Doomed

I thought someone was taking the piss when I first read about it, not being a fb user, but obviously it is true. To give them credit though, the CJC have obviously accepted that they aren't very good at boosting stakes, running imaginative programmes, attracting the public, providing a decent racing surface, pulling down old public grandstands etc, so they have decided to set themselves a small, achievable target that might be achievable So good on them, I hope it goes well. You will certainly be able to spot the Riccarton trainers when they turn up at Reefton. The northern lot might have to up their game a bit. I was going to suggest we can probably expect high fashion gumboots at Riccarton this Saturday, but surely the track is back to Good by now.

Yes, Trevor and Fiona did a great job. We just don't have people like that running many clubs these days.

They run lots of feature meetings in both codes with decent stakes. The big problem is that Ashburton isn't a particularly big place: only about 35,000 people, about 15,000 smaller than Timaru. In decades gone by funding for major projects would have come from the industry's amentities fund, which no longer exists as far as I'm aware. The new public grandstand was funded in that way back in the 80s. Back in the 70s the new galloping track would have been funded in the same fashion. So you have a track and town with not many galloping trainers, lots of race-meetings poured into it, not much local interest from sponsors and the public, and an expectation that their track will be ready to go at a moments notice should Riccarton get into trouble. All this with very little contribution from the industry towards maintaining and improving amenities. There is a tiny, insignificant minority of people (me and possibly two others) who feel the racing industry in the SI may have been better off going forward if Ashburton, Timaru and Riccarton had each been given $5m apiece to bring all of their amenties up to a good standard rather than pouring $15m into the white elephant. Ashburton was always quite a well run track, with good management who have all gone now. It was all well and good selecting them as the Riccarton back up track in a downsized industry, but they needed to be funded accordingly and it doesn't sound like this is happening. The model still depends on Timaru, Geraldine, Methven, Banks Pen, Rangiora etc all being sold and the millions being poured into Riccarton with a few crumbs to Ashburton to keep them ticking over in case they are needed.

That is interesting that Ashburton is "cash-strapped". They hold so much racing, and on pretty good dates that you would think they would be doing well. And, as you say, they are the only option if the Riccarton turf fails, other than the inside track, so you would think the industry would be pouring money in to make sure Ashburton is up to a high standard.

I often wonder how many at NZTR realise it is significantly further from Christchurch to Invercargill than it is from Hamilton to Wellington.

I think mikey comes from the deep south somewhere.

I find it interesting that the AWTs seem to be treated totally differently in the SI and NI. I always understood they were intended for low key winter racing. This certainly seems to be the case in the NI with all of the AWT meetings for the rest of the season being low key $14,000 meetings. In the SI however there are the two feature meetings coming up with $35,000 and $30,000 races. One of these meetings doesn't even have any race rated higher than 75: so an unusual sort of feature meeting, but a feature meeting nonetheless based on stakes levels. So a very different approach to the NI. Interesting also that the SI starts AWT racing before the NI, despite the SI generally have more settled Autumn weather than the north. I also imagine that the south will carry on longer into the Spring, despite once again the south having better Spring weather than the north. Was it always intended that the approach was going to be totally different in the two islands? Does Riccarton end up with a much longer season of AWT racing and higher stakes because its turf track is considered inadequate? I note as well that after next week's turf track meeting at Riccarton there is only one more turf meeting at Riccarton for the rest of the season. In fact Canterbury as a whole only has three feature meetings for the last three months of the season. Do Canterbury trainers feel they can happily form a programme for their better horses with three feature meetings in 14 weeks. It is certainly different to the Aussie pattern where trainers tend to race their horses every couple of weeks. Worth considering also that the Riccarton feature meeting in mid June may well be the only properly wet track in Canterbury for the rest of the season. And of course that meeting has no maiden races, so I hope there aren't any trainers in Canterbury telling their owners they are just waiting for wet tracks for their maidens. I don't really see how the windfall from the TAB sale will solve any of these significant problems in the SI. Although perhaps it is only me that sees them as problems.

Timaru will be nervous after that meeting today. Superb racing on a perfect track. 10 mostly full fields and about 20 horses balloted and eliminated. If the Riccarton AWT meeting next week doesn't get 10 races with full fields Timaru will probably lose this meeting next year. The other SI golden child Wingatui already has pretty shaky fields this weekend. The big city clubs won't like the despised country track upstaging them. I notice the AWT has a feature meeting a couple of weeks after that, and then a couple of week's later NZ's only feature meeting with a rating 75 as the highest rating race. They are certainly throwing the money at the AWTs to force trainers to use them. It is a pity there isn't a level playing field where trainers are allowed to choose which option is best for their horses.

