Doomed

I did get a get irritated by the preamble before the race that used to be the Jackson Stakes about what a great winter race it was and all the top horses that had won it , like Axeman, Horlicks etc. They didn't mention that all the top horses that had won it did so when it was raced in the spring and used to attract top fields. It got moved many years ago when the HB spring races became more prominent, so it doesn't really have a history as a great winter race at all.

Terrible look isn't it. Riccarton got lots of flak when everyone headed to the outside fence, so they had to even it up. No one seems to bother about Wanganui. Horrible racing. It looked like a poor ride by Allpress on the southerner in the feature mile. She covered so much extra ground getting to the outside. The art is to get there as easily as possible, but she is the expert so I suppose she knew what she was doing.

It doesn't do any harm. I imagine our Pam would be at fairly short odds to take it out.

Gee, the infield at Wingatui is drier than I imagined. I hope the grass grows back by Sunday.

Gamma just doesn't quite get the unsustainable point. I'm sure it's lovely for those owners to race for the better part of $60,000 in a 6 horse field, but turnover on that race will probably generate about $3,000 towards the cost of the total stake. Where does the other $57,000 come from?

You do wonder whether they actually put money up each meeting (they very well may do) or whether Tim just gets a free Speights each time he pops in.

To give Awapuni some credit, looks like they have a real sponsor for each of their races. Doesn't look like Riccarton could find any sponsors for their meeting tomorrow.

6 in the Sapling stakes this weekend. Quite sad. I don't think they have really come to grips with how to make the Jan 1 to 31 Dec season work properly.

Not sure leadership is the right word to use there. They possibly motivate Ellerslie, a few of the bigger breeders and syndicators, and the top 2 or 3 trainers. “The action of leading a group of people or an organisation.” That's how the Oxford Dictionary defines leadership. In simple words, leadership is about taking risks and challenging the status quo. Leaders motivate others to achieve something new and better.

Something totally wrong out there. 8 races at Cambridge, 7 at Puke. 7 at Awapuni and 8 at Wanganui. Lots of small fields. Meanwhile 10 races at Wingatui, no maidens. Could easily have held 12 races if they decided to give opportunities to the maidens that missed out because of the abandoned meeting last week. 9 races at Riccarton. Could easily have held 10 if they hadn't decided to eliminate several horses. How thick, or fixed in a mindset, do you have to be to miss the imbalance in stakes and dates allocations?

We are hardly going to get more quality racing if horses get two penalty free wins. There are already heaps of penalty free options. The hardest thing in harness racing is getting horses through the grades to fill up tighter grade fields. I cringe every time I look at a harness meeting and see maidens racing for $2,000 more than winners of 3.4.5 races. It always looks to me like a very socialist sport where winners and successful horses are frowned upon. I always think harness people must all vote Labour or similar parties.

A change of terminology. Good to see them listening. The R65 1400m WILL be divided

It's good to see clubs concerned enough to get some coverage in main stream media, but his comments are a bit random. He is concerned about not getting public holiday dates but there seems to be a reluctance for clubs to race on public holidays anyhow. Also, Wingatui gets Boxing day and Riverton New Years Day and Easter. Wingatui also gets Melbourne Cup day, which is almost a holiday, certainly a big punting day. I suppose a bit of media interest is a start anyhow.

They do have access to a lot of experience now. I imagine they flew down people from HB and Awapuni to advise Wingatui.

Obviously Wingatui is all good to go them. No such luck for the Otago and Southland maidens who missed out last week. They either have to go to Riccarton to race on the AWT or wait for yet another Wingatui meeting on 30 June.

Yes, quite showy.

The horse has to have raced between Jan and May but surely a lot of the ranking points would have been accumulated before that period.

Usually, unless its Karaka day at Ellerslie.

And that's one of the top tier tracks that has had all of the money poured into it. Those poor 65 milers in the South just can't get a break.

Much easier just to pull out the same programme as last year, even if that programme had major problems with it last year. They are also obsessed with running 8 race cards so don't really enjoy having to cater for an excess of horses.

I have vague memories of a horse called Twilight Mist running second at Hororata one day and Reon missing it totally because it finished right down the outside fence. I may be totally wrong of course as I often struggle to remember what I did yesterday.

The significant thing about all those old Cup races is the amazing depth in the fields. I think that is what we all miss these days, and what frustrates us so much. And what a good commentator Reg was.

Interesting the top 2 both trained in the UAE. I'm a bit surprised Private Eye rated so high.

I suppose it was so blindingly obvious even NZTR couldn't miss it. Just imagine if they decided to run a 2yo race one day.

Very good points. Three quick comments. You mentioned 21.7% of turnover for Rangiora in betting revenue and 17.95% for Auckland. Why the difference? And surely not all of that percentage is available for stakes? Quite a bit of it goes to various taxes and other levies. I am very out of touch with all the numbers. You used Rangiora in your example. Because Rangiora has a few Sundays there must be a big worry that their turnovers will drop with the increased competition on Sundays. Sunday turnovers are always going to be be restricted naturally as people have lost so much money the day before. The last thing they need is more competition for the off course dollar. Also Sunday on course trot crowds are less likely to bet into the other meetings on the day. Finally, you asked is it too late to fix this, referring to the imbalance of new meetings. I presume some of the new meetings will be abandoned if they prove unsustainable because of low numbers. Unfortunately I can't see them saying 'This week's Manawatu meeting has been abandoned because of low numbers so we have replaced it with an extra meeting at Rangiora."