the galah

This weeks stakes at methven for non win horses i think you could view in 2 different ways. It highlights Methven can often reward those that support them, if they put their minds to it. So well done to them this week. but also,isn't methvens varying stakes an example of double standards of how they treat the akaroa club and the kaikoura clubs? Then again,maybe no one,apart from those who won the non winners races in november actually care.I don't think punters care,hrnz obviously doesn't. Maybe its all just another symptom of an industry with double standards,which i often point out.

There was a story on the hrnz website discussing this years turnovers. it noted turnover was down from 2.53 million in 2023 to 2.265 this year. it quoted brad steele,head man at hrnz,who said they had modelling which said it can be a 3 million dollar turnover 2 day meeting. then he went on to say the numbers were ok,but they needed to attract more and that putting a camber on the bend was one way of doing so. So where did the modelled 3 million figure come from. Sounds like a john allen type prediction. In my opinion this is just more,pick a figure from the air,talk that you get from current leadership. And where is the evidence that putting a camber on the bend would help attract any more starters or generate any more turnover. Thats like saying,the nz cup being worth a million,instead of $631,000,will generate more turnover. Like,you can have the same field,but the stake is higher so punters will bet more.There are people at hrnz that think like that. Just for the record the 2022 nz trotting cup was worth $631,000 and turned over 2.1 million whereas the 2024 was worth 1,000,000 and turned over 1.8 million.Both had 2 starters from australia.Actually no horse that started in the cup 2 years ago,started this year. i mean,do people actually believe some of the things they read coming out of hrnz and do those at hrnz actually believe it? Kaikoura may be HRNZ's focus,but what about what they allowed the methven club to do ,when methven shafted those that support them at their just a couple of days before kaikoura. That was very poor form by the methven club,yet methven do it every year. Just look at the stakes this week at methven when they have to compete against motukarara for horses. Methven non win stakes 25% more than their meeting in november. reality is thats yet another example of HRNZ talking the talk,thinking people are stupid enough not to realise that to gain something often comes with a price to others. Maybe hrnz is right and they can fool a lot of people with all their positive talk. HRNZ went full crow on the turnover figures for this years nz cup meeting. Fair enough,it was great to see the increase that was good if you compared them to 2023. But for perspective, then the 2023 figures had been down on the 2022 figures. The 2022 cup meeting turnover was actually greater than 2024.

Greg o'connor in great tipping form as well today.8 from 9 winners so far..Making it look easy....

a couple of hot favorites but most paid around $4-5 which means they would probably have been paying around $6-7 had he not tipped them.

whale will be smiling this week as his 12 whale watch horses, have resulted in 8 wins and 3 placings.Hes certainly in hot tipping form currently. Hes selected Milou in the next at motukarara,to get the full house.

Well you had to laugh. Or perhaps if you backed robyns playboy maybe swear a little. But the hrnz website highlighted M Hurrells drives and trackside interviewed him early on in the day. Then greg o'connor again repeated the tactics Mr hurrell said he would be using early in the race. That was go forward and look for the lead. I'm guessing it was a result of all that publicity and confidence that punters heavily supported the horse late. in the first attempted start ,which was a false start,iit looked like mr hurrelll intended to go back,no can't be i thought. Then blow me down and knock me over with a feather, at the second attempt he indeed very heavily restrains robyns playboy ,all the way back to last.There he sat,under a strong hold and there he was at the finish,still under a hold as the horse who had raced behind him at the back improved around him and stuck ion well for 3rd. i don't think anyone was expecting to see those tactics. The moral of the story,well i'm not sure. Maybe don['t read any drivers thoughts in the media and keep trackside on mute. i do see the funny side of it all,even though i had a wee investment on the horse based on the driver using the tactics he said he would pre race. oh well,on to the next race i suppose.

