Doomed

It does seem a little unfair that someone who goes along to a sale and buys a $5,000 horse is eligible, but someone who breeds a filly that might be worth $250,000 or more and decides to race it themselves in NZ isn't eligible.

Surely the more important question is how much is NZTR putting into a sales incentive series.

I've been busy, and sad to see not a single reply to this. I suspect everyone is losing interest, or possibly just don't understand the situation.

There has just been hardly any racing for him. I'm sure he will hit his straps in a couple of weeks. The North is doing a 2 week shut down.

Chief! Surely you didn't get fooled by that? It was lunacy from go to whoa.

Virtually no racing up north for a week or so. He probably thinks NZ racing has shut down

Does anyone know if there is a reason for no northern meetings this weekend? Nothing Friday, Saturday or Sunday. AWT meeting at Cambridge with tiny fields this Wednesday then nothing until Matamata next Wednesday. Then a trip way up to Ruakaka for a Saturday, then nothing until a low key Matamata Friday meeting on the 13th. Seems strange programming as we head into Spring. I can't imagine Sydney or Melbourne deciding to have a Friday, Saturday, Sunday off at this time of year, or any weekend really. Is it a sign there are just very few horses about in the north or is it some clever new approach being trialed? Poor southern jockeys will probably miss out again, probably be a dozen northern jockeys fly down to Riccarton at great expense.

It was new when it was built. As most things are.

Well, the new grandstand at Riccarton is the only one still standing.

Just off the top of my head Iooking at the 80s for instance I can recall a brand new racecourse at Ruakaka, new grandstands at Ellerslie, Riccarton, New Plymouth, Motukarara, Ashburton, Omoto. New 1,600m chutes at Oamaru and Woodville, a new stables complex at Alexandra Park, lights and revamped grandstands at Avondale, new lights at Cambridge. I don't recall any significant track failures. There was the odd abandonment, Banks Pen part way through one meeting, but nothing dramatic. If we were to compare that with the last 10 years, it does look like someone was doing something right 40 years ago.

We can learn a lot from the past. Quite a lot of racing things used to work better back then. And not just because of different times, more about use of resources and better management at all levels. Sure there was always some tension between various clubs and central management, but that was a sign that everyone was competitive and trying to do their best. Now, virtually all clubs have given up bothering and just concentrate on survival. And that is the thing I find the saddest of the lot currently.

Once again programming. Doesn't seem to have been solved by slot races and sales races.

I see TAB as the Damien McKenzie darting around behind the tight 5.

Despite what he might think, I enjoy TAB's contributions. He provides good balance and some interesting insights. I am sure we all have the best interests of the industry at heart. I think the disconnect comes with some of us being interested in the logistics of running a massive industry and broader picture questions while others are more interested in specifics.

Te Rapa?

An admirable objective. It does make sense to have all of the group 1s at tracks that have never had to abandon part way through a meeting.

You need to keep up Murray. It is now the TAB mile. I was looking at an old turf register the other day and Ray Coupland was sponsoring races back in the mid 80s. 40 years of sponsorship. I don't know whether many can match that. It might be nice if they could name a race after him one day without him having to sponsor it. We aren't good at that sort of thing in NZ. I'm still waiting for races named after Grey Way, Show Gate, CWJ, so I suppose Ray will have to wait in the queue.

Do you know what the problem is with that sort of initiative Westy? It doesn't cost a lot of money. If you are running an industry like this and on the big money yourself it is only the big ticket items that excite you. Anything down at the commonsense level that relies on basic PR skills for its success is not really in the sphere of interest of top management. They have better things to do with their day. Propping up Auckland type things.

