Chief Stipe

Sorry if I was shooting the messenger but it is frustrating that there is this she'll be right attitude when we are trying to compete in a competitive market.

You're kidding me? Since when was the Wellington Racing Club ever "let down by NZTR? But NZTR don't run the Clubs. So if you owned a restaurant you'd sell shyte unsafe food if there was no health licensing? So you expect NZTR to manage abandonments or prevent them? The latter lays wholly with the Clubs and their maintenace and management of tracks.

They've been doing that for over 50 years that I know of.

What can't Clubs aim for their own professional standards? I've been going to Trentham for 25 years - same committee suits and the surrounds suffering the same radioactive decay as Chernobyl.

Give me a break. How long have they had an issue with the electronic timing at Trentham? The descision to replace the gates was made after the debacle in the Thompson Handicap 9 December 2023!!

Why wouldn't you blame the Club? They're the ones that have neglected the fundamentals of their business and sealed their fate Although no doubt they will get bailed out because - "Trentham is a strategic track". That no one attends and has no horses trained on it and needs as much money spent on it as Ellerslie did! The only thing NZTR hasn't done is set standards or when they do enforce them.

It actually wouldn't be too hard to get an accurate time if cameras and track sectionals were accurately marked. A camera at the start and inline with the finish line filming at a high frame rate would enable a computer calculated time to be produced instantly. Many Trackside cameras are not inline with the finish line though. I wonder if BOTH the inside AND outside photo finish cameras are working at Trentham? Wasn't there a drama about that a few meetings ago around a deadheat?

Ask Ellerslie. The have race times and full sectionals published online minutes after a race. Harness at Metro locations do too.

World records on a Soft 5 track. Seems the Insider members haven't been told that or believe it. Very few seem to care at all and the wonder why punters prefer the Australian product. What is interesting thought is why has it taken so long to fix? Is it because as you say it isn't worth investing when the track will be closed? Or NZTR and the WRC don't think accurate timing is important? They'd be better not to publish anything instead of the garbage they do which they change later. Meanwhile the club is patting itself o n the back for a "well presented track"!!

Who would know. All third world stuff.

That's an interesting question because the time is taken from the video. Is a time taken that way able to be ratified? I see they have times for all the runners for that race - that's a lot of stop watches! Or have they been updated some other way? Rogie must think his R49 maiden that won the race is a World Beater. By comparison we watch the Randwick races today and the commentators can read out the sectionals before the horses have got back to the birdcage. Meanwhile Trentham supposedly the #2 Premier Track in New Zealand hasn't been able to provide any such data accurately for years now.

It will be hand timed and then taken off the video and it will be half a second slower but then it will still be close to a record on a Soft 5 track. Instead of the Champagne Turf it wil be called the "The Turf where Champions emerge"!

In the first instance they need to maintain it properly - contrary to popular belief they are NOT low maintenance tracks. They need grooming everyday and water management. Unless the maintenance is being done correctly the surface will under perform and probably degrade quicker than it should. There may be a need to vary to the mix i.e. the ratios and types of fibres and waxes to match local conditions. I would imagine the Riccarton AWT has a different composition to the Cambridge one.

That's their call.

Once again you miss the point unless you are taking the piss.

It's about succession planning.

Hell I remember when I couldn't check my Saturday bets until The Press arrived on Monday!!

Well the rules would need to change to allow a Steward viewing the Trackside HD video to declare the results. With so many options you have to just about place the whole field! Don't forget in the old days we used to read the results in the local newspaper the next day. 15 minutes would have been amazing in those days. If you wanted your dosh you had to wait until someone official rang through the results AND dividends and hope the TAB was still open to hand over your yellow ticket.

But it isn't the TAB that declares the official placings - isn't it the oncourse Judge/Stewards that do that?

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No no didn't you realise that substantially increasing Stakes will help achieve all those KPI's?

Phew we are on the same page. 😉 😜

But when were your bets decided in your account? Assuming you weren't at the local using the betting pod.

The only good reason would be if there is a plan to renovate the Riccarton Track. A bit arrogant on NZB's part to schedule the sale to interfere with the best racing carnival in NZ - Cup Week in Canterbury.

What is a worry is if it is exactly like Ellerslie which quite frankly is a bastardised StrathAyr. But seems a good deal if it cost less than $10m vs $50m! Hopefully they have a annual maintenance budget and are planning for a cycle of renovation.