Happy Sunrise

Phil Holden being asked real questions but one has to look after the sponsor!

Still no official announcement of Geraldine getting their date back. I thought it would be newsworthy. I would love to be a fly on the wall at HRNZ and the TAB. Someone is making decisions that can't be popular with all. Farce.

Lots of things. Lots of things like this. It is not a chat show. They don't talk about anything other than superficial analysis of races which should only account for a third of the show. The viewership is doomed with the dross presented. The show could be electric but not when the sponsor is HRNZ lol.

No No No

I flicked through it. I see it has a variety of sponsors including HRNZ which means it was a very tame show and no comment on the hand that is partially feeding the show. Just more of the same as before.

Optimistically I say he is yet to regain it.

The title of the thread is very apt.

It is all a joke. Stand back and look at the shambles of racing in NZ.

Haha. Classic. I won't say anymore.

So Southern racing are doing a review and paying 3 lots of consultants. Will they work within the national restructuring taking place by the TAB / Codes or are the consultants being paid to look into this? The 3 codes and TAB do not have the resources to do a self review with the people employed by these groups? Of course not, because it will be disagreeable to some but makes it easier for the bosses to say 'the review recommended it'. Business distancing.

How do you know? True, but the best days harness racing these days are in the country on a sunny day. No one goes to Addington anymore.

Might have been a good idea to have done this before some clubs lost their licence. Wonder what the cost of 3 business consultant companies would cost? Who is paying? Harness has no money. Can't these people think for themselves? They can't even think of a metholody? Ask HRNZ they have one lol. December? December next year is tight enough. Will take years. Ask yourselves. You are in charge. Surely this has been the goal all along? Did you not realise this before it got to the situation it is now? Who let it become this way? Sorry, but this is another example of the industry 'leaders' managing 'change' talking bollocks and getting other people to do the work for them to implement more of the same old same old.

I am not sure I will bet on it but Pastrana is paying 3.20ff for the place. In a field of 10, 7 are unruly and 2 others should probably be on it too. He has manners and while he is not going that well it has been in tougher fields. I will watch intently on how many get round in one piece.

Do you think we should do away with the country tracks and race at Addington? I think grass and the holiday meetings are important to keep racing part of the social fabric from which interested punters come. How many owners would be happy to race around Addington all the time? I think owners in Oamaru, Nelson or Central Otago etc are rapt to get to see their horse run in or near their home town.

Yeah, but I was in a frenzy! Unfortunately, I think a lot of punters will be heading towards Aussie gallops more than ever.

I work in a different manner to what I wrote about so being organised means I have spare time. I just really detest bullshit. HRNZ eliminate clubs by taking away their dates causing great angst and a loss of social fabric in the local town and then reinstate them with no real explanation, let alone logic. The CEO gets appointed permanently in an update written by the appointed CEO and then realising the error of their ways and lack of process they have a proper announcement a few days later. And these people run the show? If you pay attention it is a mess.

