the stabling area,mostly trying to see the one i fancied. Then i would switch to the thousands of people out the back,many dancing and partying all over the place..When you needed to pee,you went to the really big public toilets about 100m behind the main granstand which had some trees around it ,but on cup day it was thronging with happy people.Each race run you would see a small wave of people come from that area and pack the area in front of the main granstands then wander back to areas around where i described.Now theres that stadium in that area. Cup day was always a day when you were dark sunglasses as some 2 legged fillies would catch your eye. the cups that i remember the most was the ones lord module and hands down won.Lord module just had a way of creating a buzz amongst the public that i have never experienced before. It wasn't just me,i know others who felt the same. i watched the lord module cup from the grandstand. The hands down cup was one of mixed feelings. I timed my run to get a seat too late and simply couldn't move enough and got stuck watching it about the 200m mark in front of the stand . There was that many people cheering and jumping up and down to get a glimpse of the action near me,that i felt a bit deflated while others all around seemd abuzz. But it was off to under the tote to wait for the race replay and relive it again there with a better view.That was what you did to try and spot a next time winner from the replays back then. Anyways,cup week was always a great week but i stopped going after the grandstand disappeared after the eartquake. In fact,i used to go to addington a lot during the year,but the grandstand disappearing and them no longer going into the birdcage ,it just never felt the same. Familair faces that you met on course,just were never there anymore and like me,just seemed to drift away and never be seen again,except if you ran into them by chance somewhere else. my best week on the punt was when point away,trained by noel taylor and driven by p g o'reilly jnr won. From memory it paid over $40 ,despite being unlucky on cup day. I remember i hadn't had a great year on the punt prior to that ,but that one race made not just that week,but that year a good year on the punt.It was friday the 13th,1987 i see. going to the dogs at qe2 was always worth the dash back from ashburton. It was like they had little lighting where you put your bets on ,but the factor that i found so appealing was the dogs and their handlers paraded and raced just on the other side of the fence from which you stood. it had real atmosphere.When they moved to addington,they lost me and i know so many others who enjoyed a night out at the dogs. my most lasting memory of the gallops was wathcing little brown jug win with tito pobletti as the jockey,or some name like that. I don't know why,but watching him gallop past on a wram sunny christchurch afternon had something which you didn't normally feel. And of course how could anyone forget reon murthas commentaries throughout the years. Back to addington,when i went to the races on cup day,by far the vast majority were there because of the a major interest in the races.the news coverage ,whether it be radio,tv or print,it was such a huge event. Its not the same now and these days I get the impression cup days for so many who attend is about something else other then the races..Back in the days,people with horses,whether it be owners,trainers,stable employess and the actual horses,were all celebrities to a degree.People knew who they were,even many non racing people.Thats changed as well. We say those were the days,for very good reasons. -
Not entertainment for all! It definitely a gambling industry, and they should be taking the good with the bad as such! Morally and ethically wrong that participants are treated differently! How they get away with it is very hard to fathom in this day and age? -
The minister in charge says it’s not. It’s the entertainment industry. -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Drexel Hill, runner-up in the Kentucky Oaks (G1), returns to the starting gate for her first race since the Run for the Lilies in the $300,000 Mother Goose Stakes (G2) Nov. 8 at Aqueduct Racetrack.View the full article -
The thing is if they are wanting to run a show like this to encourage wagering, then have people on that actually have enough ability to be able to make money! for them to be talking about PROFITLAND is just not that clever, they should be making money most weeks with the way the TAB lets them offload as much as they like with no restrictions! They might as well have on different drunks on each week wagering, would be just as successful and a helluva lot more fun for the viewers!
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