Chief Stipe

No disrespect to your knowledge but as an athlete in my teenage years on the Coast I trained and raced at all four tracks. Omoto is also a swamp in the middle and any further development is constrained by physical barriers. Not to mention the periodic flooding from the Grey River which is one of those physical barriers. Yes Kumara is built on pakahi flats however many farmers and science has worked out how to turn it into very productive paddocks. Pakahi soil forms over hard iron pans. The soil itself isn't that bad but the problem is drainage. Crack the pan and put in good drains you are fine. The difference with Kumara is that there is acres of cheap land surrounding the existing course. Pakahi doesn't worry the building of infrastructure. You could very easily build a pseudo artificial turf track on the top of a hard iron pan. Westland missed an opportunity to promote West Coast racing.

FFS - you deliberately left the other clause out which is specifically aligned to the objectives of the Club. All other clauses are tested against those objectives. Geez spin around if you will. One minute you are saying it should be returned to the community that built it now you are saying stuff history it is what the latest community wants! When the assets were built up a long time before this latest generation came along!! The realised assets should have gone to Kumara to further racing on the West Coast. Not sold to developers to to reduce the rates of ratepayers of the Westland District Council. But just keep on perpetuating the poster child myth that the Westland Racing Club gave the finger to NZTR!

So the 150+ year paramount objective of the Club is over ridden with no consideration to those members who developed the assets to pursue their chosen sport of racing. I think you are deliberating obfuscating the point to suit an ill advised agenda. Racing AND the people of Westland could have benefited by the Club investing in Kumara which is officially in the District of Westland. You also ignore the clause immediately above the one you quote: In the event of the Club being wound-up or put into liquidation in accordance with (a) above, the property and surplus assets of the Club after payment of the Club's liabilities and the expenses of the winding-up must be disposed of in accordance with section 27 of the Racing Act, for racing, public, charitable, or other purposes in the manner that the Club, with the approval of NZTR, determines.

Not at all. But then I'm not promoting the myth that the "community" benefited from the "gift". Explain this - why would the Westland Racing Club act opposite to the objectives of their Club? The Westland District Council that received the "gift" also has the Kumara Racing Club within its territorial boundaries. The WRC could have invested in that course and got more meetings! Hell it is only 20 mins drive down the road and has a lot more shyte land to develop into a decent racecourse!

But why do it that way Murray? Why not keep your "Club" going and invest in a better facility down the road? Isn't the reason for the Club - Racing horses be they Thoroughbred or Standardbred? Rugby Clubs with equally long historys have had to bit the bullet and merge otherwise instead of one Club promoting and playing rugby there would be two or three bankrupt ones.

Only part of the community built it for the purposes of horse racing. Those that were interested in horse racing. For the majority of its existence it was only ever used as a racecourse and horse training facility. Except for the likes of local athletes like myself who did cross country training on the course. The objective of the Westland Racing Club as stated in its Constitution was: To hold and conduct race meetings and to promote, regulate and assist the sport of Horse Racing at the Club's course at Hokitika or anywhere else in New Zealand. As for it remaining a community asset it has been turned into a housing subdivision. I know someone who has done a bit of research on the deal and it isn't as nice and touchy as those with other agendas make it out to be. At the end of the day Racing on the West Coast lost out to age old parochialism rather than a passion for racing.

That the Westland Racing Club gave the assets to the local community in an act of virtuous benevolence.

Then those Club members have no interest in the sustainability of the industry nor for that matter being committed to the constitutional reason for their existence - to further the interests of the sport of racing. Why couldn't Westland have given the capital released by selling DIRECTLY to the real estate developer to Kumara rather than giving it to the local Council? My father donated thousands of dollars to the Westland Racing Club either in money or services from his business. I helped paint running rails and seats. He was a realist as a business man and also didn't suffer from the parochialism that holds Clubs back. He was born and bred in Greymouth - his wife was from Westport. He ran the icecream stall at Kumara selling Snowflake tubs out of large canvas bags. He raced horses all over the South Island. He would have seen the writing on the wall for at least one (if not two) of the West Coast Clubs. At the end of the day he and his friends of his era would have rather have seen the money invested in racing on the West Coast.

