Chief Stipe

Year-long reconstruction project starts at Awapuni Racecourse George Heagney October 20, 2023 • 5:00am A year-long restoration project on the Awapuni Racecourse has started.WARWICK SMITH / Stuff A year-long restoration project on the track at Awapuni Racecourse is under way to bring the venue into the 21st century. Work on the $5 million project started last week to improve the drainage and camber of the main grass track and it will be closed for a year. Tim Savell, the chief executive of Race group, which runs racing at Awapuni and Trentham in Wellington, said a few things were happening all at once, including 236 metres of pipe being laid under the track last week. “Things like the drainage wasn't very good for the course proper. Every drain was cracked and broken. They stuck a camera in there to find what’s been causing problems over a period of time. It’s got all new drainage.” A new irrigation system, which can be controlled remotely, will also be put in. New grass will be laid by autumn. “Some of the more obvious things people will see are the track’s going to be a uniform width. At the moment in some parts it’s 15 or 16 metres wide before it cambers off. It will be 25 metres all the way around nicely cambered.’ The track has silty soil, so over a period of about eight years it will be turned into a sand-based track. A sand carpet will be installed during this reconstruction, then a sand spreader will keep adding sand to the track. “Essentially, we’re going to turn the track into a 21st century venue, rather than something we played with over time.” The thoroughbred racing industry will pay for 75% of the reconstruction, while Race will cover the rest. The work had long been planned and was delayed by 12 months because of difficulty finding contractors. New drainage has been put in and a sand carpet will be put down.Warwick Smith / Stuff With the grass track out of action for 12 months, Awapuni’s summer meetings have been shifted to nearby venues, including Whanganui, Waverley and Hastings. Trentham usually hosts 10 meetings a year, but it has been allowed to run 16 so it could host Awapuni’s big meetings, such as the Manawatū Cup before Christmas and the Sires Produce Stakes in April. The popular Boxing Day meeting in Palmerston North will be at Ōtaki. There will be a virtual meeting on December 16 hosting Christmas parties. The synthetic track, which runs inside the main grass track, opened in October last year and was used for seven winter meetings this year. It was scheduled to hold 12 winter meetings next year. But Savell said at this point they weren’t looking at using it as a replacement course while the grass track was closed. The work will turn the racecourse into a 21st century venue.ADELE RYCROFT / Stuff “We definitely know we’re going to take a financial hit, but it’s short-term pain for long-term gain.” Savell said it was likely this was the first time the entire track had been overhauled. The home straight was done in 1996 and the outside bend in 2017, but no-one knew when the back part of the track had been done. Having the track closed for such a long time allowed Race to get a large amount of work done, including upgrading the birdcage and some stables. “All the facilities can have some TLC because track staff aren't doing race day duties.” Work was scheduled for Trentham, after the restoration work was finished at Awapuni, and Awapuni would then host big Wellington meetings such as the Wellington Cup. - Stuff

Yeah well there is $2m+!! The rocks have got me really puzzled. Quality control issues I suspect. I have this gut feel that they didn't have an independent project manager on site and perhaps just drew up a plan and hired a contractor. Did anyone see a tender document for the work anywhere? I know I'll get derided for the next comment but what the hell... If it was my project that I was managing I would be sampling and monitoring every truck that turned up.

I agree with that. They are getting the wrong advice from someone in my opinion. That's why I'm not bagging NZTR or the Clubs in a scatter gun way. The uninformed are not adding much to the debate either. LOL the first I write off are those that say there is nothing wrong with our tracks and they just need a farmer or three or no irrigation or a mole plough blah blah. Our track turf systems are failing - simply from a lack of investment and maintenance. Getting back to the advice as I eluded to above I think there is this misguided view that sand offers the best solution for drainage and therefore we should make the tracks out of sand and put grass on them. Creating and maintaining your lawn is different to providing an optimal turf system for a horse to race on. As is creating and maintaining a sports ground. Even creating and maintaing a pasture is NOT the same as a turf racetrack. I just don't get how a track like Flemington seems to get it right and why we aren't following that model.

A good explanation of the role of organic matter in soil. Note there is a tradeoff though - too much organic matter could make a race track useless. https://www.cropnutrition.com/resource-library/five-benefits-of-soil-organic-matter/#:~:text=Organic matter causes soil particles,surface crusting of the soil.

