Doomed

I think its just so they can say they consulted. They have no intention of doing anything and no idea what to do anyhow. Sadly, they are too thick to see this isn't even really about the GN, it is indicative of everything that is wrong with SI racing from a leadership perspective. The worst part of the whole thing is that SI racing could be really thriving, it has lots of actual advantages. Its biggest disadvantage is appalling leadership. NZTR think they have done really well scaring off the Tylers, Taplins and Dennis Brothers. If they could just close down Timaru they would all qualify for their Xmas bonus. They must be so pissed off by all the winners coming out of Timaru these days.

It looks like it is very targeted, seems largely interested in the views of a small number of owners and trainers.

It's a pretty half arsed survey anyhow to be honest. There won't be any useful information to come out of it.

Did he have one something like Pinstripe, seems to ring a bell. Mutual Belle was a good mare, quite a while ago now.

Good day for NZers in Oz. Callsign Mav finally cracks his Aussie group one. The Taplins get a winner on the Gold Coast and I see Brent Gray scored there as well. Didn't he come from Reefton?

To give them some credit NZTR does contribute to tote wages on a public holiday, but it doesn't seem to encourage many clubs to give it a go on those days, which is sad really. A lot of public holiday meetings have disappeared over the years. "Where a Club races on either a public holiday or observed public holiday NZTR will pay 33% of the amount paid to tote staff hired for the day up to a maximum of $5,500."

It will come right, the govt is going to give the crims wrap around support, which is sweet of them.

You should have told that to the VRC before they build all those new stands just for their Cup Week.

Yes, the grand tour. And as you say it doesn't seem to be anything at all. Hope it didn't cost too much. Really hard to know how to promote racing these days. 30 odd years ago Cup Week needed no promotion at all. The same punters from all around the country kept coming back year after year. These days virtually none of them bother as the place is full of non racing types there for the piss up. Back in the 80s you hardly saw any non racing types at Cup Week at Riccarton and yet they were still able to fill the place and all that big grandstand.

I suspect you are not the target market Peanut. None of us on here really. What's this new thing called to promote the favoured doz or so big meetings? I presume it starts this weekend at HB, be interesting to see how many extras it attracts. I was at this meeting a few years ago and there weren't many there for a big day.

Yes, there are a lot of "learnings" to be had from this first season of AWT racing. Many things have become very obvious. We are probably getting close to the time when NZTR will make an announcement about how they think it has gone, where they think they may have got it wrong, and what changes they are proposing going forward. It will be interesting to see if their assessment matches what many on here think.

I think Levin "left home" even longer than 20 years ago. I do recall attending some Levin meetings in the 80s but seem to recall they may already have been at Otaki in the 90s. They used to race about this time of the year and the track was often in pretty good condition.

They were mostly $30,000 races, so the only opportunity the AWT horses have to race for decent stakes all season. I do have a few thoughts to share on the AWTs soon. Been busy attending Beervana and now in the recovery phase. Not sure how I would describe the phase Racing is in at the moment: certainly not the recovery phase.

Winston has dished out money to racing each time he has been in power: the first lot was totally wasted, the most recent lot has given us the AWTs, but it is arguable whether Racing has actually benefited from all his largesse.

Just to add some balace to this thread, I do believe we currently have the worst Govt we have ever had, but sadly, we also have the worst opposition we have ever had. Not much light at the end of that tunnel. The quality of people wanting to be politicians has probably never been poorer.

Sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for. God knows what he might try to do if he takes an interest. The industry has suffered enough with people who don't know what they're doing getting involved. At least the jockeys ranks currently meet the gender quota.

I wonder if he might get fined for not riding it out hard to the finish. He may well have run a place.

I am totally out of touch with such things, but I was just wondering how the change of seasonal timing has gone in Harness racing. I think it has been going for a couple of years now. I presume it is largely age group racing that it affects. Do people think that 2yo and 3yo racing is much better now that the season starts on January 1? Are fields bigger and better?

I'm usually a big fan of tradition and I don't like it when galloping clubs dump time honoured races, but I have just looked at tonight's Addington fields and I see its National handicap night. There used to be so much excitement in August as the open class pacers resumed in the National and then the Louisson handicaps. Now its a $15,000 low grade race. It would almost be better just to retire the name rather than see it denigrated like that. Its almost as bad as what Trentham has done to some of their great races like the Chalmers and the NI Challenge Stakes.

Very true. I'm sure there are people out there who think "well, lets see you do better running the industry". Which is a pretty ignorant argument if people really do think that. Sadly, strings of third tier administrators over the last 30 years have virtually destroyed a racing industry that was ticking away quite well and was reacting to changes in an appropriate and considered fashion. People seem to forget that at least a dozen tracks that I can think of off the top of my head were closed down over 15 years or so around the 1980s, and a similiar number of new grandstands were built, even totally new racecourses. It's not as if rationalisation is some new phenomenon that a recent bright spark has just thought of. There were very few incompetent administrators back in those times, and very few who came from totally outside the industry or had absolutely no interest in the industry. It was good to see Allan Fenwick interviewed on TV last weekend after his horse won at Riccarton. Wellington locals might be able to tell us how often they spot John Allen at Trentham these days. They might even be able to tell us how often they spotted him there during his time running the show. He probably wasn't required to work Saturdays.

I see there is light at the end of the tunnel for the warriors and stacey should be next coach of the Kiwis according to George. Now that he has almost succeeded in turning the Warriors around we can probably expect him to start turning his attention to the Racing industry and start turning it around as well.

Another interesting piece from Brian. http://www.theoptimist.co.nz/

Yes Hunter was on a jumper at Ashburton. Incredible that someone like Ellis had never heard of all those southerners. I think his wife comes from Timaru, surely she would know.

Interestingly the price kept blowing out. About $7 before it came out into the birdcage, then $10 at the close. I think Pam not dressed in her finest did put people off. Probably a very cunning plan to shake peoples confidence. A very brave win, fought tenaciously.

Obviously Ellis doesn't count SI racing if that is what he thinks. There have been several SI jockeys killed in relatively recent times sadly. A bit poor he doesn't remember any of them.