Chief Stipe

So $2,000 for saying "shit"? He should have said "the track was not up to standard and the horses raced accordingly. Those that delivered this track should be held accountable. I'll now go home and get up at 4am for the next 14 days and try again".

Illogical.

How can you give Group status to races that are restricted. Arguably they shouldn't even be Listed!! Now the easy way around it would be to open the KM and NZB to any horse that pays the nom fee!!!!

Answer NO. I don't think the Breeders realise what these Novelty races do either to the Group pattern. I don't think ENTAIN understands either that their revenue will improve because of them. What we will end up with is two sets of horses that can't compete against each other. Madness!

Softer than an AWT.

Then you were misled. My understanding is the majority voted against it. There was little strategic thought given to what would work best for the CD. In that respect the Mesara report was a complete waste of time. The sooner administrators focus on where the rubber hits the road or in horse terns where the hoof hits the turf the better.

It would be interesting to hear @curious's take on that.

That's the problem. We are putting too much sand in our tracks. I don't know where this recommendation originates from but in my opinion it defies everything I was taught about drainage and turf culture at Lincoln. It might work on a Links Golf Course but a racing surface for 500kg Thoroughbreds is a different kettle of fish altogether. One drawback with sand is you HAVE to irrigate frequently as there is no buffer in the substrate. Hence the bloody big hole in the ground at Ellerslie. Clearly the 300mm of sand piled on top a customised StrathAyr system at Ellerslie is problematic. The years of verti-draining and sand slitting hasn't helped either Te Rapa or Riccarton.

It is a metaphor that may have some historical foundation. The metaphor is that while a bigger crisis was occurring those in charge stuffed around with minutiae. That is played with spiders. Staring in the mirror isn't going to change the way you look. You should know that by now. Although if you stand there long enough you may notice you are ageing. Ring around a few CD Trainers. They obviously look at things differently to you as well as the majority didn't want an AWT just a decent turf track that they could race and train on. What renovation iteration is that now?

Is Per Incanto proving to be a good broodmare sire? Honest question as I've not researched it. If you are in the breeding business why sell your best mare? Another question - last year she was eligible for a $1m bonus if she won the Empire Rose in November. Since she won the Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes again is that bonus on the table again?

Hang on a minute I thought the other crowd were saying a million plus?

I think he called you an idiot at $250k.

No the successful ones play an ever diminishing game of wearing blinkers and tongue ties. Or move to OZ.

Based on what criteria? Surface? ROI? I would suggest on most decent KPI's Ellerslie, Te Rapa, Awapuni, Trentham and Riccarton would have been closed. But no let's sell the industry silver and close the decent tracks and clubs down and let the parasitic top 5 suck up all the resources. Rome burns Nero fiddles.

She could win anywhere even on a crap Rosehill track. Although it took a fair effort to do so. The facts are the Ellerslie track on KM night was unsafe. Anywhere else in NZ with a lesser meeting it would have been abandoned. I doubt if those at the coal face that you allege to have a relationship with would say any different.

I don't know what TV @the galah watches but it must be 85inch and he has binoculars because these new graphics are shyte and near impossible to read from a distance. My personal poll is now 40 against with 1 for saying they liked the colours. Well until I pointed out they were close to tangerine and blue. The font isn't readable and the contrast colours dont contrast enough to make the type font clear.

Generally the trend in racing IS to try something else. Not because of negativity but because the fundamental issues are never fixed. Ask any trainer how hard it is to be positive when you turn up to a Premier Track with your valuable horses that you've been training for months to find the track is unsafe or biased or worse the meeting is abandoned. Not to mention that you have been struggling to train that horse on your local track because it is substandard most of the time. Or the struggle to get a decent trackwork rider that understands pace and does what is instructed. Let alone trying to find a race programme to actually get a start for your horse. Then you have success when you have to race out of your grade and are then handicapped out of racing. Yep being an owner is the easy option. Hell you don't have to turn up until raceday and when the bar is open. Why don't you @TAB For Ever get up early in the morning for a week and go help out at the stable. Look, listen and find out what the those doing the hard yards are experiencing.

What lying and bullshit? I thought the complaints from the conspiracists was about the deafening silence! Afterall you said she was dead. A false backdrop is real. As for the doctored photo (not plural) - who cares? What was supposedly hidden? For you perhaps. The majority don't rightly care other than having a sincere and genuine hope that Princess Kate fully recovers from her illness. But what is this juice you talk about? Tell us now before we read it in a discarded copy of the Women's Weekly at the local Fish and Chip Shop.