There is a significant layer of sand as the top layer - been described by some as sand carpeting. Galloping isn't causing the compaction. It is the same problem as experienced at Ellerslie - a sand layer that has no organic matter or other soil particles like silt and clay to provide structure. So the sand settles especially when intensively watered - just like it does at the beach. Sand has a very low water and nutrient retention rate (rye grass doesn't grow very well on the beach) therefore to grow grass you need to water large amounts and fertilise frequently (bit like a hydroponic system). Like most species grass takes the easy option to survive - the roots will have grown in a carpet mat on the top layer and limited progression downwards. So Ellerslie described the issue as a "water tension" problem in the top layer. The result is a dense mat of roots in a shallow depth lying on top of a layer of sand. That's the compaction - nothing to do with horses racing although horses and machinery traversing the turf layer would exert doward pressure on the carpet compressing the sand. The top layer that I saw at Ellerslie was like kevlar and the horses couldn't get their hooves into it. That is a very good question that we can only speculate on. My guess is that the sand was poor quality i.e. not screened and when the trucks were pouring it in no one was keeping an eye on the quality. OR the sand layer is shallow and there are either drainage rocks or naturally occuring rocks below that layer. However rocks don't rise upwards in sand - Einstein will tell that heavy particles settle downward as a force called gravity is exerted on them. However the rock question is a very good one. Especially when it seems to limit what Ellerslie do and that is slice and dice the turf on a regular basis especially before a race meeting to break that top matted layer up. The same process that happens when you mow your lawn with the catcher off - the worms will pull the clippings into the soil. The organic material on the track will come from mowing i.e. the clippings will settle on the surface and the coring or verti-draining process will force that organic material into the sand. They may expedite the process by doing what the do to rejuvenate bowling greens on a periodic basis and that is core the ground, remove the cores (bit tricky on long grass) and then spread new soil with organic material in it filling the cores up. That was one of my first jobs in horticulture - rejuvenating bowling greens! The organic matter adds structure and improves the ability of the soil to retain water and nutrients. From a horse racing perspective it also creates a surface that horses can get their hooves into. A horse needs to get its hooves into the soil particularly during the sheer phase of the stride as it disperses significant amounts of energy and thus is safer for a horse. One of the other problems with sand is not only the compaction issue but when you cut and dice the turf to alleviate that and it rains the top layer gets shifty and that isn't good for horses either! That happens at Ellerslie especially on the final bend. Well I'd like to know who was the expert that recommended the customised Strathayr that was installed at Ellerslie with the near 100% pure sand? There has been a fixation with putting sand into our tracks for a long time now. I've been anti it for just as long. They have been verti-draining constantly e.g. Te Rapa and Ellerslie (old track) and applying sand. Two things happen - the drains get clogged with sand (try putting handfulls of sand down your sink) and the tracks get shifty. I suspect they are focussed on the wrong objective - the objective they are focussed on is providing a well drained track so we now end up with a track like Ellerslie that is always a soft 5. Notice the turf tracks in Australia have a wide range of ratings and they change slowly? The objective should be to provide a well draining turf that is optimal for a horse to gallop on regardless of its firmness. In my opinion they only way to do that is to customise the soil by applying the right sand:clay:silt and organic material with the optimal ratios. That's why some tracks naturally perform well e.g. Foxton (caveat though - you still need to put back in what you take out).

In the last two Financial Years Riverton Racing Club earned $20k each year from track fees. That figure gives you an indication. BTW they earnt $112k from farming activities. Riverton Racing Club 225294_-_Accounts_2024.pdf

In a perfect world yes but there were a lot of factors to consider. For example: Hastings future in its current location - how much money should be spent at the current location?; What actually needed to be done; Where was the capitial coming from to do the work - i.e. who was paying?; Consultation with HB members on the above; etc. Don't forget that there were many different opinions on what was wrong from the simplistic to the complex. For example: A Senior Jockey saying "that nothing was wrong with the track - the track manager didn't listen and it needed more irrigation"; A lunatic owner aka @Transparency running rampant on Social Media saying also that nothing was wrong with the track and "a few good farmers and a tractor could fix it in a day"; Local stakeholders who were close to the action saying that the problem was poor and broken drainage and a reverse camber on the bend (no mention of the other bend); A newly appointed very experienced track manager who apparently argued that there were bigger issues than just the bend; and so on. BTW having seen the aftermath (true use of the word) after the HB Guineas abandonment and walking the problematic part of the track an hour after the meeting was abandoned I agree with those saying the track turf/soil itself has a problem which was magnified by the drainage issue and reverse camber. Why was it a rush? On the one hand you are arguing that the Hastings fix hasn't started soon enough and on the other hand Awapuni was rushed back. Isn't the indicated elapsed time for Hastings about the same as it was for Awapuni? A lot of horses galloped on Awapuni prior to the race meeting being conducted. Circumstances forced them to put the rail out to ground that hadn't been tested. Seems they used low quality sand as well!

