Chief Stipe

New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing has now confirmed that two new sets of trials will be held at Ellerslie on Tuesday 1 April and Thursday 3 April. Given the high number of 2YOs expected to trial at Ellerslie next week these heats, on both days, will be held against the rail which will be out approximately 18m.

It isn't as bad as some uninformed commentators are making out. AUSTRAC has a list of victims that have done far worse than ENTAIN.

That is a bit of an embellished interpretation of what has happened. You forget that the TAB had already moved their fixed odd systems to the same software platform that ENTAIN owned and they were in the process of moving the Tote. The reality was that TABNZ were already hooked into a very expensive software contract stitched up by Allen, George and continued by Mackenzie who didn't have the balls to bail out of it. Remember the period where TABNZ was insolvent? Primarily this was because of the systems software contract and the broadcasting setup. ENTAIN owning the software gave TABNZ a way out. It was a good business call for TABNZ. However we don't know what agreement TABNZ now have if ENTAIN decide to pull the pin before the 25 years it out. I'm not sure TABNZ are that stupid to have not negotiated terms to continue to have a license to the software if the partnership is terminated. TABNZ are not and should never be in the business of developing wagering software be it fixed odds or tote for racing and sports. They once had to because there wasn't any alternative when last century they started the TAB. They sure got a return out of the Jetbet system they developed but the world moved quicker than they were able to innovate.

Agreed. However in saying that isn't it one of the issues with racing in NZ? We are quick to turn on our own for no reason at all. In doing so we become tribal and lose sight of the big issues like the state of the tracks. We reap what we sow.

You're entitled to your opinion but I've had enough of your personal vendetta against @Freda.

I've told this story before online. Around about 2005 a horse I had a share in was racing at Ellerslie. I was staying and the Novotel next to the course and as is my little idiosyncrasy I like to walk the track on raceday. Anyway I was up at sparrows fart and walked the track and was shocked at the state it was in. I went back to the hotel and met the trainer Jim Wallace at breakfast. I said you have to come look at the track. So we went back and walked the entire circuit accompanied this time by Nigel Tiley who had a horse in the Open Sprint. He was appalled at the state of the track and immediately scratched his horse. Jim said if we hadn't come all the way from the Wairarapa he'd have scratched as well. He also said he wish he hadn't walked it. We were wandering up the straight and I found this hole in the finishing lane. A bit bigger than a horses hoof in circumference and went down about 4 feet. We signalled to the track staff who didn't say much but to make sure it was fixed we went and tore a branch off a tree and planted it in the middle of the Ellerslie straight.

Rugby Clubs had to address the same issues. Ironically they copied parts of the League model.

The capital value of the tracks is and always has been a red herring. The key issue is operational costs of maintaining a track to todays standards which include health, welfare and safety standards for human and equine that are more onerous than in years gone by. Very few tracks if any in my opinion have enough resources to maintain tracks to the requisite level. More tracks in play just offer a buffer and alternatives in a lower cost model that probably isn't sustainable long term. You can only hammer a paddock for so long before the system collapses. It has taken 30 years for some tracks to reach that point but they have reached that point.

Obviously hasn't happened yet. Perhaps they could have diverted the extra $500k they unnecessarily put into the NZ Oaks.

That is the key constraint that all resources and all stakeholders must be focussed on. Nothing else.

Hawkes Bay Guineas day the grass was the same.

Then why didn't you load the pdf here? I was counting the online version when they were deleted. But that aside - you assertion that the trails were for the purpose of selling horses is blatantly wrong. Now as has been pointed out to you there are many reasons for trialling a horse. Increasing fitness and education in race like conditions being the main reasons. Have you not been involved with racing much? Of does the marketing Kool-aid dull your memory? Racing Taupo Trials 25-03-2025 Acceptances.pdf

Did a rabbit really dig this hole? Regardless why couldn't they put some soil in it and tamper it down?

You said 120 in a previous post. So between Wexford and Te Akau alone they had half the 2yr olds running around. They don't set up to sell.

Yes but they weren't there as you asserted to win a trial so they could be "sold for big money".

Where do you get that figure from? NZTR deleted everything before I could finish counting. I counted 15 2yr old trials x 6 per trial. 15 x 6 = 90 does it not? Instead of waxing lyrical about how great things are and making off piste excuses why don't you just open your eyes?

Obviously the members believe their own propaganda!

She is correct on both counts. Just ask Nathan Guy.

Well just look at the number of meetings, trials and jumpouts that tracks like Cranbourne and Pakenham have per year. Bearing in mind that trials in OZ are the equivalent of races in NZ.

If was in the last annual report.

No it's not. It's a factor of not maintaining them. Balcombe talks about tracks not coping with having 8 meetings a year versus 4.

Why would they fund Woodville when they decided to put Riccarton's on hold?

This is complete Bullshit. The RIB are covering for Stipes that want a stipend to retire.

I don't want tracks closed. But they all have issues and how would you have averted today's fiasco? Answer that question.

Well he was obviously when he was at Hastings.