Doomed

There are only actually 14 noms from jumpers, two double acceptors. It will be interesting to discover how much work has gone on over the last few months from NZTR and the CJC to ensure there would be sufficient jumpers coming. I'm surprised they weren't a little more flexible in their programming, perhaps open entry races might have been an idea. No, on second thoughts, I'm not really surprised.

I notice noms aren't good for the Jumpers and also the open sprinters and 3yos. You would hardly expect too many late noms for the jumpers. By contrast Ruakaka has some potentially interesting fields. A pretty good line up of sprinters. A new precedent being set with the 65 stayers. They are planning to just split the field. No mention of the second race being run for a lesser stake.

How race fit are the southerners going to be for this sort of track? Even the CD horses with all their abandonments might get a shock. And with no rain forecast the track could be quite puggy, it doesn't dry out. Margins back to last might be interesting.

Before they had all the enthusiasm and innovation knocked out of them.

I still struggle with the concept that most of the SI's problems will be resolved when they get rid of Timaru. On that basis we should already be seeing significant progress with Motukarara, Waikouaiti, Marlborough, Hokitika, Winton, Wyndham all gone in recent years, but I haven't really noticed it so far. And surely they can't race all of the extinguished clubs meetings on the AWT? The SI will still need some grass track meetings in the summer, and even winter, months. It is hard to see how this Riccarton grass track can provide the quality and consistency required.

I can just picture Mills heading out towards the old public stand with a box of dynamite, muttering to himself "I'll show the bastards I can do something constructive (destructive)".

As I said earlier I really did think they would have been talking to Myers, Nelson & McDougal and others weeks and months ago to see what horses they were aiming at this week. I thought they would have been able to list about 90% of the expected noms a couple of weeks ago. To leave it until the day before noms to ask what's about is simply staggering. And where has NZTR been in all this?

Mills didn't achieve the Couplands mile. When Winston first dished out money many years ago and made the 2,000 Guineas $1m they were told they had to move it from the Wednesday to the first Saturday, for some reason. To replace it they moved the Churchill Stakes from the last day and boosted the stake. The CJC hasn't added a single new race for the last 30 years other than races like the Canterbury Belle, Timaru Stakes and a fillies and mares race they inherited from innovative clubs who fell on hard times, geez even the Marlborough Cup, North Canty Cup and that Nth Canty 3yo race with the regularly changing name. All they have done is drop time honoured races like the Sth Is Challenge Stakes, that 2yo fillies race, all the jumps races outside National week, and soon to be all the jumps races during National week, as surely this will be the last National Week. The last new race I can recall at Riccarton was the Galaxy Stks, probably during the late 70s early 80s, and I don't know if that was their idea as I think Wingatui had one as well. Compare Riccarton with the number of new races added in Sydney over the last 5 years alone.

Do you have any idea how depressing that question is? You are about 30 years too late.

I wonder where Tim heard all the rumours? There has been no mention of it being moved on here and this place would be one of the first to hear if there were such rumours.

Surely there should have been another sentence at the end of that statement. "If it was necessary to transfer the meeting it would be moved to a nearby course with a grass track, as visiting trainers would be anticipating a meeting on a wet grass track".

They surely can't pull the pin on the Nationals? They are worth $100,000 last time I looked. Some trainers will have been targeting them all season.

I have just seen the notice you are referring to. I am staggered. It is probably no secret I think the CJC are incompetent and arrogant, and NZTR....well, probably much the same, but I really did think both bodies would have been sitting back smugly for weeks thinking "everyone thinks we have cocked up, but we know almost exactly how many jumpers are targetting Riccarton".

Surely that cannot be correct? Surely they have been talking to jumps trainers for months to ascertain their intentions? They have tried to remove any alternative opportunities in the NI. I find it hard to believe that as incompetent as these people are, that they didn't have idea what the jumps fields would look like several weeks ago.

Don't be silly. The 2,000 Guineas is worth $550,000 this year, who knows what the Derby will be worth? We are on the verge of a golden age.

It would be interesting to hear what RACE would do with their $30m windfall if that did come to pass. It could fund a couple of AWTs. The Auckland trots and RACE itself have shown how easy it is to piss away a lot of money very quickly. You can just imagine what will happen when they try to redevelop Trentham.

Dillon Dale was my great hope from the north. I had him at great odds when it took a freakish performance from Inky Lord to beat him. I have a feeling he may have been placed a couple of times.

He is hosting this site, which at least gives people some opportunity to express their dissatisfaction. Without it I suspect NZTR would probably think the industry is 100% in favour of NZTR's actions.

To look at it from a positive angle there are horses these days who are competive in NZ Group 1s, and winning lots of money, and getting black type for the family, who would never have been competive 20 or 30 years ago, and who probably would be listed level at best in Aussie. So some people are doing quite well out of it.

It never had a position of strength in the NI.

I'm struggling to think of any other industry/sport that has implouded so badly. Even rugby for all its problems begrudingly accepts it still needs a provincial presence.

I remember it well because I turned up expecting Hands Down to be fav and Roydon Scott was going to be my value bet. I was quite surprised to find it the other way around. I think Hands Down may have paid about $8 to win. The 80s certainly was the great decade for harness racing. It really has crashed a long way from that position of strength, esp in the SI.

I can't add anything to what Reefton and Freda have so eloquently stated. What staggers me is the way a bunch of "no-names" have been able to destroy a massive industry in a relatively short period of time, with barely a whimper of objection. When their approach fails miserably they will just disappear into the sunset without a care in the world. They don't appear to be the types to fall on their swords when everything goes wrong.

Yes, I was there that day. Probably the best ever Cup finish. I have a funny feeling Roydon Scott may have even been the fav that year, but I may be totally wrong.

Slight tangent here, but when you think about it how many 'champions" haven't managed to win the Cup, even when it was a handicap? Only really Delightful Lady and Sapling readily spring to mind.