Huey

I would not be investing a dime in the Greyhounds, they are facing insurmountable challenges and association may not be a good thing.

Today we are introducing Punters Promise. This is our promise to you that every punter will get a fair crack to take us on and win big with TAB. We are now guaranteeing to sell all of our customers a bet to win at least $2,000 on all three domestic racing codes. We know there is nothing worse than finding a horse or dog you like at good odds, but then getting your bet limited when you try to get on. We also know that we need to ensure we are maximising the returns to New Zealand’s racing and sports communities, so it is a balancing act for us, but we are committed to operating a level playing field for all of our customers. Here’s what you need to know about Punters Promise: It’s available on all New Zealand racing and on all three codes It’s available as soon as a market opens, right through to the jump It’s available on the fixed odds win market as soon as the odds are available, and It guarantees customers a $2,000 win threshold across every race, calculated as a bet to win amount For example: a horse/dog at odds of $5, we will guarantee to sell each customer a $500 bet, to win $2000 ($500 x $5 = $2,500 potential return, less $500 stake = $2000 potential win amount) How does this compare to Australian betting operators and the Minimum Bet Limits (MBLs)? It’s much better! Australian betting operators are forced to comply with the terms and conditions of each state’s racing administrative body, so they’re not offering the MBLs by choice. This means that there are varying thresholds in place and different conditions which makes it very confusing, but we’ve simplified it: While $500 is the lowest threshold (provincial harness and greyhounds), we’ve decided to adopt the highest threshold ($2,000) in Australia (which exists for metropolitan thoroughbred racing) for Punters Promise, across all three codes. In Australia, most of these MBLs only apply on the day of the race meeting. We’re committed to letting our customers have a fair crack from the time that we release our odds, so Punters Promise will apply as soon as the market is available to bet on.

Don't worry plenty of reinforcements on the way ,that have heard about the resurrection of nzracing!

Perhaps, but do they want to bet on the product? For me its a no, for reasons I've already outlined. If a punter outlay is less or not profitable for the industry then what is the point of it all? You could say field size and opportunity or meetings not getting abandoned but I'm yet to see any evidence to support those claims. We already have many many unprofitable meetings in this industry do we not? I'm just trying to get my head around why these are better for the industry than racemeetings run on the turf? I mean they have to be better surely or why would the industry want to build them?

The gift that keeps on giving. The Chosen One - Freshened. Formerly with M Baker & A Forsman. Not likely. Coventina Bay - Went to line only fairly in the wet in weaker grade at Gold Coast last time out

I don't like the look of it , some horses look very uncomfortable on it to me, much of that is born out by the spread of horses in a finish. For me I find it a horrible watch , love to see some wagering and see if punters are enjoying though.

What you say makes good sense. But I can only see these surfaces ruining racing locally, for many reasons you have outlined and also because the governing body etc will do whatever they have to , to make these surfaces look succesful (that looks like it will include taking dates away from more established venues etc). If they don't work locally I can't see any exit plan out of them either. I find the racing boring and it has a somewhat cruel look about to me which isn't something I can entertain supporting. Of course I am only one person and their success or lack of it won't depend on my support ...still I'd love to see some wagering figures for the venues we should have some good data by now available and I'm not sure why thats kept from the industry.

Obviously a clash of personalities somewhere. Must be a heap of provincial tracks he can up sticks and go to ...

Imagine if these pretenders running the industry put this much effort into actually improving the state of the industry as they do pushing this level of total BS! These charges are nothing more than a farce, both this case and several others.

Holding SI trainers to ransom with regards to options seems to be working well with the AWT fields today , few scratchings and a 6 & 7 horse field.

A 5 horse field and 2 x 7 horse fields on the Cambridge AWT today. Someone remind me how this was supposed to fix all the industry ills again?

Never understood why this sort of thing isn't standard (I mean NZTR commit to a certain track surface , noms/acceptance times etc), its actually an example of something basic that could be achieved to make the industry work that little bit better, but its also an example of just how amateur the industry is .

Rider situation still less than ideal though, that is going to be jumpings biggest problem going forward, bad enough on the flat.

Maybe so with the rants, but Emily Bosson sure does her best to sidestep any controversy , it would be substantially better if there was some actual dialogue around the issues between the two of them , she looks like she is worried about losing her job and its just a really poor look imo.

I'd love to see it return to former glories but look at Saturday - Manawatu Steeple 6 noms, Hurdle 7 noms. These fools campaigning the sport have contributed to its demise and want everyone to believe its as wonderful as it once was .... huh!

The M report totally split the industry and the only good thing it really did was flesh out those with extreme levels of self interest into the open for all to see. Many of these with extreme levels of self interest will find out the hard way that the views contained in that report were never about bettering the local industry. I can't think of a single thing in that report that has worked out for the industry, the chopping up of the TAB has left service levels below what anyone ever dreamed of , the states of our tracks worse than ever and this report coupled with Saundry utterly pointless/useless venue plan has left the industry on the verge of complete and utter demise!

I agree the foal crop is another barometer of how the industry is performing, as Curious says horses can come from anywhere to boost up numbers in our industry , but realistically who is going to be importing horses into NZ to race for our stakes , apart from the obvious. It isn't going to happen. So for me the foal crop indicates whether owners,breeders have any real faith in our industry as its probably the most affordable means of getting a horse available to locals outside of the obvious.

What's most concerning about this article is that we have a guy whose leading the industry and his best idea for the recovery of the industry is to sell everyone up and put the proceeds on Term Deposit and have the industry live off that - seriously is this the best we can do? As we all know the money will get wasted by those running the industry into the ground, nothing surer!

This looks like a sad outcome for the horse, from what I've read many are unhappy with this happening to her.

Not only that, it's more likely the place a large proportion of staff and future industry participants will come from. But I liken our governing body to the types of people who think babies are delivered by storks , they have absolutely no idea what makes it all tick. But you cannot tell the likes of NZTR anything, there is a narrative in place and they will likely follow it come hell or high-water at the absolute expense of the industry.

Why are they racing in the winter at a track that doesn't have a fast lane on the outside like Wanganui did yesterday for the umptenth time!

The little hope the industry has left , would require the installation of staff within nztr who understand how the industry works and dare I say it have passion for its future. I strongly believe this will not happen and the industry will just continue on its merry way to no where.

One of the great delusions here is that our administrators and in some cases the golden boys still think nzracing is something the world wants, especially once they destroy it and set it up ala HK style. It won't work , the ones they are doing their best to get rid of are largely the only ones interested in it in the first place.

Lets be honest you could submit the same submission every year for the next 5 years (doubtful we have that long, but you get the drift) and it would have the same outcome i.e. doesn't get looked at ,ignored etc ... the direction they are going is already well established.

Youre probably not making some other venue look bad though.