I don't think anyone blames the trainers for not doing more. I have the greatest admiration for the Tylers and Parsons especially. The SI would be lost without them. I enjoy every success they have. The Tylers hardly got any mention anywhere for their success last weekend. I hope the CJC at least bought them a beer and a sausage roll.

Has there been any comment yet about whether they intend to give it a go again this season? Do people think there are likely to be any jumps races at Riccarton in August? It does seem a bit bizarre when you think about it if it does go ahead. No other jumps races in the South and yet they will probably put up big stakes for what are basically exhibition races. Bring in all the contestants, horses, jockeys and trainers, at incredible expense. It seems to run against the policies that apply to most other aspects of racing: eliminating everything that appears to be inefficient. Waimate and Wairoa must look on in bemusement.

He does need something to go back to when this current job ends. And he does get weekends off in his racing job, so plenty of time for rugger.

He's the best jockey I've ever seen, and I think largely under appreciated over the years. My favourite ride has always been Domino in the Oaks; I backed it of course, so very exciting. I did speak to him in the carpark at Trentham after one of the big days, can't remember if it was that Oaks day of not. The members carpark was always the place to be after a big day at Trentham. I assume that doesn't happen anymore. I'm sure CWJ would be an amazing person to sit down and have a beer with. I can't think of anyone in Racing who would be more interesting. Even some of his post race interviews have always been entertaining. I think if he didn't go straight into the hall of fame as soon as he retires there would be a lot of people asking why not.

Good for trotters

I think its about 1500m

I know absolutely nothing about rainfall or racetracks so I am seriously asking for expert opinion. That Riccarton track looked pretty bad today. I notice it was already a heavy 9 on Thursday after 12mm of rain in the last 7 days. Obviously it had deteriorated even further since then. At the end of summer should a track be a heavy 9 after 12mm of rain in 7 days?

Apparently synthetic tracks aren't all bad. https://loveracing.nz/OnHorseFiles/NRB Meeting News/Polytrack Racing Resumes.pdf

How embarrassingly written is that? It's like they got some intern straight out of school to cobble it together. What does 'sewed fertile ground" mean? If that Mike Roberts wrote it himself, he sounds like a total nutter. Is he really that bad?

Yes, they were quite separate licences to those held by the club who owned the track they were raced at.

The other on-course only clubs included Alexandra who raced at Te Rapa, Cromwell TC, Eastern Bay of Plenty at Te Teko, Helensville at Avondale, South Waikato at Rotorua and Waiuku at Ellerslie. Waiuku incidentally did on course turnover of $373,333 at Ellerslie on 18 Feb 1982.

Just found an old Turf Register. The Riccarton Turf Club raced at Riccarton on Thursday 18 February 1982. Nine races, all worth $1,000. On course turnover of $115,922.

That may have been the original intention, but the equalisator meetings morphed into an oncourse only meeting. I think it was the only one in the SI, but there were several around the Waikato. It came about believe it or not because there were so many horses about and the TAB didn't open Thursdays and Sundays so there needed to be some extra opportunities in certain areas at certain times. A totalisator club couldn't hold both types of licences so the oncourse only meetings were given to clubs like Riccarton TC. In the Waikato it would have been clubs like South Waikato. They would have also been good earners for the organisations whose day job was running many of the trial meetings. I don't have any records of any of this so I'm relying on memory. Others more intimately involved than I will know much more about it. Sad that the Racing industry doesn't seem to have recorded history like this very well, at least nothing you can google.

If you look at the CJC annual reports you will see they have ward committees for Amberley, Hororata, North Canterbury and Riccarton Turf. I often struggle to remember what I did yesterday but I am quite certain that NZ used to have on course betting only race-meetings and Riccarton Turf was one of them. They possibly ended late 70s, early 80s. I can specifically remember a very big divi one day when there was only one live ticket on a quinella or double. Equalisator betting was quite a different thing.

It would only take about 5 years to stuff NZ racing, so probably not much difference between a 5 year or 25 year deal. We won't last 25 if they cock it up.

An on course tote just wouldn't work given the small number of attendees and the tiny pools. Back in the days of on course only meetings the Riccarton Turf Club would do about $250,000 on course. These days the CJC would think they were doing well to turn over $50,000 on course.

I think Nelson would have closed late 80s. As you say, there used to be a lot of owners and enthusiasts around the top of the South, but largely all gone now. And sadly not being replaced by an upsurge of new involvement in the big cities excited by the prospect of AWT racing rather than country track racing.