Your point?

Should have been seeded a month ago.

Must find that photo that someone posted here. Perhaps that is the difference in opinion that @Special Agent refers to with regard to Bryce Mildon. However if the track is out until Spring 2026 then perhaps they are going to fix it properly. They have had two semi-attempts at getting it right e.g. Ellerslie and Awapuni.

@Murray Fish sometimes that is all it takes. We tend to not see what we see every day.

Agree with the bends comment however my observation was that the slipping on HB Guineas day wasn't to do with the camber of the turn. One of the longer slips that i've seen.

That isn't the first priority - its giving owners and trainers an opportunity to race their horses. If locals turn up to watch then well and good but you only have to look at the Trentham crowds to see that there is a general patron malaise. Wouldnl't it be a novel idea though for local Hawkes Bay businesses and supporters to promote a Waipuk meeting and send a message to the industry. Custers Last Stand at Waipuk!

At least it was the right way round. Probably the track was in better condition as well!

Why don't you get the Training team collective together and go tell them?! If you don't get a satisfactory response then escalate to the next level. Hint: don't involve Wightman just use rational reasons and logic.

Well that is a sad reflection on the CJC's priorities. I realise Harness is different and easier to change direction but we always rotated our fast work. The theory being it helped developed more physically balanced individuals.

Perhaps however nothing was done primarily because there was no money. Whose fault is that? Past participants including Club management? Easy to blame NZTR. Track ratings are a different subject altogether. As you know I've been arguing about those for a long time. The track ratings from Riccarton, Trentham and CD locations have been a farce for a long time. Trentham the worst followed a close second by Riccarton. BUT that as I said is a different subject to the lack of maintenance of the track. The BS ratings are in my opinion quality control issues with regard to their measurement and what borders on a cover up. Although the reason for that is the fundamental issue that the tracks concerned are in desperate need of substantial maintenance. Cool. Happy punting. I'm sure you can find a FB page or another site or even an NZTR Lynch Mob where there is an echo chamber supporting your views.

RACE Inc. Surplus from Race Meeting activity: $2.2m Surplus from Catering: $64k Fees from Horse Activity: $748k RACE_Inc (2).pdf

I've posted their latest financial report.

What's that supposed to mean? That he is serious about his job?

The point is if you look at the financials they only broke even because of: NZTR $29k DIA Grant (Pokies?) $19k MSD Wage Subsidy $9k. The loss from core trading activities (i.e. horse activities) was $55k!

Yes but as I said above - if a meeting is shifted from Woodville to Hawera two weeks or even a week out for a programme that has been announced a year out or even 6 months out are you not going to turn up with your midweek BM65 horse?

Ok. My sources have told me that Mildon is well trained, skilled and knowledgeable. Spent a long time under another very good track manager at Matamata. He probably realises now that he has been sold a pup.

Yes the big Club troughs. They are still there but harder to get into and the suits are looking a bit tardy. Trainers often weren't invited to those trainers but Owners were and they ended up with a glassy eyed version of reality. Hence no investment in infrastructure. They didn't notice the paint fading, the upholstery becoming threadbare or the roof leaking until the red sticker was slapped on the building. Let alone worry about Track maintenance.

Yes that is the connundrum for Trainers/Syndicators in general. However at the end of the day the Owner often pays and gets disgruntled anyway. However the main point I was making was why don't Trainers work more cooperatively at the local level particularly in relation to tracks. For example why did the Riccarton AWT get into the state it did? Surely the locals could have worked together and first challenged Riccarton and then NZTR. Yes they found a rabid ranting lunatic to do it for them in the end but surely there is a better way. Now they have a lunatic bagging everyone anyway.