Doomed

To give them credit I do like the way they have split the fields. Makes more sense than heaps of ballots in each race. Gives jockeys and trainers more certainty. I suspect they do have one or two competent people at the actual practical level, it is just that they are poorly led and have to toe an incoherent party line.

I have often asked that question myself. No one has ever been able to explain what level of turnover is needed to make these races self funding and what level of turnover they actually do.

Last track standing Chief. And winter has only just started.

Original entries do get preference, but as you say if they had left entries open it might have attracted a few extra horses who would like to race in a third tier race for $15,000. Wait until something similar happens in the north, they always leave noms open to get the extra race. The big point though is all these horses desperate for a start when they could get an AWT start most weeks. I'm quite surprised NZTR didn't just say f..k off you could have raced on the AWT last week and there's heaps more coming up. NZTR will hate it if they have to run three races, no wonder they didn't leave noms open.

The Riccarton one appears to be a nice enough track - as you would expect for $15m. The problem is that is a "nice enough extra thing to have" for an industry that is booming with cash to burn. It probably wouldn't have been the obvious answer if someone had asked "what would be the best way to spend $15m for SI racing?". It probably wouldn't have even been the obvious answer if someone had asked "what would be the best way to spend $15 at Riccarton?"

It has always been risky being beholden to an A&P association. I think the Waikato trots had similar troubles at Claudelands many years ago.

All the evidence is that the AWTs have been a disaster, especially in the SI where they weren't needed in the first place. Wingatui managed to race on Sunday with a pretty reasonable track, only just heavy, soft in the old terminology. Oamaru last week on a firm track. They struggled to get six races on the AWT. And in the SI they have done everything in their power to force trainers to race on the AWT. It seems to be that horses racing during the winter months actually want the sting out of the track. Who would have thought that. The worst thing though has been the total lack of feedback and interaction from NZTR. They have never revealed turnovers and how they relate to budgets, they have never commented on whether the actual field sizes and numbers are pretty much what they expected. Overall their secret service approach has been very disappointing. They would probably fit in well in Putin's regime.

Yes, they may well run 3 races for that class with two consolations, which is quite interesting. Also interestingly they didn't leave noms open for that race. In the north they usually leave noms open if they are considering splitting a race.

I am intrigued at some of the travel jockeys do for potentially quite small returns. I notice Terry Mosely rode at Riccarton on Thursday, today at Ruakaka with two mounts and then down to Wingatui tomorrow for five mounts. The flight costs to Ruakaka must be horrendous and then off to Dunedin. We all know how much it costs to fly to Dunedin. He has had one miss today with a maiden race still to go. Even if he won both races today his percentages would hardly cover his flight costs. I know he has some connection with the owners of horses up North. Do they cover all of his flight costs? I don't know if jockeys get any special deals from Air NZ, but some of them must certainly clock up a few miles.

Don't worry Chief, the codes don't bother with promotion and marketing. You can tell that by looking at the stands on raceday. So that is one saving.

We have gone beyond expecting. I might seem harsh on NZTR at times, but every indication is that they are incompetent. The only other option is that they are totally in the pocket of certain factions and are eliminating about 70% of the industry to fund the remaining 30%. I don't really subscribe to conspiracy theories though, and you do have to be quite clever to pull off something like that. Every indication is that they aren't that clever, although having said that they are being allowed to do what ever they like because there is virtually no opposition. If NZTR was an incompetent city council (like Tauranga) or a DHB or school board the Govt would sack them and call in a commissioner to run the show, but because the industry as a whole has just laid back and waited to be shafted this is unlikely to happen.

I'm not a fan of the AWT for several reasons: it was funded by the PGF despite it being located in a major metropolitan centre, which I find quite disgusting; it cost at least $15m up front when it is basically a glorified training track; and the instigators of it primarily see it as a way to eliminate lots of provincial racetracks (quite bizzare when you consider it was funded by the PGF). Despite all that though I thought it provided pretty good racing from the few races I saw today. It will quite probably end up the best of the three AWTs. Whether the SI can afford basically the racing equivalent of ChCh's covered rugby stadium is the big question. I did note yet another South Canterbury winner today after a couple of winners from that region last Saturday, including the quinella in the open sprint. Bit ironic when the ChCh based administrators are trying to eliminate all racing in South Canty. Interestingly, that open sprint winner was a 3yo filly. Bit sad when they have to race that far out of their class to get a start. You wonder if any of those administrators spotted that and thought perhaps they should have run a 3yo sprint: somehow I doubt it. Far too revolutionary.

