Doomed

That does seem obvious to all but one of us.

Did you happen to catch the quality of horses and the numbers that went around in the Royal Stakes and Queen Elizabeth? $225,000 and $220,000 respectively. Both group races. Won by a rating 64 and rating 74 respectively. I don't think Greymouth did too badly, and probably managed a bigger crowd than that meeting with all the group races.

Great to see a time honoured race hanging in there when so many have faded away. Good to see the SI combo holding off the northern challenge. Denby-Rose must be one of the most improved jockeys out there. She has shown great fortitude to get to where she is today.

SI is doing pretty well really. 62 horses at Tauherenikau yesterday, 61 at HB a couple of days earlier. 4 horse fields not a good look. Even Puke on New Years day, only 93 horses for massive stakes. 9.3 horses per race, virtually the same as Greymouth. And Greymouth doesn't have multiple group races and massive stakes. Wouldn't surprise me if Kumara this weekend gets a bigger crowd that Puke on the 1st, although apparently we aren't supposed to talk about crowd sizes any more.

That must have been a long time ago.

Goodness, I'm a bit worried I might have a stalker. I should be pleased at least someone is reading my humble contributions.

Was there much of a crowd there? There didn't seem to be big numbers along the rails like at Kurow for instance, although they may have been inside in the bars.

Also Omakau and Waikouaiti no longer with us. When I look at all the 5,6 and 7 horse fields in the first 5 races at Taupo and some of the tiny fields at HB and Tauherenikau it does make me think that surely Omakau would have managed to attract more horses than all of those meetings. The SI doesn't even run 2yo racing while Tauherenikau is happy to run a 4 horse field. Every year I wonder what sort of effort the clubs make to attract horses to Taupo, HB and Tauherenikau. It seems such a pity to get massive crowds and very small fields each year. I'm sure the clubs do try but is there anything else that can be done? Certainly looks like a brilliant crowd at Kurow.

The interesting thing is that they are prepared to discuss such things. Can you imagine such proposals being openly discussed in NZ.

I think that means that you are agreeing with me. For you, and obviously many others, to be happy that a horse becomes 2yo of the year without winning a group 1 or 2 race surely means the group system no longer has any relevance?

Went from listed to nothing, but did retain its listed stake. Several NI races with much poorer recent history retained their status. NZTR wants to centre most southern racing around Riccarton and Wingatui. Even that Hazlett stakes on boxing day is hard to justify. The whole group system is almost past its use by date in this part of the world. Aussie is even worse with all the gimmick races with high stakes and restricted entry destroying the system over there. NZ is just as bad. It is probable that the top 2yos and 3yos may not even be eligible for NZ's richest races this season. And that after last year's bizarre situation when a horse was named top 2yo after winning no significant group races, and has hardly fired a shot as a 3yo.

No. There was no logical reason to downgrade the Timaru Cup. It was totally random and arbitrary. There are several NI races at Tauranga and other venues that had less justification than Timaru to retain graded status. Even some Riccarton races have been harshly treated.

Certainly a lot of the decision making would not bear close scrutiny if there was any sort of neutral body that looked at such things.

Another interesting aspect of today's meeting is that if Timaru had run one extra race and finished at 6.35 they would have qualified as a twilight meeting and been able to run all their races for $25,000. Currently the last race is at 6pm. I presume they were prevented from doing that. As it is there are 10 ballots who won't get a start today. One race had 25 noms so lots of horses eliminated as well. Even Kurow is interesting. The top four in the Cup are all rated 85 and higher, which is the same as the Rich Hill mile and one more than the Queen Liz. I'm not sure if this means SI racing is really strong at the moment, or that NI racing is really weak. Or perhaps the rating system is faulty.

Some expert on handicapping, black type etc might be able to help me out here. It is beyond my basic understanding. The despised Timaru Racing Club race today, the only club in the country with a few race-days and no feature meeting. Probably in a tight race with Reefton and Foxton as the clubs NZTR would love to see the back of. Timaru Cup, no status at all. Rating 99 top weight, 10 starters rated higher than 81. Capacity field of 14, ballot scratched. Queen Elizabeth at Auckland, group 3. Rating 95 top weight, 4 starters rated over 81. 9 acceptors, obviously no need for a ballot. Rich Hill mile, group 2. Rating 95 top weight, 5 starters rated over 81. 13 acceptors, again no need for a ballot. Does anyone understand how this works? I know the black type status was determined before these races were run, but do people think that on the basis of this year's running the Timaru Cup is likely to be promoted to Group 2 next year and the Queen Elizabeth and Rich Hill demoted to listed at best?

