Huey

Exactly. AWTs are the new website of NZ racing!

Good for you I can cope with the grass but not the dirt.

Well thats exactly what is going to happen, within 3 years they will have moved the majority of racing onto these tracks, just wait and see thats the plan. I can't work out apart from better for training why a guy like Pitman would think these are good for racing in NZ, give us an explanation if you can? I can see them lined up 10 deep to watch AWT racing at Riccarton and punters falling over each other to get a bet on the thoroughbred equivalent of Harness racing. It's sanitised,mass produced,dumbed down racing that will do nothing for the sport in NZ apart from send it further into oblivion. I challenge anyone to sit and watch the US garbage on trackside for a couple of days in a row and report back.

How are they proposing to train racehorse there with all that going on?

They are there so they can say they communicated/collaborated with the industry, enough people in the industry have found out what a total waste of time they are and don't bother going now at any rate.

You can't expect them to make a plan for the future Freda, I would suspect they will expect you to work your horses around the local cricket ground and up and down country roads while they put this amazing facility in.

I'm not one bit surprised. He has not done a single positive thing for the sport since arriving from Aus. The sport is descending into a shambles under his leadership, the incompetency is being hidden by COVID and the chaos at the TAB. You cannot get a single answer out of them that makes any sense, because none of them have a clue what they are doing as they are not racing people! Surely someone like Pitman who is all for these AWTs wants to know that they will be sustainable into the future and won't negatively impact on his business model by asking NZTR these questions? Sorry I still can't see these working in NZ ,they will be forced usage and most punters will go off them once the novelty factor is over, they are dead boring!

Nothing guarantees a winner , but certain sires have a better chance of leaving them than others.

So what youre saying is everyone sending a mare to Savabeel ,Per Incanto or Darci Brahma are mugs and they should be sending them to $500 stallions?

You said you get the same from a 3k purchase as you do a 300k purchase, that's clearly not the case. If it was they'd all cost the same, there arent many shortcuts in this game but one of them is spending a lot if money on horses, statistically you're bound to get a few very horses particularly if you're buying up the stock of top sires.

If its a level playing field no matter what you pay then why do they pay so much for their horses?

And then you can speak to another trainer who hates them, getting consensus amongst trainers is like trying to get agreement between political parties. The point for me here is the very good point made by Freda, how will these tracks increase betting revenue? A few mishaps on these tracks early on and trainers possibly even you will avoid them like the plague.

I like you absolutely love Trentham favourite track in the country, but I agree an actual study based on fact and no bias is required to keep the industry going, some hard truths would need to be swallowed but its unlikely to happen with the current leadership. The current leadership are " pig and a poke" types and that unfortunately isn't something the industry can afford to continue with.

And therein lies the problem , a large part of the industry doesn't understand its irrelevance in the grand scheme of things. I'm a firm believer the industry could be saved if it accepted its position and rebuilt from there , but it won't happen as many have said on here too much self interest for that to happen, you only have to look at this AWT situation to realise that. Really if they were that good Aus. would run 90% of their meetings on them and its a lot of money to spend just to buy Pitman a training track.

I see your point, but I'm not sure it would matter much doping horses through the NZ winter given the surfaces we have to run on. But certainly those bigger spring/summer days who knows what goes on.

Unfortunately its a disease that can't be beat when it comes to NZ racing, imo its the disease that will end it all. Industry participants need to see the bigger picture with everyones participation in mind, that's never going to be the case when the governing body have such an insular bias view.

Where have I heard all this bluster before and more than a few times?? The novelty factor will wear out within 2 years, the genuis running nz racing think it will save the sport, lawn bowls will be more interesting to watch than synthetic racing.

Not only that it's a complete misunderstanding of your customer base, a complete disregard for the industry. Surely there were other areas for cost savings before this crazy decision?

You just can't keep a good man/princess down !

Exactly it doesn't worry the likes of Uneasy because he has a big enough team to be advantaged by the system somewhere in the handicap. Whats happens when you have something wins a couple of races then boom its in the Open races , how do you place it? Can't be that hard to just run R72+R82 together, before the Covis meltdown the fields were that way inspired any way.

Ya wouldn't be barefoot in them this time of year though would ya?

I agree with the complete rebuild , it also needs new leadership at the helm of NZTR they are going nowhere and have been for sometime.

No but then you're just getting the rating bands in effect. I think the 72&82 grades should probably be combined and some thought given to better programming for the Open races. I think the ability of higher rated horses may become more prevalent as the tracks improve. Maybe a think tank amongst trainers as to how this can be achieved. 6 to 8 horse fields don't seem to be a problem in Australia & if realistic stake levels are set I don't see why they should be a problem here.

Here is the thing these guys don't get. Most trainers want to place their horses themselves and take them through the grades. They also seem to have little understanding of the wastage these races cause or will cause if persisted with over a prolonged period of time. The betting on them is obviously better than maidens because form generates the turnover, that would be no different than if the were R72 races with decent sized fields or not.

Yep , seriously impressive!