Chief Stipe

Good noms for Saturday's Meeting at Ruakaka. Tradies Day Punters Comp. Free buses from Whangarei. A toss up for tradie @TAB For Ever - does he go to Ruakaka or Hastings? The Hoi Polloi or the Aristocracy?

Anyway back to the Hastings Track. Looks like being a Good 4 or better. Hopefully no showers on the day.

I still haven't seen the 1995 NZ Trotting Cup. I was there but was drinking champagne with a very attractive young woman after a BIG collect the race before! I still remember fondly my first Wellington Cup Day 2001. Started with breakfast at the Dockside Club and then bussed to their tent just down from the winning post on the infield. I think we needed up finished where we started that day. I don't think it is an either or question. It can very successfully be both. Where they went wrong was investing in flash grandstand infrastructure and forgetting about the tracks and stables I.e. the horse. The one thing that differentiated them from every other entertainment in town. That Wellington Cup day I mentioned there were 20,000+ on course and the majority were housed in tents. To draw a parallel was Rugby at Lancaster Park ever the same when they got rid of the bank? I started my interest in racing at the Westland Racing Club and they didn't invest in flash stand. The facilities didn't change in the 40 years I went there. All that said I think something must be working because I have met a lot of young people in the last couple of years that are really interested in the game.

Which was when exactly?

Exactly. At least they are trying something. Might not be hitting all the targets but hopefully they are doing a comprehensive Marketing ROI. Although I haven't met many Marketers that are good in the analysis. Stronger on the fluff.

I should have said that the other way round. Obviously not enough R60's so well bang them up a grade.

FFS were you a school teacher in a past life? Why are you being so pedantic about updates that are made within hours? Does your un-real time really matter?

Dear me it has been a while since you have been to the races! If you go as a group then you always have someone to mind your handbag (in your case) while you go for a 2 minute walk to the parade ring!

Yes it is a good point BUT once they are there then you can capture them. If they aren't there you have no show. So the key will be the follow up on the day to engage them. Of course I'd be interested to hear of @Huey 's alternative marketing strategy.

Nope because when you are oncourse you get a good ten minutes of watching the horses in the parade ring and galloping onto the track. You don't get that in "decent pub TAB".

Looking OK for this weekend too.

I thought it did. So essentially not enough R65 horses around but we will disadvantge the R60's and have less coming through.

Moisture meter 39.4%. I have this uneasy feeling that the moisture has been let go too low. Noting though that there is a correlation between soil type and optimal moisture readings.

Meeting News Programming Changes – Cambridge 18 September In order to maximise starter numbers both the R60 1300m and R60 2000m races will now be R65 races

What was the track like?

A G4 this morning after 5mm of irrigation.

Yeah I didn't add all of it up. I'm not sure why they couldn't wait until Wednesday but a hot Nor West day tomorrow. Perhaps they should have taken another tracks recent approach lately and miscalibrated the .moisture meter.

Earlier forecast on Metservice had 15mm falling. Metvuw still has a dump.

The Grand Tour doesn't interfere much with anything else. It is a quite self contained bar - a bit like a mobile bar come TAB. Friends requented it during the Matamata Breeders Stakes Day at Trentham earlier in the year. The DJ's and music wasn't too bad. Surprised more didn't frequent the place - got a great leaner table and seat in front of some big TV screens. Food was good too and the bar prices not too bad. They could see the parade ring from where we were sitting.

It was forecast to rain heavily on Wednesday.

The question is will they be inclined to irrigate?

Same point Chazza. Bit rich coming from you Chazza. Over 99% of dogs race without a major injury.

5/1000 or 99.5% of race starts have no major injury. Versus the KPI of 99.8% uninjured. The fact is that in no high performance event either human or involving dogs or horses is there a 0% injury rate. Go play tiddly winks Chazza with SUNT. Why don't you and SUNT direct your attentions to the 25% of pet dogs that have been made obese by bad owners?

There is one at Manukau but you refuse to acknowledge it is there.

Real time? You can't compare statistics like that. I keep telling you to normalise your data but you haven't a clue.