actually the whole china export thing i find rather perplexing. There was a 3 part story written for the paulick report,published just 2 months ago,about the expanding connection between the american thoroughbred industry and the chinese. it was very interesting,but if you think about what was said in that series of articles,while harness racing wasn't discussed ,it left me with more questions than possible answers. Like questions about understanding the thinking of the chinese. Comparethere approach to growing the thoriughbred industry there and how that doesn't mirror the same thing with harness horses being purchased from here. Like obviously nz and australia have the advantage of the free trade agreement and australia in particular, apparently spend a lot of time and money promoting the purchase of yearlings ,by the chinese at their australian sales. But like i say,from the articles written in that paulick report,you have to ask if the chinese are genuinely interested in establishing the harness industry over there,doesn't it make you question,if they are genuine,look at who they are purchasing here and the prices they are paying, given how much they will be spending on getting the horses back to china. like its a whole different approach from what they are doing with their thoroughbreds. like,the most obvious is,why have they mostly been buying older broodmares when they are supposed to be buying racing stock. I know the most recent batch on the export list,as they include a lot of 3 and 4 year old mares,but that hasn't been the case previously. why haven't they,like their thoroughbred counterparts ,been buying yearlings and why haven't the sales companies here or in australia thought it worthwhile to promote chinese interest to any degree in the yealing sales held over here. seemingly the americans should have an advantage with the thoroughbreds as most tracks in china aren't turf,but are dirt type tracks. so doesn't that make you wonder,what about the harness tracks and exactly where are they and what surfaces are they. theres heaps of other questions you could ask with no apparent readily known answers. Thats why i personally think the whole china export thing has a lot of mystery around it,with not only possible good,but also bad scenarios that may play out. Maybe the saying,ignorance is bliss,is the approach some sellers are taking as they can't possibly know tyhe exact use or the fate of those they are selling.

From what i've heard from a couple of sellers,its up to about $10,000 for a mare and around $20-25,000 for the right stallion.I guess it varies a bit and i wouldn't guarantee those amounts,but thats what i've heard. personally i still think its very questionable the future use in china of horses sold there.Just remember the other uses for broodmares for in that part of the world and remember what they did with all the donkeys they bought from africa. But i can understand nz people selling, as many of the horses going there are unlikely to be bred from and some of their owners saw no future in breeding from them here given how they perceived the future of the industry here as relates to how perceived they were considered of little relevance.

i see on the other channel they have someone giving a breakdown of stakes paid/turnover/funding. thats always been interesting to read and of course is relevant and that person is saying tonights manawatu races will most likely run at a loss. well thats all true and good. But Manawatu seems to be an easy target and is cherry picked while giving other areas of the industry a free pass. to me there is a double standards being applied by many. (not referring to brodie there,even though he did start this topic, as hes pretty consistent). but to give an example of what i mean by double standards. where's the analysis of the data,for what must surely be the most uneconomic,special interest/ preferential treatment driven sector of the industry, stakes /returns for 2 year old racing. come on,for the first 8 months of the year we had 2 year old races with mostly 5 or 6 starters running for stakes in excess of other graded races with another $12,000 industry funded bonuses on top of that, paid out.Whats the data for the first 8 months time frame? Like i said earlier,manawatu needs to be compared with other areas returns whether it be geographical or whether it be to 2 year old racing. i agree with those that highlight the importance of financially underperforming areas of the industry.On the face of it,those on social media sites like this, seem far more willing to discuss the significance and the consequences thereof. personally i believe there are workable,province specific business models which could ensure each areas continued participation.I ,along with others have discussed that before. But the way i see it is this. Industry leaders are just dumb. simple as that.Just not very clever. The best example of that was the way they treated the horse utilisation report that many people from different areas of the industry poured time and energy into providing possible solutions/improvements to industry problems. I thought it was full of common sense and from people in touch with reality. But,seemingly because of that,HRNZ have not enacted most of the report. You know i was talking to someone nopt that long ago. He was telling me he was talking to someone in power and the topic of the handicapping rating system came up. He was told by this person that if he wasn't happy with it,to sell his horse to australia. Basically give the game away. I was also told about another part of this persons conversation,which i laughed at because i thought he wasn't being serious,as it seemed such a dumb thing to say. But when i laughed the bloke i was talking to me said,i'm telling you,this is what was said.

it really has to be assessed on turnovers you would think. and in comparison with other clubs their turnovers aren't too bad. i didn't really look much at the entain pools yesterday although i did notice they had a jackpot first 4 of $1300 from the first race which resulted in an $11,000 first 4 pool in the following race. I've previously referred to those as a magnet for generating turnover and have suggested how that could be maximised,although i doubt they ever will be. also the tabcorp pools are ok as well when compared with other nz race meetings. For example they had a $9370 win pool in one of the races last night and another win pool greater then entain/nz tab had.Obviously those had the time slot/sky coverage thing working for them i often refer to. so the point i make brodie is,you refer to financially viable race meetings. Well palmerstomn north dioesn't underperform in comparison to other meetings as you suggest. Meanwhile i was reading The breeders email they send out. it had an interview with andrew grant who owns a handful of mares ,but doesn't think he will breed any this year. he laments the empty paddocks he currently sees at nevele r stud where he does some work. he said"i understand that things change and some things will never be the sameagain,but with all this top end funding recently announced,where is the support for the middle and lower end market,he lamented". well,90% of the industry are asking the same question as mr grant.

