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Observations: Apr. 6, 2019
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Bellafina the One to Beat in SA Oaks
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Cheers, seems like a good turnout. Great salute to The B-52's Motion in the ocean His air hose broke Lots of trouble Lots of bubble He was in a jam S'in a giant clam Rock rock Rock lobster and your horse 🙂 -
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southland harness racing now provides a betting product along the lines of auckland racing. And we all know punter paticipation in auckland harness is declining. The smaller fields are the reason for that. and the reasons for the smaller fields seem multiple,and its very likely things will only get worse. Reasons like the unfair handicapping system. For example the horse TED,a 2 win horse from 3 starts,would be amongst the top 10 or so rated horses in southland.Imagine owning that horse,after 2 starts, having to line up against the highest rated horses in southland just to get a start.They should sell that horse before they break its will by running in races like that 2400m 2.54race that it ran in last start. At least they didn't line it up in that nz record race last week which was its only option to start in that day. Then look at the non win horses who are rated r40. Mostly they don't have enough non win horses in that grade and the lower rating non win horses have to run against the higherr 50 non win horses each week.Same with the 1 win r 35 horses. The type of horses who once had a chance to earn money in the lowest of the r35 races,now have to run against better horses than they did a year ago due to the handicapping system.You just don't see them anymore. then look at the age of the current participants in southland. It appears 3/4 are over 50,possibly more.Probably half over 60.Also take note that whereas once families had sons and daughters carry on from where their parents left off,now next to none seem to be participating. look at the smaller number of horses qualifying. look at the lack of females involved in the sport down there when compared with some other areas. The increase in participation by women has masked to a degree the decline in male participation elsewhere. look at the cost of getting there for canterbury horses. Whereas once canterbury horses owners received a travel subsidy to attend,now they don't. and of course southland don't appear to be considered of much importance when compared to Auckland. The big hole that exists in auckland is being filled by hrnz funded stake increases,but southland gets next to nothing. Hrnz would rather increase stakes to auckland and try and get owners to pay the cost of travel to there,than provide the same incentive to go to southland. Then of course theres the other reasons that apply elsewhere in nz,but especially southland like land values being pushed so high by things like dairy conversions in the last 20 years which has made it next to impossible for young people to see a future,but even moreso has led to the rapid decline in small time trainers that were once the backbone of southland harness racing. Many decisions being made by HRNZ leadership seem to be hurting southland harness racing. HRNZ need to address the many issues southland have,but is HRNZ capable of that.Thats very debateable. My thoughts are they need to look at shortening the racing season in southland.Not only do the numbers point to this being inevitable,but its also so cold in southland at certain times of the year which effects participation.Thats what used to happen when they had far greater numbers participating in southland. Had HRNZ done something like i suggested and invested the forbury money in setting up some type of trainingfacilty in canterbury then southland trainers could have come up with small teams and supported canterbury harness racing or aucklnad harness racing in their off season .Satelite stables sort of thing for 3 or 4 months of the year. However the way things are with training facilities disappearing and racecourses mostly full then ,they may not find it easy to find a place to stay.
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