Doomed

Big weekend in the SI. July's 2yo race coming up at Oamaru. It might be a good pub quiz question to ask how many 2yo races there are in Canterbury during the winter. One would be the answer. Might trick a few people, especially north islanders who are used to at least two 2yo races every week. 13 2yos trialling at Riccarton, about 40% of the total starters, which is impressive considering they don't actually hold 2yo races on the AWT. I can't recall if they mentioned when the AWT was being advocated as the next big thing for Canterbury that it wouldn't be used for actual 2yo races.

On a slightly different subject Chief, but you might have an opinion. Those were pretty poor fields at Ruakaka on Saturday. Good track, big stakes, but only seven races, a couple with 5 starters and one with 7. Only one field of more than 10. Are there just no horses about or is Ruakaka not what they want? I suspect it might be too long a trip for many these days, despite the stakes on offer. I imagine locals would have made up a decent percentage of the starters. Along with the appalling flat fields at Trentham this most surely be a concern for those running the industry.

It was a hell of a long gap between Collett getting dislodged and the start being effected. The Stewards decision was probably the best outcome. It actually sets a precedent in case anything similar happens here. I don't remember a situation exactly like it in NZ.

The saddest thing is that NZTR think they got a win over Stratford, but really the club just gave up beating their head against a brick wall, which has also happened elsewhere. Gradually all those with a passion for racing are giving up and the fly by nighters will have their 5 minutes of glory and then piss off after they have ruined the industry as we know it.

Poor Mark, he must have had a hell of a shock when he purchased some young gallopers to race as 2yos down South and then realised the SI doesn't really encourage 2yo racing.

I was impressed with the quick action they took in Victoria this weekend, and perhaps some lessons for NZ. Donald got a bit wet so they moved the meeting to Warracknabeal with about 24 hours notice. Handy having a track just down the road that you can use in such circumstances. And the fields held up really well. Not really possible in NZ anymore with most of the tracks "just down the road" being closed these days. And today's Ballarat track got a bit wet so they changed that to the synthetic. A quick decisive move, but the fields fell away badly as usual with only 6s and 7s remaining, which does emphasise once again that the synthetic generally does appeal to a different type of horse.

I am a bit amazed there has been no mention of the Doomben starting fiasco yesterday. If it had happened in NZ people would have been all over it. Bit of a variation on a theme too as I don't recall anything exactly like it in NZ. Interesting judicial decision as well, but probably fair.

Ironically, when you look at it in hindsight, Forbury may have come in handy to race of Friday nights when Auckland gives up the ghost.

Yes, very good 4yos raced there. I think it was one of those races Lochie got into a bit of trouble for suggesting one runner may not have been trying too hard.

I found the comment that they shouldn't have to be the only club in the country to have to build a training centre, and therefore wanting the rest of the country to subsidise them, to be very strange. Surely they already had a perfectly adequate training centre close at hand and chose to sell it off? Where do they think the SI clubs do their training and who do they think pays for it. Ashburton, Oamaru, Timaru, the southland clubs, all provide facilities for their local trainers. The codes have tried to close down Waimate and Waikouaitit and various others but are still happy for them to provide training facilities. Blenheim has been reduced to one two day meeting a year but still provides training facilities for anyone interested. I don't think they would be too keen to subsidise Auckland. I'm sure the many SI clubs that provide training facilities but only get to race once or twice a year would be happy to put on some extra days if the current Auckland dates became available. It wouldn't surprise me if the Nelson Trotting Club was happy to put on a charity raceday to help out Auck. They only need to ask nicely.

I didn't think there was any emphasis on getting people on course these days TAB. Us keyboard punters are the new reality. I used to attend almost 100 race-meetings a year. Not many would do that these days.

I think Liz Whelan used to be on Trackside and I thought she was very good.

I have heard of the same ones, but I suppose it is for emerging stars so most of them we will never have heard of. Back in the day there would have been a category for talented racing administrators and they would have been people everyone thought was doing well. I see there are three administrators listed, but I have never heard of them. They may well be talented but just keep a low profile.

Sadly Pam, I really don't think that will ever occur to them. I think there are enough sycophantic types telling NZTR what a wonderful job they are doing that they go home every weekend thinking they are best thing that ever happened to the NZ Racing industry.

Where on earth did you get that idea Chief? We have a brand spanking new slot race coming up next season, a few sweepstakes and the 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas have both been boosted by $50,000. In many peoples eyes the industry is booming.

Chasing the sun in the south.

I keep thinking back to the Otaki meeting on the Maori holiday, 10 races all with capacity fields and lots of ballots. So there are horses about, just not in the right classes. It is getting more like the trots where there are heaps of lower grade horses in certain areas, but try putting on a race for horses with 4 or more wins are there are no horses to be seen.

Disappointing there isn't an award for social media excellence.

It is probably the most suitable time of the year for racing administrators to head overseas to spend their annual bonuses.

Only very tenuously related to this thread, but saves starting another one. They really are terrible fields at Ruakaka, size wise, despite a good track and decent stakes. No ballots so you do wonder about the need for a points system to determine who gets a start. I think this meeting has had small fields for several years. Meanwhile at Trentham the biggest flat field is only 8 runners, not counting the cowboys race. So only 8 jockeys need to turn up. It is the first time I can recall all the jumping races on the day being bigger than all the flat races. My question, and a very serious one, is do NZTR, Entain and the clubs get together after weekends like this one to discuss where things might be going wrong? Obviously it is no longer stakes that are the problem as both of these meetings have decent stakes given the time of year. Is it a programming problem or is it a general lack of horses? If it is either of those problems what if anything is being done about it? It isn't as if it has just suddenly occurred and taken everyone by surprise. And the tracks can hardly be blamed. I would suggest that both of these tracks will turn out exactly as everyone would have expected them to be rated this weekend.

It is a worry that there isn't a single alternative jumps venue available in the north. Where is Paeroa when you need it?

About 4 or 5 I think when they first came out yesterday. Of course there was no chance of getting extras as it was a pre nom race and those 4 or 5 would have been the only ones left standing from the originally noms. Bloody tough on those 4 or 5 who had aimed their whole programme towards a $60,000 race.

Trentham is probably the place where tradition has gone out the door the most. Many of their big name races are just hack races now.

I don't think I have ever seen anything like this Trentham meeting. 5 noms for each of the open flat races and truck loads of noms for most of the jumps races. Four races for flat jockeys with tiny fields. Flat jockeys will mostly get one or two mounts each at best. Is it worth travelling for that?

Remembering back quite a few years didn't there used to be a Sth Canty trials assoc, or something similar, who used to run regular trials at Timaru, Waimate and Orari? Perhaps they felt unappreciated and gave up.