Doomed

Yes, a great talent. My three fav SI jockeys over the years were Tito and Kevin Morton from all those years ago and CWJ for about the last 40 years.

I was there as well. The booing when the Irish took kicks at goal was pretty sad. The crowd around where I was were pretty good natured, lots of Irish about as well. And afterwards the crowd was pretty relaxed. The odds were crazy. People were deluded to think the ABs should be $1.27 favs. They obviously have no idea how to analyse form. At least the Blacks were so bad people couldn't blame the ref. The worst bit of the night was some half wit in a bright suit who did the so called pre match entertainment. What an embarrassment that was. At least people didn't have to watch that on TV.

Late 70s Diamond Pal won, paid about $98 dollars, longest priced winner ever I think. May have been ridden by Jim Collett. I did see all of Ronganui's wins, all very wet tracks, Magellan in contrast a very firm track, may have been a track record.This is all from memory so may not be totally correct.

They haven't shown a single bit of initative or leadership over the years. I don't know whether it is the secretary or committee at fault, but they have been very disappointing. They show no enthusiasm or imagination, no aim to try anything innovative. I'm not on the big money, but perhaps a bit of a list for the CJC might be something like a group race for 2yos in the SI, a 3yo group race further than 1,600m, geez just a 3yo race further than 1,600m, a decent 3yo race over 1,200m, a public grandstand at Riccarton, or just pull down the eyesore. I could name a dozen more, but what's the point.

I really wanted to "like" that twice, but one can't do that. I was there when Diamond Pal won the Winter Cup, and I'm sure those who were there that day remember it well. If you were to ask me now, and offer me big money, I wouldn't be able to name a single Winter Cup winner over the last ten years. It really has all gone so wrong. You do wonder where it went so wrong. You can't really say it was inevitable because racing in Australia is booming. Why are we so different?

They must listen to us. I see they have just added a maiden 1,200m to Oamaru. They do warn it won't be split though. That is despite 18 horses being split into two fields at Cambridge yesterday: different rules for the SI.

I think it's the arrogance that gets me. How hard would it be for someone to come on here and comment occasionally. It doesn't have to be the big boss, just someone with some basic knowledge would do. I'm sure there is a simple answer to many of our concerns. George fronts the media all the time trying to explain away the warriors lastest cock up, but he doesn't seem to think there is any need for NZTR to interact, other than the occasional PR piece.

I was wondering about that myself, surely some of the local trainers have input into programming. Do they not have any maidens in Canty? I wonder if they have figured out where rating 65 horses come from?

While on my pet subject of programming, does anyone find it strange that this week's Riccarton meeting doesn't have a single race restricted to maidens? Especially since the last SI meeting 8 days ago was a feature meeting with only one 1,400m maiden and the next meeting in the South 10 days after Riccarton is also a feature meeting, at Oamaru, with just the one 1,400m maiden programmed. It must be a hell of a job for a Canty trainer to set a logical programme for their horses. Compare that to the NI where they run endless maiden races.

That is the saddest aspect of all this. Especially in the SI, trainers are being forced to race on the AWTs. It is an incredibly cynical, and to my mind quite disgusting attitude. Just from a quick look at the programmes, between the Grand national meeting and Cup week there are two industry meetings on the grass in Canty. Timaru 7 Oct, and Ashburton 30 Oct. So Canty trainers basically have the option of a feature meeting or an AWT meeting. Is that their idea of tiered racing? Where do trainers go if they want to try their horse in easier company on a grass track before they raise their sights to a Feature meeting. It has reached the stage where a low key meeting on a grass track is considered something quite unusual.

Parts of that are no actually all that silly. In years gone by if the NI was having a very wet winter trainers could send their horses down to race at Timaru and Oamaru to race on decent tracks. The poor man's Sunshine Coast.

A bit ironic when you consider their main answer to all the industry's problem is to close lots of tracks.

What is the chute you refer to? I always think of the chute as the 1,200m start. Was there another one as well? Sadly most of the surrounds at Riccarton are now housing. At least that explains why the club is now able to boost all of their stakes for low key meetings: I assume that will happen soon as the money comes in for all of the housing.

