Chief Stipe

FFS costs have gone through the roof, stakes have tanked and you can't get a decent track to race on!! So a shit load of things need to be fixed before racing more horses. Until they are it would be cruel to owners and horses alike.

But there aren't a huge number of horses going there. What's the alternative? Cull them if they don't sell?

How's the exile going for you? You did make me look at the sale results. Not as bad a picture as you painted it.

Is he Tim Mills?

The Labour/Greens light rail projects could be compared to AWT's. White Elephant's 🐘

Duh! Population size and density helps to make trains cost effective. Geez the Topic is about RACE tracks NOT rail tracks!!!

Can you stay on Topic for a change?

I assure you they ARE! Tim Mills was the Chairperson of the Committee. Maybe it doesn't exist anymore and was centralised.

Aren't the leading South Island trainers on THE SI/Canterbury Programme Committee?

So you'd rather see the South Island bereft of any class races rather than attempt to get the problems fixed?

Can you believe that measurement? I'm light of everything else? Was the 1mm delivered evenly? Regardless water isn't the fundamental problem although it is the only way to ameliorate it. That is by maintaining a soft track at all times.

The above is a direct quote from the newspaper article.

Hence the question mark. You know one of these "?"???? Wasn't it said in Guerins article? Regardless doesn't matter if God did it from on high or a mere mortal did it with a substandard irrigation system. There is no one given the state of the soil structure that you can irrigate evenly unless you flood it and then maintain an even moisture content by irrigating frequently. They don't have the money nor the staff to do that.

I thought the problem was it rained? Doesn't matter how many aged farmers you throw at the track they won't be able to fix the fundamental problem the soil is absolutely fucked. The best track manager in the world isn't going to fix that by tinkering with verti drains, sand and irrigation. Let alone be able to manage it.

Can't find it on YouTube yet. But won't be until later today.

You heard it here first. https://bitofayarn.com/topic/77361-are-the-aws-already-becoming-a-white-elephant/#comment-191410

I suggest you don't take up dry stock farming Joe!

Process means SFA if the same personnel are running the show. Same outcome just a different process. The reality is the track is stuffed and no amount of process is going to address that fundamental issue.

If any of the stakeholders didn't want the meeting called off then why the hell didn't anyone say anything BEFORE it happened? It was blatantly obvious what was likely to transpire. Or did everyone kinda know and just hope they might get lucky?

Racing: Bosses consider change after embarrassment www.nzherald.co.nz Racing bosses aren’t ruling out a total overhaul of how tracks are managed after the embarrassment of one of New Zealand’s biggest race meetings being canned on Saturday. The last nine races of New Zealand Cup and 1000 Guineas day, which was to be held in front of a 15,000- strong sell-out Riccarton crowd on Saturday, had to be transferred to Monday after a horse slipped in race three. That raised concerns about track safety, particularly at the top of the straight, and racing was halted. Riccarton will now hold the rest of its biggest meeting of the season in front of a small crowd, and with Monday being the poorest turnover day of the week, the change will hit the industry hard. Canterbury Jockey Club boss Tim Mills was devastated by the fiasco but says the investigation into how the track became slippery after a week of almost exclusively fine weather will have to wait. Advertisement Advertise with NZME. “We understand everybody’s frustrations and our team are feeling it worse than anybody,” says Mills. “But we have a Group 1 race day to run on Monday and that is no small thing because we also had a huge crowd here on Saturday, many of who stayed until when our licence for the day finished at 6.30pm. “So we have to clean up, set up again, organise staff and food and drinks for Monday and then hold a major race meeting. Get the day's sports headlines straight to your inbox. By signing up for this newsletter, you agree to NZME’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. “We have heard ideas and even I have theories on what I think happened with the track but we simply don’t have time to investigate those fully yet. But we will as soon as we can.” New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing chief executive Bruce Sharrock was frustrated by the latest and most embarrassing track issue for the code, coming just a day after the Awapuni meeting was abandoned. “We are very disappointed with what has become a pattern of meetings having issues, which we thought we had put systems in place to stop,” said Sharrock. “But clearly those aren’t working and we may need to go a step further, get even more radical.” That could mean NZTR taking charge of all track management around the country, rather than individual clubs employing their own track staff, with NZTR taking funding used for those purposes away from some or all clubs. Advertisement Advertise with NZME. The majority of industry participants the Herald spoke to over the weekend suggested the Riccarton grass was too long, and water from irrigation on Wednesday and Thursday and overnight rain on Friday was trapped on the surface but not drying because of the long grass above. Riccarton staff mowed the track today and ran machinery over it to help the surface open up and dry so officials are confident Monday’s nine-race meeting will go ahead. There is no reason for punters to change their opinion on the 1000 Guineas, which still looks Legarto’s race to lose. The first race starts at 12.57pm, with the Guineas at 2.45pm and NZ Cup at 5.06pm.

The New Zealand Sports Turf Institute is 100% owned by Labosport Asia! A Hong Kong Company.

Is that a Freudian slip? Are the CJC planning to make meadow hay?

You'd still have the same problem if it rained. Which it did. Irrigation is not the problem. The problem is a stuffed soil. As for Grey Way he actually raced on some very dodgy tracks. I recall a major win at Trentham was on a track that looked like a turnip paddock!

I'm torn between laughing my socks off or ripping my undies in anger. All the posts, comments and statements about getting more people to the races, generating more punting revenue, blocking gambling leakage overseas and so on and so on. All that means SFA if there aren't tracks for horses to safely race on!! Of course there also has to be horses too!

I hear Pitty is making public announcements about how aggrieved he is. No doubt blaming the irrigation. Where were the Riccarton trainers in the lead up? Asleep? Or did the grass grow 10 inches overnight?