Rusty

Just watched the midday media conference, hosted by the Right Honourable Mr Peters... As he was leaving, a member of the press asked him; "Mr Peters, do you have a comment on the racing situation?" He responded; "not now, the press conference is over." I am not angry. Just disappointed.

Dead right. Hang on, got another idea... Melbourne Grand Prix... not many aussies, win or even compete in that... let's move it too. Move it away from Melbourne. Australian Open tennis, grand slam, few aussies do actually compete in that, but not too many at the pointy end of the comp, so bugger it, let's move that too, right off the continent. Still with tennis, the ASB Classic in Auckland, let's hit that on the head too, or at the very least move it off shore. How many kiwis have won that lately? Chris Lewis in '85 and Brett Steven lost the final in '96... nothing since, for 20+ years... move it right away from Auckland, would make more sense to play it in Barcelona, and save those poor Europeans and Americans that long haul trip to Auckland. Any body putting their weight behind the idea to move key races away from their "home", just don't grasp the concept of competitive sport at the highest level. The sport of kings would be one of the sports where there are a lot more traditionalists than most other sports, and it is the tradition that makes sport great. Admittedly tradition, can also bugger things up too with it doesn't move with the times (eg. The use, or refusal to use, technology in cricket, tennis, rugby league, football etc all with deep rooted traditions). But for christ sakes, leave theses races at Riccarton, just cut the stakes. Race for a bloody ribbon if need be. But leave the races there. And Auckland, Hastings or wherever else you want to hold it, start up your own one and give it a different name.

The crowd!!!

And there is no guarantee at all, that NZ racing will continue. Not long term anyway. Again, I hope I am wrong.

The doom and gloom has been around for ages, it hasn't just sprung up after the rainfall last week, or since this Chinese flu hit the shores. I have generally been reasonably positive about the racing game, but the last few weeks, when leadership needs to be shown, there has been sweet FA shown from HRNZ, or RITA. I'm not so certain NZ racing can recover. I hope I am wrong.

Dead right, 100%. Have seen this happen over and over again, predominantly within the public service and councils especially.

In my eyes, there is a lot of dead wood. Just one example would be the recent post on here (may have even been yours, Happy?), about the management team at Alex Park. There was a photo included within the post of their management team, possibly also the directors from memory. Looked like a line up of mug shots, or people striking a pose pretending to sign very important documents. Dead wood. The lot of them, minus 2 or 3 individuals I think we concluded on here. And that is just one club. It was also revealed recently NZMTC have over 100 staff on their books. Dead wood. Get rid of half them. Then get rid of anybody else that complains from the remaining half. Yes, clubs need personnel to run a successful organisation, but jesus the numbers seem overkill. Likewise, RITA, their staffing numbers, associated costs and expenditure are absurd. The RIU, has had it's moments, again with costs and expenditure that is sometimes questionable. The JCA... do we need the JCA at all, if the stipes were all fully competent? Jury is out on that one maybe... potentially dead wood there. The large salaries paid to so many individuals is overkill, bordering on criminal. John Allen and his executive team were all on huge money... for what return? Another example of dead wood. It seems to me, the backbone of the racing industry and the grassroots of the industry, are the people at the lower end of the wage spectrum. They earn average coin, or in some cases below average. These are the folk that have racing, racing through their veins and have far more common sense than what a lot of management and executive leadership teams (within RITA) seem to have. If the racing game is to ever come back from the dead, it needs a massive overhaul, starting with expenses (especially salaries) and restructuring. Removing the dead wood, would be a start.

I can't really add anything to what the above posters have said. I agree with them all. NZ Racing is shot and the Chinese flu will be the final nail in the coffin unfortunately. I just hope that one day, it will be resurrected, without all the current dead wood. My fear is by the time it is resurrected (if it is), will the racing participants (breeders, owners, trainers, drivers, stable staff, sponsors, "media", punters, etc and facilities such as racecourses and TAB outlets (or even the TAB), still be here?

Working from home... hmmmm... "working"... from home. What sort of work are they doing? Housework? Asking for a friend.

I disagree, but good on ya champ for posting your opinion. That's what makes racing great. So many different opinions. For mine the 2005 cup (Mainland Banner) has to be the weakest in a very long time, before or after '05. What a bunch of cats. Except for Just An Excuse.

Flashing Red's cup field looks the weakest in my opinion.

Massive overreaction... all this nonsense. The World Health Organization tweeted the following earlier this year... let's just trust them, and the Chinese authorities.

I do realise there are bigger issues facing racing at the moment than this particular issue, but it may be of interest to some, as it was raised about 6 months ago, but I just received a response pre-lockdown. Cast your mind back, to the days where we had NZ racing on our screens (and on our radios too for that matter)... Things were going ok(ish), then some muppet at Trackside thought they knew best, and decided to ditch any broadcast of the judge's call. Likely to be the producer of Trackside, they decided it was pointless to include the judge's call over the tv or radio. And did we ever find out why, and what the reasoning was behind this? After 2 phone calls, and several emails later, I received a response from RITA: "We dont broadcast the Judges Call as there is often a delay which inhibits our preview of the upcoming race."

I think you're correct there. I never thought I took all that much notice of the onscreen divis (pre-lockdown days), during the running, and immediately after crossong the line, but I have found lately that I miss seeing them.

These are the Aussie rules...

This is dedication...

Yes, Bee Bee Cee won the FFA that year, then I think he ran a place in the Miracle Mile behind Chokin.

Check out this field for the '94 Cup... A bit of coin won between the 4 horses at the bottom of the book... Bee Bee Cee won it, with Master Musician second. How the hell Matthew Lee (number 2) ran third in this line up, I'll never know.

Dead right... and looking back on it, I was probably one of the underestimaters (if that's a word) at the time. Wasn't until after her retirement, one looks back and realizes just how good she was.

This wee filly (number 1, in the non-tote race) turned out alright. Here she is below having her first start at the races... Under Cover Lover.

Haha that brings back the memories... I remember years ago, way back in the day, when I was a young whipper snapper, after any unsuccessful race meeting, my grandad would say: "Burn it... get rid of it!" - in reference to throwing the racing page with our picks on them, straight into the open fire. Good times. Learnt from a young age, to turn the page, and chase ya losses the following day!

We can't study any current racebooks or form guides for the NZ trots at the moment, so I thought I would post some pics of old racebooks... they may generate a bit of interest and memories (good and bad?!)... If anybody else has got any to share, post them on here, be good to see. This one is from 21 February 1997. Christian Cullen's 3rd race day start, finishing 8th.

Apparently it has been delayed until tomorrow, possibly even next week.

I like your thinking, but it's easier said that done unfortunately. The muppets should never have removed trackside off free to air tv. Absolutely ridiculous decision.