Huey

Why would they bother, when the experience is the same homogenous garbage they are getting at those venues all year at any rate. What BS,NZTR and their consorts failed to realise was it was a completely different experience at those country venues and thats why people went, not to just support some club name on a racebook. Part of the reason the industry has headed backwards at an accelerating rate in terms of race days. This is what they get - A bunch of boozed up kids who get the same experience they get when they go to a music festival as they do at a race day, 99% of them couldn't tell you the name of a single horse that raced , so there is no followup or flow on benefits for the sport of racing , just some booze sales.

There was some propaganda put out by NZTR (more to justify BS Venue Plan)a couple of years back about how well it had worked out for Fielding or Marton JC I think. The short answer is that it hasn't worked, but that wont stop them from continuing on down that track , despite the total lack of benefits to the industry particularly medium to long term in doing so.

Part of that is probably because the "mouths" in the industry would call for more of the same and possibly even an increase in stakes at the top at the behest of the bottom, I've no doubt about that. Always been part of the problem imo

Couple that with the fact that lot of the smaller trainers are also the owners of the product who remain in the sport through participation in the smaller days and are the ones making the fields 5/6/7 or more (goodness knows where the industry would be without them) , having fewer race days would likely result in this much needed participation leaving the industry. If there is to be a reduction in stakes it has to come from the top, is this likely to happen with the present lot in charge...probably no. The part I find most interesting of all of this is, they have been told over and over again what would happen and still they have pursued their pointless strategy.

Agree , the homogenisation of the sport has made the experience boring , couple that with the party factor that seems to be wearing thin and we have a big problem .

I think their reaction is more in line with how poorly the sport is travelling currently, not maintaining stakes may spook too many owners breeders etc. who are already on the edge of their seats. Agree though its a bizarre strategy.

Well those Green Shoots sure dissapeared quickly... poor soil? ... Too dry?...

Stunned mullets ...Oh and while we are at it, don't forget to go and buy a horse at Karaka !

Can't say I'm surprised , its beeen an absolute cluster F##k from start to finish the Awapuni AWT, an incredible amount of $$'s wasted on all of them imo. Many of us pointed out to begin with.

It's not true unless you hear it from Fairy Flash !

Get BS back to explain his venue plan - I don't think they understand how it works!

C'mon Curious, the solution is right in front of everyones noses but the fools captaining the titanic refuse to budge on it . Open & utilise the tracks/venues that the hopeless "good bloke" BS closed in his reign of incompetence! Centralisation doesn't/hasn't worked in a place like NZ. Has the new CEO got the gonads to actually send the industry in a different direction? How many times does an industry need to bang its head on the wall to know hat its currently doing isn't the answer.

That of course has everything to do with a lack of options , manipulation of the programme and little if anything to do with an enhanced level of enthusiasm for racing on them.

The programming should never be an issue, it should be easily and efficiently remedied but it's the apathy, ignorance and just plain stubbornness of our leadership that will more than likely see that area as a continued issue. However the AWT as a racing surface is always going to be an issue, you only have to look at the diminishing levels of enthusiasm for racing & trails on them. The real issue is they weren't what was needed in the first place, something was needed but it wasn't them.

They'll get enough runners for races, perhaps something like you describe In CD vicinity for numbers. It of course doesn’t really matter what they get as it's xmas at the races with the emphasize on xmas , so long as the booze is flowing & a few races can go on in the background it'll be described as a success. Im of the view the problem is the trainers who support it take a short term view & in fact hasten their demise by doing so. No good will come of supporting these AWT surfaces , they are a ticking time bomb for the industry.

Hardly their fault Chief!

What a divvy! Super well done!

Exactly right, the venue plan was an absolute farce . Put together by a bunch of idealistic yet ill informed persons & was never going to work . Elements of the M report also need ignoring , racing needs to head back to its roots with regards to the tracks or it simply won't survive.

So the Chief was right all along?

This isn't an isolated case , its happened on numerous occassions now, so to suggest NZTR haven't had a role to play in this issue(abandonements) in the industry , borders on the absurd. Not only that , but their inaction and blinded viewpoint of how the industry should operate has more than contributed to this utter mess.

According to the Ellerslie CEO , NZTR can't be held responsible for the track fiascos. Is he that delusional that he can't see it is the many iniatives,policies and planning(lack of) from the likes of NZTR that have led the industry to where it is today?

Ken Kelso on Weigh In describing the AWT as "White Elephants" ... surely not!

But isn't that partly down to the poor mangement and utilisation of the tracks? Many of the venues have been over used due to extremely poor decision making at an industry management level, the venue plan springs to mind. Implemented by a fool who has since departed our fair shores , this was a plan that like most of the strategic initiatives at NZTR look great on paper but unfortunately don't play out that way in reality. What other industry would hold itself to ransom (i.e. refuse to use very good and capable venues and let them rot in the hope they can eventually be sold off) to the detriment of its own future?

That's always been the case, only thing is they keep lifting the bar of incompetence to new rarified levels.

If you say so!