The country's top two jockeys were in the race and couldn't run in the first four in an eight horse field, so I find it a bit harsh criticising the Southern jocks. One of the northerners took the initiative in a slow run race, which would probably be considered the clever thing to do, and ended up running nowhere. The runner up zoomed home well, much like the CWJ winner later on the day who came from last to win. The race was won by probably the best currently active Southern jockey.

I think the Tylers are a massive asset for NZ racing, just like Myers in the NI. I wonder if they are appreciated as much as they should be by NZTR? I suspect not. I recall the previous CEO basically said they won't be missed. You do wonder if NZTR took any "learnings" at all from the fact that several significant trainers have voted with their feet and basically said " we don't have to put up with this shit." I'm sure it came as a bit of a surprise to them, but at the same time I suspect they are too stupid to realise it isn't a good thing for the industry.

He will learn that it is much harder to race a horse out of its class over there. Their racing is much better structured and horses tend to find their level. The art is to determine where a horse is well placed and a winning chance. What's the saying? Keep yourself in the best company and your horse in the worst. The secret to Aussie racing is that they cater for all classes of horse very effectively. I often think Winston would have done NZ racing a much bigger service if he had asked Messara to come over here and try to make our racing more exciting and relevant and better structured, rather than just asking him which 50% of our tracks should be eliminated without any desire to actually make our racing any better. If Messara had come out and said "your pattern is all wrong, your handicapping is all wrong, your stakes allocation is all wrong" and other insights like that he could well have gone down in history as a messiah of NZ racing rather than being considered a half wit. As it is, he got the 50% the wrong way around.

Surely trying to evict him from the stables and refusing to accept nominations for his horses are two separate things? And two quite major things. Sounds like there must be something behind it all. Now that everything has gone public surely the parties should reveal what this is all about.

Melody Belle, and even Avantage, tend to indicate there is still value in black type, even if it is weak black type.

No respect for tradition these days. The Parliamentary and NI Challenge Stakes recently were an embarrassment. Imagine if you had a photo on the wall of your horse winning those races 30 years ago. Visitors these days would think "what's the big deal?". Most of that Kiwifruit Cup field wouldn't have got a start 30 years ago and none would have been competitive. I remember very clearly the year Quasim beat Watch Officer. Lots of other good winners too. Ironically, many horses are doing quite well in the current enviroment. They are getting to race in quite weak fields for reasonable stakes. With only one or possibly two exceptions, none of that WFA field would be competitive in Aussie, even in a race of equivalent stake. Here they are racing for black type as well.

Interesting to note that while minimum stakes are going up a massive $2,000, to $14,000, open class stakes at industry days will stay at a princely $15,000. When you consider that the SI can often go three weeks with only industry days wouldn't you have thought they could have tossed a few grand into open class races at those meetings. The extra $50,000 being pissed away into the 2,000 Guineas could have boosted every open race on industry days in the SI by a couple of thousand for the whole season. It all seems like an incredibly cynical approach. Basically saying they can do whatever they like, and what they like is to pour all the money into group races and the "special" clubs.

Don't panic, the 3yo classics are all rocketing up in stakes. As soon as trainers realise that, the flow of horses to Aussie will stop. If only they could double the stakes for the two sweepstakes I doubt any horses will leave these shores again.

Riccarton may not have a paramedic, but it does have an AWT, which Flemington doesn't have.

I did realise it was open to all comers, but because they have such big gaps between races and because they don't run maiden 2yo races as lead ups these races tend to just attract maidens.

He did beat a couple of handy NI types in each of his wins.

I would never criticise any club that manages to get a sponsor for every race. Most city clubs should be embarrassed by Otaki's effort, so good on them.

It is certainly very unusual and appears to be very unfair on the SI. I can only assume that the rationale is that in the NI it is only second tier horses that race on the AWT and this is a special occasion for the battlers. Whereas in the SI there are virtually no opportunities away from the AWT so horses are forced to race on it anyhow and therefore there is no point providing any additional incentives.