I don't follow this sort of thing at all, but does this mean they already have a bet on for Karaka night before they actually have people join the syndicate? Do the TAB let them bet on credit assuming they will have money in a few weeks to pay for it?

I did wonder why i kept getting those types of adverts.

Surprising, I thought just throw money at it and the industry would be all good. Perhaps the problems went deeper than that. Who would have thought. Not as bad as Trentham though, a couple of 6 horse fields every meeting there. They might have to increase all the stakes again and then I'm sure everything will come right.

I do find myself wondering how they can justify some of the stakes on offer. Most can hardly be self funding. I also wonder whether the unique harness approach whereby maidens race for higher stakes than winners of several races really does send out the right signal to participants.

It was always a stupid idea, although I see they have found 5 extra horses who don't actually met race conditions. Probably even more surprising is abandoning the 2yo race. I thought the whole idea of changing the racing season as so there would be truck loads of 2yos turning out in Dec.

Far too much like common sense, no place for that in NZ racing.

If the entire SI is considered one region for racing purposes, there surely the continual eschewing of Timaru and Oamaru makes even less sense. Their central location and good track conditions should surely make them crucial venues in the SI pattern?

I thought I would contribute a more positive post than my other one. It has occurred to me that the West Coast clubs could boost their stakes by over $58,000 per meeting just by running their last race at 6.45. That is probably only about an hour later than normal. Some pretty ugly meetings lately have been getting $25,000 stakes just for running their last race after 6.30. It seems strange that much more attractive meetings have to run for $18,500. Surely it would still be light on the Coast after 6.30?

I was going to resist the urge to get back on my hobby horse again as there are only 3 or 4 people actually interested in the subject, perhaps only 2, but there have been a couple of related comments recently so here goes. Can somebody explain to me why there are only 3 meetings in all of Canterbury for the month of December: all 3 of them low key meetings (except for the Timaru Cup race) and one of them on an AWT? So effectively only two meetings for normal horses. I said a month, but it's actually 3 meetings in just over six weeks since the conclusion of Cup Week. I am not sure if the rationale is because all of the horses are too tired after Cup Week or because they are trying to force Canterbury trainers to support Southland's two meetings for the month. I keep telling myself that surely it is a different group of horses that race in $65,000 races during Cup Week to the group that would be competitive in $18,500 races. Am I right in that assumption? As to the second possibility, does NZTR realise that the distance between Chch and Invercargill is 567ks, whereas the distance between Palmerston North and Auckland is 518ks. To Pukekohe, which is where Auckland racing actually takes place, is even shorter. Which brings me to the other perplexing point. During the month that Canty has 3 meetings the CD has 11 meetings. How can this be justified? It isn't as if the CD is over run with horses. Two $65,000 races with 6 starters at Trentham last week, more small fields this week. Even the Northern region has tiny fields, a six horse 3yo at Te Rapa this week. An embarrassment of a Waikato Cup, following on from an embarrassing Counties Cup. The open stayers race at Invercargill has a bigger field and more horses rated higher than 73 than Waikato has. The SI doesn't even get to run 3yo and 2yo races, whereas in the NI they are happy to run high staked age group races with tiny fields. Surely the CD could be told there are races coming up at Pukekohe if anyone wants a start? I also struggle with the actual programming when they finally do run a meeting in the SI. One maiden programmed at Invercargill this week on an 8 race card. They ran two maidens on each of the first two days of Cup Week! I do wonder whether we actually fully understand the concept of tiered racing in NZ. I can't think of a single example of innovative, or really just common sense programming, that has been implemented in the SI over recent years. I'm not a fan of these half arsed inventions of high staked races for horses trained at Tuatapere by trainers outside the top 100. Surely many trainers would rather they just got the basics right so they could place their horses sensibly without having to travel almost 600ks. I have always thought the Canty racing scene and the whole SI could provide a really good racing product for all concerned if it was only run properly. Sadly, I have given up hope of seeing any light at the end of that tunnel.

I often notice horses low down in the race order who get into the field and do well, especially in the SI where there are always balloted and eliminated horses. Faraglioni wouldn't have got a start on Saturday if this policy was in place, and Malt Time, no 14, would have only just snuck into the field. Will make races like the Wgtn Cup a bit less exciting with small fields and lower dividends. Might even discourage those low down in the weights from paying up.