Chief Stipe

Are they once a year punters? I believe that is another myth perpetrated by some administrators to serve their misconceived strategies. Serious punters will look for value anywhere. Often the best value is at those meetings.

Explain how a bonus bet increases turnover but not revenue. Does a bread maker sell all his different types of bread at less than cost?

Every heard of profit? Yield? Revenue? You can turnover all you want but I'd you are not making a profit then you go broke. A novel concept for you we know. Many commentators have the misconception that every dollar of turnover returns a profit. It doesn't. That's what they ban some punters like @Brodie In the past we have suffered from TAB Senior Managers who suffered from the same illusion but it served then well because they based the size of their salaries on turnover.

Where did Messara say that? Much that he wrote was Mythical.

At least in OZ you know you can easily eliminate one variable in a race. The best horse wins more often than beaten by a poor ride.

The facilities are fantastic!

The team at Te Aroha filling in the divets.

Well the irony of that comment is that many of the big trainers were at Te Aroha. Don't get me wrong the industry needs the big days as well appealing to a different group. The industry needs a balance. Focus on the tracks first - as the country race clubs show you don't need flash facilities to provide an enjoyable experience.

A very close friend of mine has recently bought into their first horse - on my persistent advice I must say. I've tagged along vicariously living the moments she is experiencing. So far along this journey I've seen things that have done nothing to change my opinions on what has gone wrong with the game. I'll share a couple of examples: 1. Ruakaka every race meeting has a free bus service that goes from pub to pub in Whangarei picking up enthusiasts (and newcomers) and drops them oncourse half an hour before the first race. It then takes them all home well drops them off at each pub. The club wins, the pub's win, the punter wins, the TAB wins, the industry wins. 2. Trentham - the Champagne Turf - one of NZTR'S favoured tracks. Raceday - on my recommendation turns up to catch the train from Wellington to Trentham. Trains replaced by Buses. Cost $16 return. Only one full bus (Ruakaka often have THREE full buses). They only decided at the last moment to put on a bus that went direct otherwise the bus would have take 90 minutes and stopped at every stop in the Hutt's. The return bus did just that. Luckily my friend made friends with some racing enthusiasts on the way out who upon realising what would happen going home quickly organised a mini-bus to go directly back to Wellington She gets oncourse at Wellington and finds that there is a pile of rubble and dirt obscuring the first 400m of the 1200m race. The only option being to look at the big screen or on a smart phone. 3. Te Aroha - my friend decides to go and watch her horse race there this week. A beautiful course whose committee has been battered black and blue over the last 3 years by abandonment and recalcitrant NZTR officials. The course was in fantastic condition improving from 140ml of rain in the previous 4 days to end up a G3 by race 2. Picnic atmosphere - kids and families everywhere having a ball. No big TV screen but you could see the 1200m start and one of the longest straights in the country. So in the space of less than a month my new to sport friend has seen the upper echelon and the country Christmas meet. She found both to be wonderful experiences but I'm sure Te Aroha has special memories because she could get really close to her horse, the Jockeys and Trainers. She enjoyed the best paua pattie "EVER" and a great chat with the sponsors of the race who sponsored it for two old mates, stalwarts of the club, who had passed away recently. Not a fascinator in sight but heaps of sandals shorts and jandals. Where would she rather watch her horse run? As another aside a friend of hers took a picture of her talking to a stranger in the birdcage. The photographer knew who the person was and said "do you know who this famous person is you are speaking to?" "No" was the reply. She was introduced - "...meet Frank Ritchie - a champion trainer". He replied - "champion horses make champion trainers". First time owner has a nice chat with the trainer of Bonecrusher before he goes to leg up the jockey in a maiden race at a little country meeting at New Years. Needless to say she is hooked!

Turnover is not the key measure. What is the yield on that turnover?

I'll try not to comment on the rest of your post as it is rose tinted glass nonsense looking in the wrong direction. But I do take issue with your comment that that the "hundreds and thousands who attend once a year with their chilly bins of food and booze contribute very little*. Many are owners and racing enthusiasts who are on holiday and take their families along for a day out from the beach or the Bach. Or locals that get their once a year close up experience of racing that they remember all year again with the family in tow. They also bring their mates and their families some who may never have been to a race meeting before. What other sport offers such an enjoyable introduction? You don't need to be able to hold a tennis racquet or a golf club and sip Chardonnay between swings. Don't forget the local enthusiast volunteer club members who put on the show. Most who have a share in a horse. If the future of racing doesn't come from the seeds that are sown from what is largely a very enjoyable summer day out where does it come from? BTW you don't write like a TAB or racing administrator although you appear to promote their misguided marketing strategies. You write more like a cost accountant.

Oncourse turnover is less relevant nowadays however having people oncourse experiencing racing first hand and up close is very important. Otherwise what distinguishes horse racing from buying lotto? Where do you build the social license that the woke go on about if you don't have people experience what racing is truly about. I doubt my interest would have been the same if it wasn't for my early childhood experiences on course at the Westland Racing Club summer meeting. Learning the form with a race book in one hand with one of Percy Hurren's pies in the other.

Marketing is a big issue. MacKenzie pushed it out to the codes taking it off the TAB profit and loss. Thus it had to be paid out of the code funding. Of course we then get THREE separate marketing groups created for each code. It's a mess. Then add the likes of Twentyman into the mix and the whole marketing promotional side of things is a Heavy 10.

You really are new to this game aren't you @holy ravioli !! Commentators don't always get it right and how is listening to a commentator going to work with a drone when he is describing the race from side on and the drone is above? Stupid? Lift ya game. What would you do to encourage punters? Even new punters? Positively speaking (for @TAB For Ever) I tell you what I'd do in the short term. Fix the dam weight allowances/overweight disappearing online and improve the form presentation so the punter doesn't have to go to other sites to look at it! Which invariably leads to seeing better odds elsewhere!!!

You're on fire @Freda - the post of the year.

So you didn't watch that particular report?

Why should it have anything to do with luck? Then why close good tracks?

Don't bother. If it is the same approach that decided Counties was the second best racetrack in NZ you'd be wasting both our time.

What hold the microphone so the Judge can say "the official placings are....."...

So what does a Judge's Assistant actually do?

Or used his wife's account on his phone? 🤔

Will it? Which ones? How will they be chosen? What criteria will be used?

No he's not. He is raising a legitimate concern that could easily be addressed by using the TAB and club infrastructure. God forbid that they even think about facilitating good customer service. You missed @Newmarket point - he bet less! He saved money by keeping his money in his account BUT the industry didn't get any of that losing revenue!!!! As for Brodie he has a valid gripe that unfortunately most us don't experience because unlike him when we bet we lose more than we win. I was sitting next to someone yesterday and every bet he tried to make went through an approval process. Only because he is generally a successful punter.

Because a lot of things including rules in racing are poorly written. A lot of rules are about perception rather than any real reason. For example waiting until half an hour after the last race is probably to stop anyone from the general public seen a horse receive a saline drip or being tubed with an alkaline substance to alleviate lactic acid build up. Let's face it there is no logical reason to prevent a trainer who has run a horse in the first race, taken it home and is looking after its welfare from giving it any treatment. Having to wait another 5+ hours is ludicrous.

We all know that. One of the advantages of not closing down good race tracks. Although Counties will be forever a work in progress. Will the AJC help fund further development of it? They'll need something to stand in when the regular maintenance work is done for the StrathAyr. Yes but at the expense of those two tracks. Te Rapa is very tired turf and I doubt you can put anymore sand in it. When they upgrade I hope the AJC returns the favour. By whom? The committee in the Presidents room after the last?