Doomed

I do like horses that can mix flat and jumps racing. I like their versatility. Increases money making opportunities as well. Bit of a worry though that the indication seems to be that a Wgtn Cup winner is considered well qualified for a jumps career in Australia.

I never expected it. I actually thought it was quite a strange thing, but I did start to get used to it. I merely queried whether they had changed their approach, which obviously they have, since it had been many months since I last topped up. Obviously their promotional spending is going elsewhere. I can live with that.

That was just a lucky guess Chief.

That was purely from the imaginary world that I live in. They have actually taken away the only vaguely suitable lead in race, The Hazlett, moved it away from Boxing day and made it 1,400m. It was going to be only 9 days before the Telegraph anyhow and they obviously think a 3 week gap is ideal, hence the Telegraph and Railway spacing. Totally seriously, can anyone believe that the SI has won 4 of the last 12 Telegraphs, all Canty trained, and there is now not a single suitable race to prepare a southern horse for that race. They are either totally unaware that the race relies on Southern horses to get a decent sized filed or else they find it embarrassing that the Southerners keep winning the race so want to make it as hard for them as possible. Probably a bit of both. To me it just emphasises that the people running the show have virtually no idea how everything works. They have just been given a bucket of cash and want to splash it around in the direction of Ellerslie and bugger everyone else. Interesting that this was all announced/promoted once the SI roadshows were over.

I wasn't going to bother replying, but just a quick comment. Over my punting career I would have put at least $2.5m through the tote. The racing industry is guaranteed to make money off every dollar of tote betting, no such guarantee with fixed odds betting. So I have certainly made my contribution over the years.

The Telegraph now has the distinction of being run at four different meetings from my memory. Originally on the last day of the meeting, same day as the Cup, then on the Monday to boost that meeting, then on the previous Saturday to boost the original first day of the carnival, now a week or so earlier at a previously nondescript meeting. For a traditionalist it is dizzying trying to keep up. With all of the shuffling around of races to suit Ellerslie, it is rather sad that there is now no SI lead in race to the Telegraph. Considering the SI has won four of the last 12 editions of the Telegraph you would have to consider this either gross incompetence or arrogance. A bit of both I would think. You can't tell me the people who have come up with all these changes are as clever as they obviously think they are. There is a chance they are planning to add a $100,000 1,200m race to the Ashburton programme on 18 Dec, in which case my criticism is obviously far too harsh. I won't hold my breath though based on past experiences.

Lucky you. I must tell them when my birthday is. I have had a couple of $10 things offered midweek but that isn't worth my while trying to figure out how they work.

Its actually really strange. I used to always get the offer, now nothing at all.

Whenever my TAB account would run a little bit low the TAB would always offer me a bonus bet of up to $100 or $150 max, matching the amount I put in, to encourage me to top it up again. This used to happen every time I got below about $20. The last time this happened was back in early April and I did ok with the bonus bet and have managed to tick away happily since then without having to top up again. Sadly, the inevitable finally happened and my account got very low again last week. Alas, no offer of a bonus bet this time. Is this a new policy? Are they not doing bonus bets anymore? Is it because I am predominantly a tote punter? Is it because I went so long without needing to top up? Is it because I did ok with my last bonus bet? I must admit, it has been quite disappointing. As my account started to drop away I thought oh well at least I will get another bonus bet. So I have been quite devastated really. Could it have anything to do with the TAB chap who pops up on a Saturday and mentions how badly the TAB is doing and the punters have taken them to the cleaners yet again?

Pretty sure they don't have a penetrometer for that type of track.

Certainly a few 3yos about up there.

That's interesting. I looked up the club website and it said $30 under general admission. Same for all three days. It probably makes it even worse then if it was free entry and still no one went. I am presuming it was a very small crowd, it looked very small on TV.