There needs to be a strategic plan which sets out the pathway for the continuation of harness racing in all areas of nz which currently have harness racing.Manawatu included. if HRNZ have such a realistic future workable plan,then why aren't they promoting it. so one assumes they don't and that indicates a failure of leadership. things can't stay being managed as they currently are. The kicking the can down the road approach until industry leadership have moved on to new jobs or roles in 3-5 years time is not a strategy. every month is a month closer to the time of reckoning that is approaching on the horizon as time moves closer to that point. the way i see it,harness racing is extremely susceptible to the domino effect. for example,manawatu participants have an impact on cambridges viability,if cambridge is impacted that impacts auckland or vice versa. In a lot of ways,the variable of which domino is the first to trigger the flow on effect, underlies the importance of each domino. to me it just comes down to industry leadership,or lack thereof depending on your view of things.

southland harness racing now provides a betting product along the lines of auckland racing. And we all know punter paticipation in auckland harness is declining. The smaller fields are the reason for that. and the reasons for the smaller fields seem multiple,and its very likely things will only get worse. Reasons like the unfair handicapping system. For example the horse TED,a 2 win horse from 3 starts,would be amongst the top 10 or so rated horses in southland.Imagine owning that horse,after 2 starts, having to line up against the highest rated horses in southland just to get a start.They should sell that horse before they break its will by running in races like that 2400m 2.54race that it ran in last start. At least they didn't line it up in that nz record race last week which was its only option to start in that day. Then look at the non win horses who are rated r40. Mostly they don't have enough non win horses in that grade and the lower rating non win horses have to run against the higherr 50 non win horses each week.Same with the 1 win r 35 horses. The type of horses who once had a chance to earn money in the lowest of the r35 races,now have to run against better horses than they did a year ago due to the handicapping system.You just don't see them anymore. then look at the age of the current participants in southland. It appears 3/4 are over 50,possibly more.Probably half over 60.Also take note that whereas once families had sons and daughters carry on from where their parents left off,now next to none seem to be participating. look at the smaller number of horses qualifying. look at the lack of females involved in the sport down there when compared with some other areas. The increase in participation by women has masked to a degree the decline in male participation elsewhere. look at the cost of getting there for canterbury horses. Whereas once canterbury horses owners received a travel subsidy to attend,now they don't. and of course southland don't appear to be considered of much importance when compared to Auckland. The big hole that exists in auckland is being filled by hrnz funded stake increases,but southland gets next to nothing. Hrnz would rather increase stakes to auckland and try and get owners to pay the cost of travel to there,than provide the same incentive to go to southland. Then of course theres the other reasons that apply elsewhere in nz,but especially southland like land values being pushed so high by things like dairy conversions in the last 20 years which has made it next to impossible for young people to see a future,but even moreso has led to the rapid decline in small time trainers that were once the backbone of southland harness racing. Many decisions being made by HRNZ leadership seem to be hurting southland harness racing. HRNZ need to address the many issues southland have,but is HRNZ capable of that.Thats very debateable. My thoughts are they need to look at shortening the racing season in southland.Not only do the numbers point to this being inevitable,but its also so cold in southland at certain times of the year which effects participation.Thats what used to happen when they had far greater numbers participating in southland. Had HRNZ done something like i suggested and invested the forbury money in setting up some type of trainingfacilty in canterbury then southland trainers could have come up with small teams and supported canterbury harness racing or aucklnad harness racing in their off season .Satelite stables sort of thing for 3 or 4 months of the year. However the way things are with training facilities disappearing and racecourses mostly full then ,they may not find it easy to find a place to stay.

borrisokane. Interesting how some owners come up with names. I suppose its named after the small town in ireland.i think i heard or read that somewhere one time. I wonder if the breeders or owners who named him took a liking to the place when visiting it.Who knows. its in the province of munster and munster of course is famous in rugby for being the first irish team to ever beat the all blacks. I remember that,even though i was just a kid.From memory thats when they used to have the mid week games and we saw them on tv the next night.The all blacks back then were the first side to win the grand slam. They seemed to have much tougher and more touring games scheduled back then,but lost just the one game on the tour. Graham mourie even played in that game.The Munsters captain famously found out after the game his father had died suddenly during the game. I see they made the all blacks work hard in the recent match. charlie sheens grandmother was from borrisokane. Maybe that explains some things,maybe not. anyway,back to the horse,i remember it starting off very well for bruce negus and sheree tomlinson used to drive it then. Then it started breaking and they put big spreaders on. Bruce negus has been able to get a lot of horses going well through how he does the spreaders. I'm not sure whether he sets them up any different,but he has had good success with horses who have gone to his stable. but negus was obviously having trouble with borrisokanes breaking in its races and then regan todd got him and he also put spreaders on,but obviously came to think that borrsokane went better without them and thats how hes raced recently and hes certainly going very well. The head on replays do show he moves one front leg in a bit and it gets closer than normal to the other front leg,but Todds obviously worked it all out.