I think I asked this before, but can't remember the answer. How close is the Awapuni AWT to being ready? Surely given the circumstances, and several months of winter to go, they could rush it open and fire in a few midweekers. Seems a waste of time opening it in the summer time.

It is very seldom that Trentham abandons in the winter time. Trainers know what to expect when they accept there.

Surely if that was the case it would have been clearly explained much earlier in the piece? I suppose at least it means they could probably manage 8 race meetings.

That is the point some of the extreme AWT advocates don't seem to get. Have AWTs by all means, if we can afford them, but as an extra option rather than replacing existing, perfectly suitable, grass track meetings and virtually forcing trainers to race on them.

The big advantage they have in Australia is the multiple layers of racing and the ability to place horses. It is something we have never mastered in NZ, despite our so called tiered racing. I am always amazed at the number of horses Annabel Neasham has going around in low key Sunday races in Queensland, and of course Waller had two in the Rockhampton Cup. Kevin Myers is happy to travel about with his horses and I always used to be impressed at the way Jamie Richards used to support Wairoa and Gisborne. Sadly, the opportunity for that sort of placement and providing something a bit different for owners and horses doesn't really exist much anymore.

I have a vague idea that Foxton's isolation came about because they didn't want to have anything to do with RACE. Is that correct? If it is correct you would think that everyone would agree they showed more intelligence than most.

I know nothing about the people involved, but from everything I read on here RACE seems to be a disaster and disfunctional. If Levin has been asked to join you can almost guess what their answer might be. The indications to date are that these ad hoc regional groupings as a way of supposedly efficiently running various race clubs don't seem to work. They often involve dominant clubs wanting to close down or take advantage in some fashion of the smaller clubs. Often as a means of disguising the poor performance of those dominant clubs. The Otago Southland example I think was reasonably successful. Does it still exist?

Come in Waverley. This is your time to shine, again. There are 4 jumps races at Trentham on Saturday and a midweeker at Woodville so no real need for a replacement meeting. You might say that the Awapuni AWT can't get going soon enough, but the bigger worry is that once it does get going all the regional tracks like Woodville, Waverly and Hawera will probably be closed down. This weekend has been a real indication in the NI that a lot of horses actually want the heavy tracks. Three NI meetings all on really heavy tracks and hardly any scratchings out of the fields. You do wonder where they will race in coming years.

It might be interesting if Te Rapa gets all the rain predicted for tomorrow. I know it does drain well, but I wonder if they are considering Cambridge as an option. One thing we do know is that the meeting won't be abandoned altogether, which I suppose is a bonus. Afterall, the big justification for the AWTs was to stop meetings like Te Rapa being abandoned. They transfer them all the time in Aussie, Ipswich just yesterday. Its a pity Awapuni isn't ready. We might have had the unique situation of two meetings transferred on the same day.

"If you think I've stuffed up with the Warriors, it's nothing compared with what I've done to NZ Racing. And the Warriors were awful to start with, Racing was a viable industry, a much bigger challenge." I'm sure I saw that quote somewhere in the article.

With the state of NSW racing these days you would think there would be more demand for horses that can plough through the mud than horses that are really good on AWTs.

Interesting to compare Ashburton to HB. 11 races at Ashburton with quality fields in the two open races: a rating 89 top weight in the 11 horse stayers race and a rating 101 top weight in the 13 horse open sprint. HB in comparison, the open sprint scrapped due to lack of interest and just 5 nominated for the open stayers, the best of them a rating 78. Only 5 in the 3yo as well. They will be lucky to manage 7 races. You do wonder whether more of these SI meetings deserve Saturday status. It would help turnovers on the SI meetings and provide a much better product for the betting public. Perhaps we are also seeing the consequences of all the racemeetings that have been stripped out of the South in recent years. It certainly looks as if the AWT meetings should have been additional meetings rather than replacing races at Timaru and Oamaru.