Doomed

Some punters quite like tiny fields with red hots. I presume they are happy to find a race where they can put $1,000 on a $1.30 shot. A bit like the trots. Unfortunately, the turnover figures tend to indicate there are very few punters like that. It generally tends to be big fields with attractive odds that attract the most betting. And it is the bigger turnovers that help to fund the industry.

I would be shocked if that was true. I never bet at Ruakaka anyhow, but my god that was horrible racing on Saturday. A tearaway leader straight to the front and the race was all over.

Assuming the club and sponsor put in the extra $23,000 to boost it to $40,000 they might be a little disappointed to see only 5 acceptors, who knows how many starters. Especially when they see a club elsewhere run a $40,000 race with 5 starters and no club contribution. I do think clubs are pretty brave to put in heaps of their own money for such races with potentially small fields when other clubs don't bother making any contributions at all.

I suspect a lot of them will be targeting the grin race, so they won't be wanting to peak too soon.

Would that fund 3 of the races?

I can recall a few years ago when there used to be Sunday papers seeing a syndicator up north charging about $50,000 to train a horse for a year. I don't know if they still advertise, but I wonder if they promote the fact they can run in an $8,000 race every Tuesday.

That is a worry. I don't think it would happen in Australia as there are still enough people there who value the pattern. It is more likely to happen in NZ where there isn't the same appreciation. In fact it did happen with champion 2yo last year who couldn't win a group one race. The pattern doesn't really matter in harness racing as they seem to dish out group status totally randomly. I don't think the trots have listed races do they? Just imagine what races would be listed races in the trots if there was such a thing.

I can't be bothered doing all the maths again, but I did look at the costs verses potential returns when this idea first came out and it seems to me that most of the slot holders lose money every year. Only the first couple of horses actually show a profit. So on that basis I can't really see this type of racing proliferating. I can't for the life of me figure out why someone who isn't a big owner or trainer with a likely contender would buy a slot.

Hard to add anything to that really. Just seems like a strange idea, and hard to figure out what it is really designed to achieve.

You can see why TAB's like fixed odds. $1.50 fav four months out from the Cup.

Owners don't have to pay a large entry fee at all. The slot holders pay the money and then try to hook up with a decent horse. And as others have mentioned the industry as a whole contributes quite a bit as well, which isn't the way it was supposed to work.

I don't think I have ever criticised the trackside presenters before. I don't really listen to them as I largely follow the Aussie racing. It is fairly obvious though that this format is not working. It might work as a format if the studio presenters were real experts, but these two seem to be just filling in the gaps with aimless talk trying to pretend they know what they are talking about. The one on the right seemed to think Octagonal was a mare. Apparently the Missile Stakes is going to be the greatest race for years. I can't wait. It really is very amateurish.

I thought sharp n smart was horse of the year last year. Lucky Sweynesse didn't even race here did it?

Apparently so. We are in for the most exciting summer of racing ever. I think I read that somewhere so it must be right.

I have been wrong before. Probably nobody noticed.

Bloody hell. I find myself agreeing with TAB4ever. I thought it was fairly obvious Kennedy would win the big award.

Bit of a worry becoming champion 2yo winning a group 3 and a listed. Pointless me debating this because I'm just philosophically opposed to a horse winning such as award by winning a sweepstake. I was really quite shocked at the numbers of votes he got from people who I thought would have known better.

But they did judge his 2yo career based on a sweepstake race. What are the chances of Storm Boy being voted top Aussie 2yo? His biggest win was a sweepstake, but at least he managed a Group 2 win as well. I suspect the Aussies have more adherence to the pattern than we do.

They did last year. Champion 2yo to a restricted race winner who didn't fire a shot as a 3yo.

And well done to them all I say. I don't know any of them all that well but I'm sure they are all well deserved.

An annual event then.

Interesting day's racing at Waverley. Must be a while since one trainer has trained all five jumps winners on a NZ race card. Good to see a high class hurdler win a flat race as well. I can't remember the last time that happened in NZ. Happens a bit in Aussie.

They even used to have a race for 2yo fillies. Perish the thought these days. They are probably busy organising a slot race on the AWT. And if they weren't, but now think that's a great idea, I would expect some sort of royalty for the inspiration.

It will be interesting to see how many they get for the Cashmere Plate. The CJC has taken it upon themselves to run one 2yo race since the Champagne 3 months ago. Obviously working on the theory there are heaps of 2yos just waiting in the wings until they turn 3 before they get going. The old model where they ran the Haldon Plate in July seemed to work ok. The Haldon often got divided too. But who are we to think we know more than the highly paid experts.

I'm intrigued they can only start 12 in the maiden steeples at Waverley, 3 ballots. The field is hardly going to be as tightly packed as in a flat race. I imagine it is because there are only 12 jockeys rather than any track limitations. Could be a bit tough if the trainer of a balloted horse had a jockey keen to ride his horse but the jockey was forced to ride another horse because of jockey numbers rather than track limits. I could be totally wrong, perhaps jumps races always have smaller limits and we just haven't seen large acceptances for a while.