i started a thread about mr todd about 8 months ago. to be fair i think i should say that i agree with others on here who recently have been saying very positive things about his training abilities in recent times. obviously he has a couple of star horses in his team,but 18 months ago i used to think across the board ,his horses were inconsistent and tended not to maintain form for long.That was my assessment anyway. But in the last year or so,in my opinion, i think all his horses have been perfoming far more consistently and punters now have every confidence in him having them ready to reproduce consistent form. That applies not only to his good horses but each horse he trains.Thats what helps punters and the public gain confidence and he deserves much credit for that.

As i've mentioned before,given the well known, ongoing current plight of the auckland club,doesn't it raise questions about the quality of decisions being made by those calling the shots at HRNZ. i mean,why would HRNZ be investing so much of industry funds,of which there is only a finite supply,into ensuring the auckland trotting club continues at alexandra park. HRNZ continue to say that because such a large % of the population live in auckland,that racing must remain in auckland and that aleaxandra park need funding stakes wise to ensure that happens. doesn't that all seem rather foolhardy and a strategy that is fraught with risks to the industry as a whole.

to me there is good drone coverage after the race is over,especially replays of the home straight drone shots,but the drone coverage of the start of races, in real time,just shows a lack of understanding of what a significant proportion of the viewers want. i thought it would go without saying that if you have a bet on a horse you want two things 1)to be able to follow your horses progress at the start of a race,which is such an important part of any race.You can do that with a drone shot, but you really have to concentrate hard and focus solely on the horse based on the barrier position its drawn. 2)a significant % of punters also want to be able to assess in the first 200m ,not only the position of the horse they back,but also the position of others they may take in multiples or the main rivals to the horse they have backed. with the drone coverage you are unable to do that for the first 200m,which in effect is 10% of most races at addington. if anyone put the race coverage on pause having seen only the first 200m in drone coverage,they would not accurately be able to tell you what positions each horse is in. They could if there was no drone coverage.If you don't believe me just try it next time. why can't those in control of the coverage understand the above point.Why frustrate a significant % of your audience, with in my view inappropraitely timed drone coverage Obviously some people quite like the drone coverage,but i personally know of no one myself that prefers it at the start of races..

Today just another day where turnovers proved what i say above,is a guaranteed way of getting large pools. Just identify the races with the best timeslots for the day on sky racing,then combine that with the jackpotting money that has been set aside from the week prior as i suggested above,and then you get the bigger pools.Today had high class races added to the formula,which makes it even better,but while helpful,isn't essential. today,the races with the jackpots on tabcorp,which had good timeslots,saw a first 4 jump from $4,000 carry forward to become $15,000 and a trfifecta go from $882 jackpot to $6,000. Tabcoorp quaddie pools are next to nothing,so because they have nothing to jackpot,quaddies don't interest tabcorp punters.. The nz tab had the later quaddie with $8,000 jackpot, go to $58,000.It had a first 4 with a jackpot of $4562 become $25,836. The highest first 4 final pools were on different races for tabcorp and the nz tab,but both races had the essential high sky racing exposure element i talk about. Its a sure thing formula. Just do what i suggested in my original post. i believe it should be applied to just one such race each week with a starting jackpot of say $30,000 would become at the very least in the low hundreds of thousands each time if promoted properly and if run at a consistent appropriate timeslot each week.My guess would be it would incrase turnover around $10million a year on harness racing.Of course the returns to harness racing would be good as then tab and taborp % take out for exotic bets like first 4's and trifectas is one of the highest. Whether people are interested in what i'm saying,i don't know,possibly not,but i know from observing these pools that im right. And after all,isn't turnover supposed to be important.