It might surprise you TAB, but I am all in favour of AWTs. They have their place. That place is as a totally separate tier of racing providing opportunities for jockeys and trainers and certain types of horses during a particular time of the year. And also for providing betting opportunities to help maximise turnover and profits. Unfortunately I think NZTR, and probably yourself, view them differently and, in the SI particularly, want to use them to eliminate several existing grass tracks. In the SI they see grass track and AWT racing as totally interchangeable. As to your question about how am I adversely affected by high stakes etc. I am not adversely affected at all. I see myself as a totally impartial observer of the racing industry, both here and in Australia. I have a sense of the history of the industry in both countries, and while I accept that things inevitably change over time and nothing remains the same, I do feel a sense of sadness at how badly NZ racing has declined. I am staggered at how many people look at the current scene and the new stakes levels and the flash new races and think the industry is going great guns. And as you say, it is great for owners, racing in small, poor fields for big stakes. I come from the point of view that current stakes are only possible because of the largesse of Entain. It has nothing to do with running a sustainable and profitable industry. Even with Entain's generous contribution the total stakes pool is still finite. I find it sad that, in my view, a lot of the total stakes pool is being used inefficiently and an opportunity is being wasted largely due to incompetence. I'm sure many people think the money is being thrown at them so might as well just piss it away regardless of any concept of sustainability. I'm sure some people still recall Winston's previous gift of $15m to the industry, which lasted 3 years and then the industry crashed again, with zero residual benefit. So, as you say, I'm not adversely affected at all, other than feeling a sense of disappointment. And if my contributions upset you I am quite happy to ease off.

Perhaps surprisingly I don't think it's a totally silly idea. I have often thought the Wgtn Cup could be moved to Reefton to get better weather and a bigger on course crowd, 3 laps of the track would make it a more interesting race as well. And a race like the Oaks would probably work much better at Timaru, or even Blenheim. We do need to be open to these innovative ideas.

A programming issue in the broader sense, but in all honesty just further indications that the industry is being appalling and incompetently run.

That is a very valid point, and one that I keep thinking about myself. I have no idea who is running the show, Entain or HRNZ? The same in the gallops. I could understand it if some of the strange decisions were obviously designed to boost turnovers, but clearly they aren't. The classic example is abandoning many Thursdays and Fridays for the gallops and jamming them all onto Sundays. That will have a catastrophic impact on gross off course turnover. Entain don't give any impression they understand the racing industry at all. But even more bizarrely they don't seem to understand how to maximise turnovers and show a profit. We are certainly going through a time in the racing industry the likes of which I have never experienced before. The worrying thing is that many people who should know better don't seem to have noticed that there is anything even slightly strange going on.

To give them credit Brodie, who could possibly have known running non stop meetings at Cambridge for $8,000 would attract small fields and unattractive racing. Next you will be suggesting Manawatu might end up similar.

What embarrassing noms at Riccarton this weekend. 6 noms for each of the open races with double acceptors as well and horses eligible for rating 65 races.. And 6 or 7 for the 3yo. And open races back to $50,000 with others at $40,000. You seriously have to think this is a massive misuse of industry funds. And it's an AWT meeting. They really have not got their head around AWT racing at all. At least in the NI they almost run them as a separate tier of racing, but in the SI they think they are interchangeable with grass track racing. Even if they are treated as a separate type of racing there is still very limited interest from trainers. Then next week they run virtually the same programme at Riccarton, but on the grass. I have no idea what the logical thinking is behind it all. I was somewhat bemused by those $100,000 AWT races a couple of weeks ago. In the NI they were held at meetings where the rest of the races were worth $17,000 and attracted rubbish fields. So $100,000 races at race-meetings where there was no desire or intention to attract on course attendances. A really strange way to spend industry funds. Those clubs who go out of their way to attract on course patrons must really look on in total bemusement. Surely a $100,000 race at Reefton would create a lot more interest? And back to the SI. The obvious message is that Riccarton can't cope with too much grass track racing, especially at this time of year. Anyone who can remember back a few years will recall that after the National meeting the racing pattern went something like: Oamaru, Ashburton, Timaru, Otago, Geraldine, Marlborough. And Riccarton didn't make an appearance again until early October. That pattern seemed to work well for many years. Of course, of all those clubs mentioned only Otago and Ashburton are currently in the good boys group, which does seem to have created a bit of a predicament. Still, I do keep reassuring myself with the knowledge that there are highly paid people running the show who obviously know much more than any of us who comment on here.

Its because they are as thick as pig shit and they have converted $NZ to $aus for reasons known only to them. I can never understand why they feel the need to keep converting $NZ and $Aus. Surely punters know if they are betting on an NZ race the stake is in NZ dollars and an Australian race is in Australian dollars? And why does it matter anyhow? I'm sure there are some punters who look at the form guides for Aussie races on a Saturday and wonder why the Aussies always race for strange stakes. They aren't actually racing for $219,000, they are racing for $A200,000. For some reason Entain and the NZ TAB before them thought NZ punters were fascinated to know what that Aussie stake would be if converted to NZ dollars. It's all beyond me.