That's the myth that some are promoting. There were pre-arrangements not too dissimilar to other real estate deals done. Didn't Westland have the opportunity to invest in Kumara? The iconic racecourse 25km down the road.

But Hokitika wasn't sold by NZTR - the Club effectively gave it away. Although they did have prior agreements with local stakeholders.

LOL you aren't very good at the stats are you. Surely you are not suggesting he has more starters than Chris Waller, Gai Waterhouse, Ciaron Maher, the Hayes Brothers...

Well we gather you don't support much at all. I see yet another drive by emoji from @JJ Flash . You'd be pleased to know @Huey that so far this season Mark Walker has trained the mosr individual 2yr old winners in Australia and NZ.

So they haven't sold any yet as you inferred?

Which ones have been sold? By whom?

Ellerslie.

All three clubs have voted for it as well. Sadly Te Rapa has been let go and will get much worse. The biggest issue though is making the new site self-funding enough to maintain and eventually renovate their core operational assets. Hopefully it won't be like the AWT's and they have done a proper business case.

Random questions or are you both being smart arses?

Why? Surely you are not suggesting this transaction is done without then?

He told a story when commentating. I don't know how he managed to say so much so often and at the right time in a race. In those days we listened on radio as only the big races were televised. You could listen to Jack and feel like you were there. "Grand sight in sunshine..." "Jack Smolenski gives the dust sheet a tap or two and his charge is out by a length at the moment..." Every race was somehow different as in he didn't often repeat himself like some commentators do - Tony Lee and his last little bit, they're chasing a memory etc. Reon Murtha was good too but not as colourful as Jack.

The first and best commentator I heard on the circuit was Jack O'Donell from Greymouth. I memorised some of his race calls of my Dad's horses winning. I remember big fields in those days 18 or more horses going round. Real tactical events and an impressive sight. Especially a staying event where they turned for home up that uphill straight at Richmond. "...they're a great sight in sunshine as they make there way around the showground bend. Jack Smolenski immediately gives the dust sheet a tap or two and his charge is out by a couple of lengths, Canny Glen is the big danger, Tilford starting to make a run from the back...they straighten up and set sail for home Canny Glen is put under pressure, Tilford still making his run.....and here's High Chaparall making a big run down the outside, High Chaparall, there's a furlong to go and High Chaparral has swooped to the lead...High Chaparral bolts in - this will be a boilover!" Dad and Joe Hill once again pocketed great wads of $20 notes!

Why would I go "hunting" for those posts when there is @Newmarket , @JJ Flash , @Huey and @Comic Dog doing it for me?

That's a bit rich coming from someone who starts a Topic with the intention of bagging a horse that has just picked up a couple of Group 3 placings in OZ. I'm not arrogant enough to tell Mark Walker one of NZ's most successful trainers that he should race his horse for $46k at Kangaroo Island. Instead the Grp 3 OZ placing has added more residual value. I then stick my neck out giving an opinion on what I think that residual value currently is knowing full well that I will be on the end of trolling and derision. I then post a brief rationale of how I determined that figure. No one else as done that one way or another just like I provided an opinion backed by analysis on her performances. One troll from another site @Comic Dog read my residual value comment and supposedly rang a couple of bloodstock valuers to try and score points. Probably because they are not as knowledgeable as they make out to be or too lazy to do some research. Mind you the same types think Jamie Richards is doing really well in Hong Kong when the statistics show otherwise. 4 seasons to get 100 winners and has always been in the bottom half of the trainers premiership. If you want to be in a misogynist echo chamber where only those that agree with each other are allowed to comment or where the site owner bans you for posting the very type of post you just did then go for it.

I haven't EVER said I was NEVER wrong. That's not to say I'll never back up my statements with rational logical argument. Still waiting for @Newmarket and @JJ Flash to post something that does.

So thats good you don't beat yourself up!

Before you bagged them.