nomates

I don't see the facilities as the problem , i have been going to Trentham for 47 years and those facilities even on the Wednesday of the 3 day July meeting when it was pissing down and the track a bog the place was heaving , i've mentioned this on a number of occasions but even on that Wed with the rain pouring down it was a tough place to get a seat in covered area there was that many people there , the bars and food area below was pretty well chocka as well , and forget summer meetings , it was tough to get a seat on the top tear. So the facilities were never the issue , maybe the fact that they never really refurbished them properly because they were only used by the plebs . The problem for the WRC has been a large measure of complacency and allowing themselves to be continually bullied around dates etc , but the complacency isn't exclusive to just them , it is a malaise that has been haunting racing for the last 30 years . That was where the foresight was lacking , every body thought we are sweet , people will always want to go racing and take the crap food and exorbitant prices for entry , booze , food , books etc , but they have all been caught with their pants down . Now they are all chasing their tales trying all sorts , except just giving the punters what they want , good horses, good facilities , good tracks , but most of all not leaving the course feeling like your wallet has been raped by a grizzly bear . Especially families , when i first started going to Trentham the family area half way up the straight was always well utilized at a reasonable cost , now it costs a man an arm and a leg to take his family to the races .

Trentham is as close to a large population base as you can get yet nobody goes . As for where i can't think of anywhere south of Otaki big enough that wouldn't cost sqillions , at least north of Foxton has large tracts of flat free draining land , plus the population base is moving north from Wgtn anywa , Palmy and Wanganui etc would be close also , so i don't think that location would be bad place . Never going to happen anyway so all mute , no vision , no heart .

Not sure , but from the releases i have seen it is still going ahead .

Other than Incentivise i have been underwhelmed by this years MC , seems very low key this year , obviously covid is having an impact .

That's all they are pretty much doing now and it's still boring as bat shit , the place and the racing is as a whole a shadow of it's former great glory . It's a monolith of a bygone era . We had a discussion about this topic a few months ago , can't remember when exactly , but the jist of what i proposed was selling Trentham and Awapuni and build a new strathayr track north of Foxton , free draining soil , easy access , they could have racing there every 2 weeks or more whilst also utilizing other tracks in the district . They could also have training tracks with stabling , night racing ? Foxton close by for staff . Basically a facility that will future proof CD racing for the next 100 years . Anyway never going to happen , building A/W at Awapuni suggests they see the future and it is bright , in their world , it will be a hard thump when these A/W's become millstones around their necks , but that's another debate .

Not sure that's enough , none of those float my boat . Trentham is a white elephant now , sell take the money and build a purpose built facility north of Foxton , it future proofs racing in the CD , in a way that the new a/w wont , have they got the vision or the heart , doubtful .

The shame of it is that it never used to be , the rise of Asia over the last 25 years has really depleted us .

Finished a 3 horse multi so done alright . He was the class horse by a mile but drifted from 1.8 about 15 mins before the race , was gobsmacked when he ended at 2.7 , i had him at 2.1 from earlier .

Won fresh up today like the good horse he showed last prep , and the talent pool is thin and getting thinner so nice that this one wont be sold . And i say getting thinner but i have seen some nice horses so far this spring but the majority will be sold or transferred to an Aus stable .

GOLD WATCH !! Well here's one horse that is going lift the level of our group racing over the next few months . Won't be sold , will make it to Australia at some stage which he should , carries a similar profile to Elephant , but until then the we should just enjoy this horse , IMO he could be the best horse racing in NZ through the next 12 months .

It's , " Bernie , your jokin mate " . They are Effing clueless , they are just big noting , trying to look like they have everything under control , meanwhile , ducks on a lake .

Certainly not in quality down south , but the fewer bandits causing havoc in a race has got to be good thing

Doh , I'm half asleep , i've been driving all morning to get home , i meant in the SI , hence the this thread . Alright might have to have a snooze .

The NZTR list only shows 7 , you obviously have a hot line to your mate BS .