I'm amazed there haven't been more comments on this thread. We had a raceday with a perfect track, the best weather for months and decent enough fields, plus heaps of hype, numerous trackside experts on course and a group 1 race. And yet on TV there appeared to be hardly anyone there. Compare it with Doomben, which had a massive crowd for a run of the mill meeting, and Morphettville with another low key meeting but the commentators talked up the decent sized crowd. I imagine NZTR and Entain must have a Monday morning debrief to discuss how the weekend went. Surely they discussed what the problem was at Hastings and why no one could be bothered attending. Surely they must question whether their expensive advertising and marketing is working? I know technically the most exciting summer in the history of NZ racing hasn't quite started yet, but honestly the omens aren't looking good. I get the impression the whole season is judged on the crowd for the Karaka day and the slot race, even though those meetings aim for smaller crowds than NZ Cup day. Back to HB though. What do people think the reason was? Personally I wonder whether a $30 entrance fee for a meeting with hardly anyone there and no atmosphere puts a lot of people off. That's $60 for a couple. Makes it hard to attract the casual racegoer, or even the regular racegoer who is used to getting in for free and probably decided to watch this one from home. I also wonder whether the fact that the third day of the meeting is known as the party day means that most people save their money for that day. If that is the case it probably shows that one or two party days a year don't actually attract people to racing and boost crowds for other days throughout the year. I know many years ago clubs that had a particularly poor performance turnover-wise on course were usually asked to explain what went wrong. I don't know if that still happens. If it does, HB could hardly blame the weather and the lack of high profile races for the poor attendance and turnover. It would be fascinating to hear what their explanation is. It might be worthwhile those attending the roadshows this week in the north asking NZTR what they made of the first group one day of the season and whether they think it augurs well for the season ahead.

Who, me?

You are aware the most exciting summer in the history of NZ racing doesn't start for another few weeks. I imagine most of the big punters are waiting for that to kick off.

I'm haven't really been a regular midweek punter for a few years, but I wondered how those who usually bet midweek are finding it now that we embark on a spell of 8 weeks without any Thursday NZ gallops, and a few Fridays off during that period as well, including tomorrow. At the same time we start on the saturated Sunday racing this weekend with a couple of NZ gallops, and also the Methven trots. I don't actually recall reading the Entain and NZTR rationale behind saturated Sundays anywhere, so I'm not sure if it is about boosting on course attendances or turnover related. Does anyone know what the reasoning is behind it?

If you think its bad for the fillies in the north what about the SI? 5 southern trained male nominations for the 2,000 Guineas and 16 southern fillies nominated for the 1,000 Guineas. And yet despite all those southern fillies their only opportunity against their own sex prior to the 1,000 Guineas is next week's Canterbury Belle Stakes over 1,200m, an ex Geraldine race. After the 1,000 Guineas the next fillies race is probably late February or early March. Always been a strange fillies structure in the south. I have always thought a 1,400m fillies race might work on Melb Cup day at Wingatui, but even that would leave about 8 weeks between fillies races.

Probably some of the best fields I can ever recall seeing at Ruakaka. Unfortunately I just can't bring myself to bet there. It will be interesting to see how decent fields of quite good horses go on a decent track. The worst possible Saturday for me is when you get both Ruakaka and Moonee Valley on the same day. Two tracks I never touch. Thank god for Morphettville and Doomben, and Sydney looks ok.

A slight thread drift, but I was just wondering when the "I'm here for the piss up not the racing" actually started. I know there has always been a tiny element more interested in the piss up, but certainly not to the same extent as on the big days over recent years. My first big race-meetings were Cup Week and the National meeting in ChCh. Riccarton was all about the racing in those days. Cup Day at Addington might have been the first to swing more towards the piss up. Even Trentham was still about the actual racing during the 80s. I'm wondering if they tried to attract the young non-racing crowd once punter numbers started to drop away, or whether punter numbers started to drop away once the big days became more about the piss up than the racing.

I've just been reading about the Grand Tour and how they are going to attract the next generation of youngsters with DJs. Bloody depressing really. When I was a young punter I went to see the racing not the DJs. What has this got to do with HB you say? Well I am planning to be at HB for the second day and the promise of DJs was about to make me change my plans. However, I now see the grand tour doesn't start until the last day at HB. So I suggest people get along and enjoy the first two days.

Most certainly. The problem with that series isn't a handicapping one. Perhaps they are looking at the early entry provisions, who knows?

Looking at that first race they might as well have been on the AWT. Might be a tough day for back-markers.

The major thing wrong with it is that hardly anyone is interested. So why bother carrying it on? There are never ballots so an order of entry isn't really required.

I don't think I have ever seen Riccarton come back from a 10 to a 5 rating in four days before. Are we sure they aren't racing on the AWT?

It is a bit of a lottery for the funders. I presume quite a few runners in each race won't be eligible for the bonus, so they will probably only have to pay out a part of the $1m.