Nowornever

I loved the coverage without the drone footage.

Black type means nothing these days. Every horse can run 1.58 at Ashburton and most of them better than 1:56. The stud book needs an overhaul as well.

Yes my confidence in them is at an all time low as well.

The odd race now and then but if all races turned into mile racing like the states I would give up. The reason I spend at harness racing is the variety of distances plus horses coming from different areas. If it turns into same old horses going round the same distances and 1.40 favourites the game is over for me.

From Harnesslink interview with Brad Steele https://harnesslink.com/new-zealand/lets-walk-the-talk/ When asked about racing over shorter distances and only from mobiles, Steele says he’s interested in testing the status quo on everything. “We always need to have an understanding of what impact it’ll have on wagering. I don’t know the numbers around wagering on stand starts versus mobile but what I do know, is I would love to see more mile racing. It’s not possible on every track but I think we do need to have less distance races which may encourage horses to have maybe three starts in a month rather than two. FFS these guys are on different planet to me with their ways to fix harness racing. Your thoughts Brodie?

I am with Brodie on this one and I think it is terrible.

Yet NZ are programming more boring races and putting the emphasis on big-ticket races at the expense of lower-grade ones. Weak funding for grassroots events will cause small-scale trainers and owners, who are crucial to the sport to die a slow death. I am in this basket as are many others I have talked to who are giving up on harness racing ownership in the face of rising inflation while stakes for low grade races are not increasing enough to support rising costs.

TAB I bet is full of arrogant managers who think they know best. Even though it makes complete sense to most, the idea someone else having a better idea than them makes them push back on it rather than act on it.

Yes I agree but logic does not enter the conversation when the TAB are involved.

I am waiting for the live behind the horses camera angle or from front on as they are nearing the finish line. Its about the only stupid thing they have left to try so it must be on their radar. Why is it so hard to stick to the tried and true camera angles that everyone is used too that has worked effectively for the last 30 years.

Never underestimate the juice

They are trying to create more turnover but Odds Surge max bet $100. Piss weak.

FFS yep exactly as I thought. This new guy is thinking of slot races as the savior of harness racing. Fuck it is so predictable it is makes me sick. Lets just follow the same old things day after day and forget about getting more foals on the ground, looking after the small guys in ownership and training. I am one of the bigger spenders in punting and like Brodie I couldn't give a fuck about slot races. Give us more grass track racing and more stakes for lower class races you clowns

Well its more than I can get on at the moment.

Brodie lets hope this policy gets some momentum for New Zealand as well. Entain get your act together and do the same or better for NZ Punters. From today, all approved off-course Australian wagering service providers will have a broader range of requirements when offering Victorian harness racing markets. Having previously been required to stand to lose $1000 on Victorian metropolitan meetings win bets and $500 on Victorian country meetings win bets, the policy has been beefed up to include further requirements for wagering service providers. They are: $2000 win and $800 place minimum bet limits for all Group 1 races $1000 win and $400 place minimum bet limits for metropolitan races $500 wins and $200 place minimum bet limits for non-metropolitan races Harness Racing Victoria Chief Commercial Officer Glenn Lee said HRV wanted to ensure punters were given “a fair go”.

You have to laugh at O'Connor, Cross and Whale when they try to analyze the way the race will be run and mention half the field and then it is run completely different and two of the horses they don't mention run in the first three. Better entertainment than the races.

Pity the tab form guide is a complete waste of time. I might have had a bet if I could spend the hours deciphering my way through the terrible layout.

FFS it does not take much to hoodwink the stipes. It was off three wide and working hard from the 1000 and parked for the last 900m today as well. 😂 IDEAL CHEVRON - when questioned regarding the improved performance connections advised the gelding had benefited from an economical run throughout after having to work hard when racing in the parked position at its previous start.

The more meetings the faster the horses go through the grades and get sold over seas. There will be a constant battle filling the fields to make the product inviting enough to bet. I used to bet quite a bit down south but recently it is just the same old horses running around in small fields which is a big turn off for me.

Probably this years New Zealand Cup winner.

Don't hold your breath.

Race 2 at Addington a prime example. They have no idea. A good pricer should be rated on how close their opening odds get to the closing odds.

The odds have flattened overall. Not sure if it the bookmakers setting the odds or if it is more computer generated now, but if it is humans still doing it they have no confidence in their own ability as the opening odds are being kept very flat and by that I mean the spread is now an average of 2.00 to 41 on opening as compared to 1.80 to 101 a few years ago. They are trying to keep the whole middle market safe with a lot of horses way under the odds on opening. Those races with larger even fields they really have no idea sometimes and you can tell how badly they price a market by the amount of movement in the odds in the middle market from open to close. If there are a lot of movers in the market then they have priced it horribly wrong and there was value somewhere.

I agree racing will suffer and sports will be propping them up. To make more profit you either increase turnover or cut expenses or ideally both. To cut expenses they will get rid of staff and get more automated but this will be detrimental to their service. They will be more active on restricting anyone that wins or even looks like they might be winning on fixed odds. To increase turnover they will hand out bonus bets like they are going out of fashion to newbies, losing punters and as incentives to join people up and start spending. They will probably start offering virtual racing or online casino type games at some stage. They keep promising exciting new bet types but have seen nothing yet to get me interested in spending more money. If they start offering first fives or first sixes then I might give them a go. Bringing back the pick six would also get me spending more.

Very easy to run the bookmaking side from Aussie. Once the market is open the computers handle the trading side adjustments. Even a monkey could set the opening odds if they don't let people on for much until the liquidity builds up in the market. Pools already decreasing since Entain came on and turnover must be well down.