Doomed

I did notice Pam had made the long trek south. I presumed it was because there was no race for staying maidens anywhere in Canty for two months.

I just happened to be looking at the noms for the Derby and I notice it doesn't appear to have a sponsor this year. That's a bit sad less than a month out from the race. I suppose someone will step in at the last moment at a reduced rate, but they won't get much value out of it.

Maybe not altruism, but the consequences are massive for the ORC. Those three races must all be on the verge of being downgraded. And remember this is a meeting with a $40,000 maiden race, which is quite bizarre but that is a subject for another day, and enormous subsidy from the NZ racing industry as a whole. It might have been hard to justify all that industry money going forward if the meeting is reduced to one listed race at best.

Full credit to Te Akau for their willingness to travel their horses. I bet Dave Ellis and Mark Walker are both on the Christmas card list of the Otago RC. Those three listed and Group races at Dunedin today were all on their last legs and the Te Akau contribution may well save the status of all three races for another year or so. Trainers of higher rated horses have the power to make or break some of these races. I recall Roger James had a couple of higher rated mares a couple of years ago and almost single-handedly saved the status of several Northern stayers races.

I think sadly the people currently controlling NZ Racing don't really give a fuck about the future of the industry, they just want to wear down and hound out all of those who don't agree with them. A successful outcome for them will be to see off all opposition. When the Timaru's , Avondale's, Reefton's, Gore's, Marlborough's decide they can't be bothered anymore the industry will be stuffed. And some of them have already given up.

I love seeing Zed go well. It shows that the battlers can make an impact. And he is pretty well bred from memory. One of the great success stories of the NZ breeding industry.

I think there would be just too much embarrassment if they get a bigger crowd for a grass track meeting at Te Aroha with a $15,000 feature than at Cambridge with a $1m feature. It just doesn't fit with all the theories.

Surely none of those in the same league as the great West Australian San Simeon, winner of 29 in a row?

Hard to explain why, I obviously lead a boring life, but I was looking through the Messara report the other day, just for "fun?" I note three of the Coast tracks were going to be closed down and Kumara was going to hold four meetings in a row. How do you think that would have gone Reefton?

I did say there were literally 2 people sitting over on the public stand side, was one of them you?

It will be interesting to hear how many attended Trentham and what the turnover was. There didn't seem to be many in front of the public grandstand even when it didn't seem to be raining. The $50 entrance fee might be enough to put some off on a slightly inclement day. And to be totally honest, that was pretty ugly racing coming right down the outside fence. Never a good look having one "fast" strip like that.

The saddest thing was that there appeared to be hardly anyone there. They kept showing shots of the cars parked in front of the old public grandstand, which is obviously still there fully intact. There appeared to be literally 2 people over that side, and no one watching the horses in the bird cage from that side. So different to shots from that same perspective from Blenheim last week. I know a lot of people would have been in the remaining grandstand, but good to see people outside on a sunny day. I wonder if they kept a tally of how many Marlborough people attended. And I wonder if the Marlborough club thought it was good value to boost the Cup stake by $20,000. Just think, the Cup stake alone would have funded more than 4 races back in Blenheim. And the commentator was gleefully announcing they would be racing at Riccarton every two weeks for the next few months. I hope they can attract some people along, otherwise it does look a bit sad. On a positive note the track seemed to race ok and I thought Light Up went a great race, fought well.

And as I understand it the plan is to redevelop it and make it even smaller.

I just watched a race out of interest. Half handled it, half didn't. 5 of each I think. It appeared the jockeys on those not handling it just give up. Still, I would probably rather bet there than at Moonee Valley. My god that is a shocking track, probably a shorter straight than anything we have in NZ.

Not very often you see a maiden start in the Wgtn Cup. Interestingly, it is showing $41 on the fixed odds and $18 on the tote. Must either be a pretty good maiden or a poor field. I'm sure NZTR and the Club are hoping it doesn't win or even place: the race would struggle to retain even listed status next season.

And there isn't a race meeting anywhere near Auckland for several days around their holiday Weekend. Taupo must have been about as far away as they could possibly get.

I do find it sad that virtually no clubs are interested in racing on public holidays these days, certainly no major clubs. Wgtn Anniversary day and now Auckland anniversary day with no galloping meetings. Sad really. Labour weekend the same from memory. Sad that only minor clubs are interested. Riverton and Tauherenikau mostly. I can remember when Wgtn, Auck and Riccarton were all keen on public holidays. Now none can be bothered. Is it the clubs that have given up because of wage costs or has the TAB told them not to bother, or is it a NZTR policy? They really do appear to have no interest in on course attendance these days, which seems very short sighted, but who am I to know, incredibly well paid people have obviously figured all this out.

It looks to me like the Japanese pay out four places if there are more than 15 starters. There is no logical reason to halve the place divs for the dead-heaters in that circumstance so I suspect they were just the two hot favourites

I always used to pay to get in. Somehow makes it seem more important if you have to pay to see it. Admittedly these days I would feel ripped off if I paid to get into most meetings. I would never pay $50 to get into Trentham. I have been to Cup Day twice in recent years and it was incredibly boring with no atmosphere, despite hoards of youngsters.

I thought I was celebrating a job well done by Blenheim. For a small town to get a bigger crowd than a big city is surely a good effort. And I like to see decent sponsors for a each race, always a sign the club is trying hard. Incidentally, on Cup Day at Addington two races are worth $35,000 and eight others are worth $20,000 and $25,000 so perhaps any one of those races might not have more sponsorship than 11 races at Blenheim.

Do you think they got more people on-course than an equivalent Sunday at Addington might have? Interesting that they managed to get genuine sponsors for every race over the two days, more than Addington could have been bothered doing. A couple of $20,000 races on the second day as well.

I think they actually programmed a 2,400m for a particular rating type but there was no interest, so they ended up running about 5 identical races, distance wise, for all the horses who nominated for a really broad banded race. I really don't think the harness rating system works that well and the general public must have no idea. I have seen several instances recently where a horse with 5 or 6 wins and about $50,000 is rated much higher than a horse with 12 wins and $120,000 odd. And maidens can be rated higher than a horse with a couple of wins. Weird system. The gallops one does seem to work better.

I think it's fair to say the best horse won easily. Hard to make excuses for anything else.

I don't know why they insist on running all those 1,850m races. If you can't get handy you don't have much show. Surely a 2,400m start would allow for some mid race moves?

And ironically the 1 or 2 who made the big decision will probably be gone in a couple of years anyhow. When is the big shift scheduled for and do they have a site planned in Cambridge? The idea behind Wgtn always used to be that people could easily fly in from anywhere in the country for meetings etc. I suppose hiding in Cambridge that stops any of the unruly types from the South flying in to abuse them for cock ups. I doubt that Reefton even knows where Cambridge is, and they will never again have to deal with Southlanders.