I see there are currently 7 riders sitting on the sidelines at the moment , perhaps the judiciary has decide enough is enough .

He had plenty of young ones , went to his stables a couple of times , grand setup if a little over capitalized , you could have had the QE2 in the water walker , it was massive , the first time i seen it i was waiting for a submarine to emerge . Flash as stabling full of young untried flesh , even had TV's strategically placed high up with the racing on so the young ones could see what they were expected to do . He done alright as a trainer considering he had a better start than most people having a crack , but if i remember correctly the other trainer i was with and i kept an eye out for his stables after that and it didn't set the world alight . I believe Consensus reached her best form with S McKee . Always found him to have a large dose of SMD , not my cup of tea , fortunately i didn't have to have one with him . As with everyone in life , we all have fans and detractors .

Totally agree , but then that is Australian racing to a tee , get as much as you can while you can as a top 2/3yo then off to stud , if they are good enough . Must be hard to resist the temptation when the money is like confetti .

We have plenty of horses that have the ability to win good races in Australia , the problem is the majority have been hooked the minute they show anything at trials or race performance , christ they even buy them out of jumpouts , that's after they have bought all our best blood at the yearling sales then the RTR's , most seasons now most of our competitive 2yo's , after Te Akau's horses , then 3yo's are bought up , up until a couple of years ago Aus and HK would hook most of our better 3yo colts towards the end of the season , now they are plucking them as soon as they identify them rather than wait to confirm what they are seeing , because there is now so much competition to get these horses , because both those jurisdictions are booming . Now they are also in on early season 3yo fillies . So once these have been taken out of our system our racing becomes diluted , hence the state of our group racing , we lose a couple of Te Akau's best the Callsign Mav goes and last weeks G1 at Hastings was a joke , as was yesterdays Thompson , the Thompson was always a competitive and genuine group race , not any more , just like most of our black type races . Against world standard our group racing is farcical . Whilst we continue breeding such small numbers and horses are sold in such numbers then we will continue to have poor top quality racing , at least before when we were breeding 6/7k foals we always had enough numbers to allow good horses to shine and therefor keep our racing having a competitive edge . It's not sustainable with the number of horses we have left to expect large numbers of top quality of horses , and as shown 2/3 go out of the system around the same time , bang , our quality drops . Te Akau are the one small saviour in as much they don't sell so their best so they race here which holds up our better races to a large degree .

Plan , what plan , when , where , i didn't see a plan , have they got a plan ? a real plan ? a big boys plan ? one that will turn the industry around . I must have missed it , can someone direct me to where i can view this plan , please .

I'm not talking tinkering i'm talking a complete overhaul . They are just tinkering at present .

Possibly , but Harlem who ran 4th behind him not that far away couldn't handle city class let alone G1 over there , Benalla cup was his lot , if the form line holds then he might struggle . I hope not as i have a soft spot for him , have always liked him as a horse and have won plenty off him , including the 50's he paid last year . My worry is that NZ form for most horses just seems to be getting further and further away from the best Aussie form . Other than the odd Te Akau exception .

She wasn't a long way off in some of the 3yo black type races she competed in , often the usual reason cost her , poor rides . She will get better with time so wouldn't surprise to see her pick off something like the Caloundra Cup . We will be there just a matter of which year .

Hopefully be there for the next winter carnival , plan is 10 days covering 2 Saturday's , our best friend's sister and family live up the road from Doomben and Eagle Farm , so the 3 of us will head over and get to the races and hopefully an NRL game , might be able to catch up and talk some crap . Be fun . All up to the covid situation .

Nah sorry nothing , I'm in Oakura , just south of New Plymouth for the weekend , raining and about 18 so stop moaning I know where I'd rather be .

Yeah Sword of State , we can't compete in the spring with their 3yo sprinters , most likely anything at a mile or less anytime , our best sprinters are a level off theirs also , last 3yo to be competitive in spring in Sydney was probably Our Maizcay , and probably Mr Tiz for our last top sprinter to be up to Aus . Stand to be corrected .