the galah

love your passion for the sport.

theres the 2 slot races at cambridge. One worth a million. i've given my thoughts previously on where the marketing spending should be directed.Its a complicated multi layered topic. i haven't even discussed the trot race not getting enough support to come up with enough runners to be run. Hrnz have done a u turn as far as that goes. They have done that to save face,had they stuck to what they said they were going to do they would have canned the race.

i said people " currently" have more interest int he non win trot than the slot race.come cambridge racenight,people will watch the slot races. But no one on any racecourse tomorrow will be discussing who's going to win the slot races. and when you say don't run features anymore,thats jjust deflecting again by saying we have said something that we haven't. the debate from our perspective is always about the sustainabilty iof the current spending and the impact it will have on the whole of the industry going forward. We never seem to be discussing the same thing even though we're always having these debates.

thats like saying having a million $ nz cup is more worthy of promoting than a half million $ nz cup. or a million $ slot race is more worthy of marketing than a half million $ slot race. thats the exact type of thinking that comes out of HRNZ. In fact i once had a bloke tell me how he had spoken to mr steele and mr steele said exactly that. If mr steele is right and all those high end races and marketing of high end races is the way to go,then where's the indicators its working.There aren't any because it doesn't work. This isn't the australian galloping industry,this is the nz harness industry we are discussing.

I don't get what that has to do with all the threads that are on this site regarding whether hrnz should be investing so heavily on a slot race. also.are you serious when you say you think a 7 horse ,one off slot trot race dominated by a $1.30 favorite is somehow going to capture the publics or the betting publics imagination.Maybe you do think that.Personally i think your dreaming if you do.

thats like saying if you think your wife should not be spending $500 on a dress because you can't afford to spend that much,your saying the argument is about the quality of the dress,not whether she can afford the dress.

again,your not willing to debate whether the stakelevels for all harness racing will be sustainable in the future. So you go to saying we're all anti this and anti that. Your deliberately deflecting . You do that to avoid debating the merits of whether hrnz is operating in a way that will see sustainable stake levels going forward. You know thats what we are always saying,but you never address it and instead label our posts as anti racing,anti high achievers,anti auckland,anti hrnz,etc.

your confusing debate over where hrnz spend all their money with interest in a slot race. so its not accurate what you say. if you read this site,you would see no one ever shows any interest in the slot races except gammalite. this site is made up of perople who's interest in harness racing is gambling and grass roots racing. i'm sure if you asked the average person who follows harness racing,you would realsie they currently have more interest in the non win trot race at reeftion tomorrow than any slot race.

you've made the same comments previously gamma. i've pointed out before that you don't seem to understand where the money is coming from. for example,if i ibought your car and gave you $10000,then you went and spent the $10,000,your not going to get any more money from me,nor are you going to let me say what you should have spent the $10,000 on. in other words its your responsibilty for spending the $10,000 wisely. If you don't it won't effect me one bit.Nor will anyone feel sorry for you, if you've spend it all at once and have nothing left when its time to pay your bills next year.You can only sell your car once.

