Doomed

They probably wanted to be sure the cricket was well finished before they started.

I'm not sure that a big crowd will have much impact on Bernie. I think the Coast's best hope is if the Provincial Growth Fund suddenly discovers they have $15 million left unspent and they decide to spend it on an AWT for the Coast. And Cindy might organise some English DJs for the opening day.

Very true. You can't just go to a club committee meeting and say why don't we throw in 2yo and 3yo races. It needs an overall plan with wide buy in. Who can remember the last 2yo race in the SI? Yes, the Welcome stakes. I wonder how many Southerners will front for the Karaka races? I seem to recall a Tyler 3yo filly running 3rd in a 2,147m rating 65 at Riverton a few days ago. Naughty, naughty people those Tylers. Don't they realise it was supposed to race in the Gore, Otago and Southland Guineas. Stick to the pattern. These are the same naughty people who had the temerity to have a filly place in the Oaks a couple of years ago. They really don't know their place in the scheme of things.

CWJ certainly kept a few going today, he is great front running jockey, don't see it much these days.

Are you suggesting a slightly different crowd to a twilight at Ellerslie? I certainly didn't spot any high fiving and yahooing from connections after any of the wins. Very low key on the coast.

What a great race the Cup. It would be a great pity to lose races like that. Just imagine if it was held at Riccarton in front of a tiny crowd and with no Myers horses. I suspect Camino Rocoso is better ridden off the pace these days. I can recall him going a similar race at Riccarton last season.

NZTR should be asking these lower cost trainers how they do it, and why. There might be lessons there for the big players.

A Pitman benefit I would have thought, first good track anywhere in the country for a while. I do realise Myers is cleaning up.

Gee that Omoto track looks to be in great nick. I bet Riccarton and Trentham would love to have track turned out in that condition.

Traditionally Omakau would be racing about now, but the great minds decided that contributed nothing to racing. Record crowds at the Omakau trots yesterday, not the sort of thing we want to see at the gallops which is positioning itself as an off course only entertainment, except for the piss up on Karaka day. To give them credit they have successfully pulled off the down grading of the on course experience, now they just have to knock off the second part of the equation.

I thought the whole point of horse racing was the competitive aspect? The high performing professional trainers have access to the big owners and syndicates and the $500,000 horses while the smaller trainers have to rely on $2,000 gavel house horses, so they need a lower cost operating model. Increase the compliance costs for the smaller, up and coming trainers and they won't survive. The one thing that often impresses me about NZ racing is the young trainers you see interviewed after they have won a race and you hear they only have 3 or 4 horses and they have only been training for a year or two. I often think this person speaks well and sounds intelligent, and this is the future of racing in NZ.

Those things are all too hard, and you need racing knowledge, and not as much fun as adding another level of bureaucracy.

Can you just imagine an industry made up of only those trainers and connections who think NZTR is marvellous and doing a great job.

High-performing horse trainers will no longer have to compete against those who have a lower-cost operating model. They seriously haven't said that somewhere have they?

Obviously a simple soul who spends too much time following the wrong social media.

I watched the race myself and it didn't look good. You could see they were trying to barge through gaps and they were too far off the leaders to be able to get into the finish anyhow. I haven't watched the race again, but that was my initial impression, you could see it all about to happen. No mention in the stipes report of any culpability in the fall.

Incredible runs by that filly the last two weeks.

Good run from Light Up, fought well, and looked like a nice horse from the brief glimpse I caught of him. May get his rating up enough to get a start in a 65 one day. It's a bit sad when any horse below a 60 has to start in a 74 to get a run.

I suppose since NZTR didn't think it was worthwhile putting on a meeting anywhere in NZ today, the TAB thought they had better find something for people to bet on. Someone should tell the gallops that there are people on holiday and its not a bad time to get people to the races, although the theory seems to be to focus on off course turnover these days and get rid of the holiday venues that might attract a crowd. Just an embarrassment to see the despised tracks with bigger crowds that the metropolitan centres. Still, who are we to know, greater brains than any of us have worked out what is best for the industry.

Back to the original subject, I am pretty sure the sales move is just for one year because of covid.

One thing to note in this discussion, NZTR has effectively paid Waikouaiti $160,000 in additional stakes to move and the same with Banks Peninsula. I would love to see some figures that justify this additional expenditure on the basis of increased turnover and industry savings. I note that neither club contributes any of their own money to the stakes, unlike Riverton who seem to have added an extra $45,000 to their meeting this week. I'm not sure why Waikouaiti and Banks Pen got paid $160,000 to move, but Waimate didn't. Seems tough on Timaru as well when a couple of one day clubs get a $160,000 stakes boost to race elsewhere. I don't think Hokitika got offered a $160,000 incentive to race elsewhere. I would love to know the logic behind these decisions.

That was because everything was banned. Since we have been allowed to have race-meetings again none have been abandoned some have just had to be run with no crowds. Cambridge might have to build that into the conditions; a guarantee that the race will go ahead even if crowds aren't allowed.

Yes it will, just no crowds. No race-meeting has been called off just because they can't have a normal crowd. The club will lose money, but that is the risk they take.

I think you may have drifted into the wrong conversation here.

It was a NZ Group 2 Joe, about the equivalent of a $50,000 race at Pakenham. A couple of starters had won two races so that was about it. Game run by that horse though, covered a bit of ground.