I know I shouldn't write this but I have had enough of being fed horseshit. From the Annual Report of 2018-2019 There is no escaping from the fact that we must be prepared to grasp the nettle and in some cases move away from our traditional approach if we are to deliver the meaningful change that is required to improve turnover and gross betting revenue. This will no doubt result in some angst for some in our industry, however we must have the courage to show the leadership required, and importantly not take the path of least resistance in an effort to appease the small, but vocal, sectors of our sport who are resistant to change. Well, you grasped the nettle in a panicked and reckless state pulling out the whole plant and causing more angst than necessary by changing things with no clear direction. More clueless than courage. Meaningful change? You are kidding. So, it goes without saying there has been no public media release or information from official channels that I can find about Geraldine getting their meeting back but it should sow discontent about what is going on this year and in previous ones about the way the industry is being handled. Covid 19 was only a convenient excuse to make up for the poor performance of recent years and therefore absolve themselves from blame. The ruthless cost cutting measures that were carried out under Covid were seemingly done without regard for the sustainability of the industry let alone consideration for the participants. It is a cheap shot to start getting rid of the lower to middle tier employees at the TAB as it should have started at the top. Where were HRNZ leaders standing up to the scorched earth policy? It should never have been done simply on cost cutting, that is just the easy and quick option in difficult times, it should have accounted for ability and contribution to the industry. Where would the top table people be if that was the case? The back flips on Timaru, Forbury etc and now Geraldine only show that nothing was really thought through and was opportunistic and reactionary. If you complain about amateur drivers then you should realise harness racing is being led by the equivalent or even worse. I get so pissed off as a punter and a person who really enjoys harness racing when I see the shambles before me. RIU? Hated and divisive. Clubs? Thrown aside. TAB? Treats harness like a smelly third cousin. HRNZ? Contradicted by RITA. Have you ever seen anything more dysfunctional? People are looking in the wrong direction for the answers to the decline of racing. Looking to new technology with a fancy website changes nothing. Looking to the leadership who are too busy 'managing change' and talking like politicians with a mouthful of jargon changes nothing. Let alone thinking the end of INCA will give harness racing a fillip and this mistaken belief that 'young' people are the saviours of racing..the list goes on. The question that needs to be answered is what makes harness racing different from all the rest on offer? Harness racing needs to find its own identity again with everyone going in the same direction and stop bemoaning today's society who 'don't like racing' Give them something to like. Harness racing obviously has some seriously invested people in it, lifers so to speak. Greg O'Connor getting backing for the Box Seat is evidence of that and there are plenty of others. Look at how other people have stepped up but that is mostly unpaid and the TAB are using them so they can save money. Isn't racing a simple collection of principles: Breeding - Racing - Betting? That has never changed since racing began. Of course, important elements go with these principles but it seems the peripheral things which contribute nothing positive to harness racing have taken over recently and most of it is self inflicted. The blueprint needs to be redrawn in a rational and practical way not under the influence of stress and in an odd sort of statement, harness racing needs to harness itself collectively (as its participants seems so fragmented and factional it is unbelievable to an outsider) so it can find the right direction for itself. Otherwise, harness punters might leave this listing ship and go and punt on a decent blueprint which is the packaged and presented Aussie gallops and comes with the added bonus of being able to get a bet on and that will be the end as turnover will go down and the whole harness racing game will be in jeopardy very soon. I hope people can pull this apart and tell me how off beam I am because that would be great. I do have hope some of the legislation being passed will be good for racing generally but there seems to be a mass of things that need to be sorted. I look forward to the 19/20 report. It will be a doozy if it is transparent and honest.

I am saying what difference does it make to the TAB if the racing is at Oamaru or Waimate? They are pretty close to each other where ever the TAB is coming from.

North V South is hardly the islands themselves. It is 2 tracks v about 4 at the moment. So they can't even be consistent in this area? What hope is there. Really?

Methven were to have it. Does that mean the track at Methven can't cope with so many meetings and needed it transferred? it is the only possible explanation I can see other than speculating wildly. Does the Waimate TC get their meeting back in March and not have to race at Oamaru? What difference would it make getting the TAB to Oamaru and not Waimate? Where are the 'comms' now?

Someone must know, Why was the date given back to Geraldine?

Aucklanders can go anywhere and everywhere in NZ so it will apply to them. Don't try to think that through logically because you won't find any.

This might put some context and balance into their views of supposed animal cruelty by racing people in NZ. Fairview horse massacre: Workers attack animals following pay dispute Dozens of horses were released and injured, and police have clashed with a group of disgruntled workers who stormed the Fairview premises on Thursday. by Dan Meyer 2020-09-17 12:10 in News A horse has been slaughtered with a panga, and dozens more released from stables by feuding Fairview Racecourse workers in Port Elizabeth on Thursday, allegedly as a result of grievances relating to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) payments and internal employment disputes. Reports suggest that many of the horses have been badly injured. Police are currently engaging a group of ex-employees who stormed the premises after having been fired for stabbing a horse in recent weeks. A female trainer has allegedly been threatened with violence after trying to protect the horses. FAIRVIEW LATEST NEWS – WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR It is alleged that the group of ex-employees are a known threat to the yard, and the business has a court interdict against the group. They have been living in an informal settlement on the Phumelela racing grounds, despite having been fired for stabbing a horse. South African Police Service spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidoo confirmed that at least one animal had been killed with a panga, while others are reported to have been injured. She said that the scene was absolute mayhem and that backup had been requested: “One horse was killed, and others have been injured,” Naidoo revealed. Speaking briefly to The South African while trying to get the chaotic scene under control, one of the stable managers said that the actions of the former employees was “pure evil”: ONE HORSE DEAD, WITH SEVERAL LEFT ‘LAME’ A spokesperson from a local Horse Care unit said that there are still 11 horses missing and that the bush they have fled into is difficult to navigate. HORSES SLAUGHTERED AT FAIRVIEW International Racing Club spokesperson, Michael de Haast, who has personally lost horses in attack, said that “something has to be done to stop this incredible violence and abuse against these animals”.

I get where you are coming from. Letting a stable mate into the trail has a negative outcome as well. Should Sam O have got longer?

They were 2 different rules.