so the headline currently on the hrnz website is confidence returns,largest breeding increase in 16 years. hey,i'm not saying its not a good thing numbers are slightly up,but what is obvious is HRNZ are overplaying how significant the progress is. They could have run a headline that said breeding numbers 2nd lowest in history and that would have been just as true. Peden and steele talk about stabalisation of breeding numbers being so important and i get that,but its also very obvious that there had to be a point where numbers hit rock bottom. But anyone who thinks the numbers are good,as indicated by the headline,must be kidding themselves. all that story on hrnz is,is positive spin. i'm not saying i don't get why they have run that story,its just they have again way oversold it. lets remember HRNZ are throwing money around like theres no tomorrow and that includes substanial money being used to incentivise breeding. personally i just don't get why they can't see big holes in how they are dealing with the industry,including breeding incentives. Hrnz should be focusing on creating an environment where breeders have the confidence to continue breeding without the need for hrnz subsidising. And what happens if and when they can no longer keep stake levels at their current level because they have spent all the money trying to give an impression things are better than they really are. And i note they said the sires $5000 or under was the main reason the breeding number rose. Up by 231 on the previous year. But of course that also meant the sires over $5000 were down by 132. now that harness 5000 does seem to have worked for hrnz. I have no idea why anyone with much sense would breed to a harness 5000 on the basis of that it will be eligible for a one off race once a year worth $60,000. But people seem to think like that. My guess is yes there may be that one race they could aim to start in 4 years time but while they realistically have a very small chance of starting in may still be the same,every other race they are running in throughout the year could and probably will be less than what the current stakes are because hrnz is overspending to create that false impression. . As i said one other time,seeing more breed because of the harness 5000 is like watching the people silly enough to breed to nz stallions because hrnz said they would be running for bonuses in years to come,which of course they cancelled beofre anyone got that chance who had bred. But hey,hrnz seem to have sold people on that,so that was a win for hrnz.

and you can guarantee the race will be a total bore as well. The $1.30 favorite will lead,go slow,no one will attack, probably the likes of gus will move around and sit parked but apply no pressure,then it will sprint home a 54 last half and the commentator and media will rave on and on about what a great performance and how wonderful it was.

i think you've answered your own question there brodie. I'm not sure how they went tonight as wasn't watching it much. I did hear a white comment after the last race that it had been a great night,but that his tips not so.He normally says that after each thursday night at cambridge.

i've tuned in to watch 3 races tonight at cambrdige. race 3,the favorite broke about 40m before the start and hindered the 2 horses who started behind it,but no false start and not even an inquiry to late scaratch the two checked.Thats north island oversight for you.Nothing knew about that. then i watched race 5.Son of patrick started a $2.10 favorite and just sat last on a ridiculously slow pace and given its very one paced and a grinding type,,it apeared it wasn't trying. Dion't know whether it was,but it certainly didn't look like it... Then the 3rd race i watched ,race 6. A white tells the boys on out the gate that they should be putting half their pool on leo lincoln to win.White thought it was a certainty. the out the gate crew showed restraint and didn't blow half their pool,just $1500 on it win. How A white could ever tip anything n delany drives is a mystery.Yet he said it was a good thing.As i've pointed out before,you always put a line through anything n delany drives.Delany does have an unccanny ability,but its to stop anything he drives. And well beaten it was.i'm jiust telling it as it is.

i think how each racing code have spent the entain money will decide whether its a dead cat bounce. as to the spreads the clubs put on back in the say. i remember my parents racing a horse or two back in the early 1970's. they would always get a couple of tickets each and then take a friend with them to a room where free afternoon tea was provided for owners.From memory they were allocated 2 or 3 cakes as well as a cup of tea. They still owned one that was in training or racing during the late 80's and 90's,i'm pretty sure the owners got no free afternoon tea by then,but i do recall my parents often commenting on how the local clubs would put on free drinks and food for friends of club members,who only went for the free food and booze and never showed any interest in anything racing. I remember one particular fella who was never a club member and had no interest at all in racing, but would always roll out drunk near the end of the local raceday. funny thing is,my wife and i raced harness horses for many years and the the only club to ever provide an afternoon tea type thing was forbury. Never once did we get an invite from any club,apart from the forbury club for food..if we won our local club would always invite us in for a drink and addington and forbury as well,but no one else did and we have won a race or two at most of the south island tracks.

i have to admit i thought they were still paying that prior to reading this topic. i hadn't realised just how well the nz racing industry is treated . i can see why some not involved in racing would ask,why does the racing industry get such special treatment. it does make you wonder,it appears racing couldn't be getting any better treatment than they already are by government legislation,so if things get worse,it seems nz governments have already dealt all the good cards to the nz racing industry,so what would they have left to help.