Huey

That may well be the case but it is definitely NZTR who control the process around rubber stamping race days.

But raceday licences are issued by NZTR, no betting if no race day.

Bernie the good bloke... gone , whilst all his stupid iniatives take effect in nzracing!

Chief is it possible to add an abandonments odometer to the site , to keep track of them all. I'd say it will need to be 4 or 5 digits.

Not with this lot running the sport, they'll keep banging their heads on the wall till there is no one left racing!

So now Awapuni is coming into question again. Can these absolute incompetents at NZTR not see that every track in the country that can be raced on is needed to be put into action and made available, forget ya Grand Tours and junkets on the p@@s the industry needs to get through race days or its gone -so get off ya butts and start talking to the clubs before we have another utter farce happening again. While youre at it time to bin silly BS "Venue Plan" report and reinvigorate the industry, how much carnage needs to take place before they will change course? cause what youre currently doing isn't working!

Where is the elusive "Fairy Flash?" He will know.

Yes I saw that, the same breeder who is quick to send his horses across to Australia for better stakes.

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!