Appears not. The market research I've done resoundingly says the changes are crap. Then again it has been announced that OPSM and Specsavers are now sponsoring the next tranche od novelty races.

FFS Pete Lane if you want to have a go reactivate your account here and let rip. BOAY allows ALL opinions to be posted. You can't say that for the two forums you frequent. So what is your estimate for the sale price?

NZTR 2024 Industry Development Day Wrap NZTR | March 28, 2024 NZTR Club of the Year Overall Award Winners Auckland Thoroughbred Racing and Whangarei Racing Club It’s no secret the New Zealand racing industry has seen an abundance of positive announcements in recent months. That momentum and excitement was carried over to NZTR’s 2024 Industry Development Day this past week. Held at Ellerslie Racecourse for the second year, an outstanding calibre of guest speakers from various sports and entertainment industries took the stage to inspire innovation and “big picture” thinking for New Zealand’s racing Clubs and Recognised Industry Organisations. NZTR CEO Bruce Sharrock opened the presentations and welcomed the group of more than 140 attendees from across the racing industry. While Clubs have a big part to play, Sharrock said it’s up to the industry as a whole to work together to ensure the racing product stands the test of time. “Our industry is at an exciting but crucial stage,” he said. “We have the ability to leave a legacy, but we must first face a few exciting challenges together. “Change has to occur across the industry with a mindset to challenge the way things are done.” Presentations soon got underway with a compelling demonstration by One NZ CEO, Jason Paris, who demonstrated the power of rebranding and repositioning using his own experience within the rebrand from Vodafone to One NZ. The importance of the customer was at the forefront of his messaging but concluded with a warning to not allow internal influences, like our own biases and experiences, to hinder success for the organisation as a whole. New Zealand entrepreneur Hamish Pinkham was next up. As the creator of New Zealand’s largest music festival, Rhythm and Vines, Pinkham provided the roadmap to what has made Rhythm and Vines a monumental success. While the event only runs for three days over New Year, the entrepreneur attributed much of the success and longevity of the festival to engaging the customer through quality content throughout the entire year. Racing can take a page from this book as a seasonal product with ample content to promote the sport outside of the main racing seasons. Entain Australia and New Zealand CEO, Dean Shannon, focused on wagering growth and ‘the big and little things’ that make the domestic industry tick. While wagering figures and statistics outlined his presentation, his core messaging was around the presentation of racing and how that can be improved to increase turnover. Presenting the racing product in the best light inspires trust from the punter which will translate into wagering and benefit the entire industry. Sponsorship was the topic of conversation for One NZ head of marketing and branding, Georgia Mahaffie. She simplified her work as part of the rebranding team from Vodafone to One NZ, into one sentence ‘a brand's job is to simplify choice.’ Throughout her presentation, she focused on sponsorship and how to use partnerships to stay at the top of the customer's mind to build loyalty. The session continued with Ian Bennett, GM of Eleven, NZTR and Auckland Thoroughbred Racing’s public relations agency. The PR executive focused on enhancing the public perception of racing before turning it over to Entain’s Chief Media Officer Chris Haigh and Chief Marketing Officer Mel Kenneday who presented fresh and exciting branding for both Trackside and TAB. Finally, the event closed with a panel of Club CEOs answering the hard-hitting questions presented by George Simon, before moving on to NZTR’s Club Awards. This year saw a revamped Awards structure where NZTR used existing data and information to assess key judging criteria over the 2023 calendar year. Entain also got behind the awards this year, providing a 25k prize fund distributed across the three classifications, Metro, Provincial, Country and an overall Club Award. The 2023 NZTR Club Awards Winners are as follows: Metropolitan - Auckland Thoroughbred Racing Provincial - Whangarei Racing Club Country - Kumara Racing Club Overall Winner - Co-winners Auckland Thoroughbred Racing and Whangarei Racing Club Additional Awards were presented to Waikato Thoroughbred Racing who excelled in leadership as well as the Club Appreciation Award being presented to Racing Taupo. Karen Houlihan and Rebecca Swords of Whangarei Racing Club were ecstatic to be recognised at a national level as a smaller provincial club. “It was good to see a provincial Club be recognised alongside a big Club like ATR.” “We will be able to make really good use of the prize fund and can’t wait to take it back to the Board and let them know.”

What I don't understand is why sell your best mare if you are in the breeding game?

Yes but you are sitting three feet from the TV with your glasses on. I've done a poll and everyone hates it. Sure it is only a poll of 20 people but...

The new graphics are shyte. Wrong font and you have to have a big TV to read them or be Mr McGoo or sit closer. I calculate at least 3 bar leaners closer to read the "information"!