I just had a look at the unhinged page and there was a segment on bounce n beyond winning. The first thing mr unhinged said was what a great job they do at the beach,obviously in reference to the horse going to auckland recently and losing form before coming back to the south island. then john dunns reply was,well we will look at going back to auckland as it was eligible for running in one of those $100,000 races that HRNZ have put all the money into for auckland. Doesn't it make you wonder,why should an owner have to send their horse to the other end of new zealand to do that. Why can't the area that generates the turnovers to fund that race in auckland, get the same support from HRNZ and run a similar race at addington.. is there not something wrong with that. Also,is it just me ,but wouldn't you have thought john dunn may have asked that question. Afterall it must cost the owners a lot to transport the horse all over the country.

slot ten thanks

that sums up whats currently happening. especially with hrnz. hrnz leadership decision making is based on the premise,try and plug the holes and delay the dam bursting for another 4 or 5 years. is that strategy wise or prudent when considering what happens after 4-5 years. certainly not. But i think a significant part of the consideration by some of the current decision makers is ,in 5-6 years time, when the shit hits the fan,they will have moved on to something else and won't have to deal with the consequences of their current decisions. i find the most puzzling thing about all this,is the cross section of industry stake holders who are happy to go with the short term gain,but long term pain strategy. Live for today,and instead of plan,substitute hope for the future. That should be hrnz's catch phrase ,whenever they make a new announcement. HRNZ would at least be being more honest, if they added that at the end of their press releases.

They used the same discretion when it came to that horse that started from the wrong position at cambridge a couple of years ago. Then every week you see many standing starts ,especially in auckland where horses on the u/r start between 20-50m behind where they could.Thats examples of horses starting from starting points which they should not be at. just last sunday at invercargill in their big race,most of the u/r horses off the front were behind all the horses off handicaps at the start. did the box seat mention that? the point being ,where do you start and where do you stop. all i think is,whoever is commenting and whoever is deciding these things,at least be consistent in what you are saying and ruling.If that happens then i would be happy either way.

i know your being tongue in cheek with that comment. i'm sure people in the south island want to see harness racing in the north prosper,but most feel HRNZ is over committing and being unrealistic,nor are HRNZ showing fiscal responsibilty.Southland harness racing,to me, is also struggling. people aren't stupid. Hrnz seem to think they are,but they are not. people know if you continue to run one part of your business at a loss it impacts on the bottom line of the whole business. The north island should be restructured and realistic,viable plans for its fututre should have already been made. Its imperative for those in the north island that this happens.Its in their interests. The failure of hrnz to address that is what worries people in the south island. In other words theres a lack of confidence in HRNZ leadership and decision making. You know,what gets me most, is when i was a young fella and a teenager,canterbury people were so one eyed and parochial about their sports teams and would do anything necessary to achieve and succeed. To me,canterbury people and in particular canterbury harness racing people have become too apathetic and don't make themselves heard,nor promte their importance and needs like they used to. In a lot of ways i think when it comes to the crunch in the not too distant future,and it will,you can see it coming,canterbury people will only have themselves to blame for how the canterbury scene will inevitably be impacted.

"obviously ask themselves" you say... so your saying you think it obvious methven have chosen to reduce the stakes paid to non win horses at the upcoming meeting because they think their club isn't well treated by the funding model. i didn't think it was obvious methven would penalise owners and trainers who regularly support them to make a point about funding. Maybe you are right,because its either methven or HRNZ.I would have thought it more likely to be a HRNZ directive,as we know who they prioritise and who they don't.But methven run the meeting so maybe it is them,as you think is obvious. the facts are,every year this meeting has non win races with stakes well below every other meeting the methven club run. i think it a very reasonable question to ask,why and who makes these decisions ? Whatever way you look at it,in my opinion the decision to run reduced non win stakes doesn't reflect what people who will support that meeting think should be happen. have you taken note of what is happening in victoria.Thats what will happen here,its only a matter of time.In my opinion its a very safe bet to predict. Give it 4 or 5 years,its not far away.

all good points to underline the north island contribution. the only thing is when you referred to 'put downs" you need to differentiate comments made on here about the fiscal sustainabilty of northern clubs, based on turnovers ,stakes paid and clubs financial circumstances.In other words,that is a very different subject than talking about people and horses as you just have.

that answer is a bit ambiguous to me. does that mean hrnz is funding you less for that meeting? The actual question i'm trying to ask is,are hrnz telling you to keep the stakes lower or is it the methven club who have made that decision? either way,theres the appearance of an element of unfairness in the stake levels for those who do race at your next meeting.Methven is a club that is seen as a leader in supporting the grass roots level participants,but in this case that isn't quite the case. if however its a hrnz directive, then people should know who is taking them for granted.