nomates

Totally agree , it is hard to see what the solve is . And if people who have a better knowledge of our industry than the ones in charge can't come up with solutions then where do we go . As you say it's is just keep cannibilising itself , in ever decreasing circles till we are left a bit like HK or Singy , or worse death . Solutions , well i have spent a lot of thought and discussion with others in the game but the issues are so wide spread we can't come up with where we start . We need more horses , bigger stakes , more young people getting involved in the industry rather than just keep importing staff , and a host of other issues . The money being offered from off shore for anything that shows some ability is ridiculous so how do we stop that , better stakes helps but geez gonna take huge increases to stop people selling and race instead . Levies on sales help but if someone is offering me 200k then i just say i will pay the levy for the buyer i.e. take 180k instead , will battle to win half that here so win, win . The biggest single warning sign for me is that they simply can't come out with a clear plan of what they are want to achieve and clear succint plan on how they are going to achieve it along with rock solid financial figures to back it up . The toilet paper they came out with 2 weeks ago is simply a party political statement , issued to placate the plebs for while till they can think up some other lazy piece of literature to carry them along for little bit more . No one in the industry on the ground has any idea where we are going or where we are going to end up . Every body i know accepts there will be pain but they will accept it as long as they knew there is an end game , but alas the tunnel seems never ending . Oh for our V'Landys to turn up , i would actually subscribe to help pay his wages .

The less fields thing has been around since they began the monday races a few years back , when that fell over they just stayed with the smaller programmes , prior to that we regularly had 9/10 races per day . Now they programme 7/8 and if numbers are there they split . Also i believe horse numbers aren't the same , the bigger problem for me is the quality , look at Otaki today , absolutely attrocious fields , a handful of nice horses the rest of the day is hard to promote betting . As has been discussed the number of young horses sold out of NZ that only have to show a modicum of ability before they are snapped up is becoming alarming . This obviously leads to diluting the product that is left . But more recently we have seen the lack of top quality horses left to compete in our Group races . They also don't want too many races , especially Saturdays , with the higher stakes i don't believe they are funding themselves thru betting revenue so less races mitigates the loss in stakes funding .

There is nothing about training a racehorse that is an exact science . As for that particular trainer , well he thought the horse required cheek pieces to get a better performance , horse wore them for 3 years so hw must have thought they helped get the best out of the horse , i bet the trainer didn't put them on in the first instance knowing they were going to be the making of the horse , he would have put them on thinking ( hoping ) they would help his performance , they were probably one of several little things that he experimented with trying to get the best performance he could , same with the blinkers . All trainers go thru the same with most horses trying to extract the best from their horses , as i said not an exact science , what works for 9 doesn't work for the tenth .

Think that was the jockey speaking and not the trainer . And to be honest no one puts them on knowing for sure they are going to make a difference , it's just something you try to find a bit more concentration and application . It often has the oppisite effect . Met a few people i thought could do with getting a set of blinkers on , sharpen them up a bit .

Yea , wouldn't disagree with the wording . The bit i simply don't get and it is something that has been mentioned before , and that is the deafening silence from the top players in this game , is it simply self interest that is keeping them quiet or just not interested in the future . I know if i had some swey i would certainly be making myself heard . Very disappointing .

Even the jumping is only being held together by a handful of trainers , a couple go the house of cards folds . How many races were held together just by the Myers barn the last few seasons ? . Fortunately he's not doing it just for the money , but anything decent still goes to Aus .

The fact that you can pinpoint specific dates as to when you consider it was in decent state shows how big the problem is , and one of those decent tracks was caused by broken equipment , not exactly a glowing recommendation for supposedly the South Islands Metropolitan track . Now i'm not having a crack at you , i'm on the same page as you regarding over watering of tracks , but you can't deny this track has had issues stretching back many years and not watering close to raceday isn't going to solve these , neither is the construction of the A/W which is supposed to give the main track a break . The track is stuffed , as is Trentham , as is Awapuni , as is Te Rapa , as are many provincial tracks . Your track along with the ones named above are suppose to reflect our racing , as in their are supposed to be our Flemington , Randwick , Eagle Farm ( not currently tho ) , Rosehill , Caufield , but alas most of ours , if not all , more resemble a distant out back track in the netherlands of country Australia , and i'm sure there would be many saying i am doing those country tracks a diservice by putting them along side some of our basket cases . You only have to look at the Awapuni track on G1 Sires Produce day , to say it was a fucking disgrace for NZ racing is putting it mildly . Getting the watering strategy right isn't going to solve the fundimental problem with these tracks , the lack of investment in track maintenance has come home to roost . They could move all racing to the A/W's for a year or two , but the same issues would just resurface as soon as they recommissioned grass tracks . To me the state of our tracks are just a reflection of racing as a whole , threadbare and stretched with constant patchwork maintenance . Threadbare becomes a hole eventually and once the hole has appeared the job becomes a whole lot bigger . We are not far off the first small hole appearing . For anybody to believe that simply getting the watering right is the solve is giving the powers that be more belief that they are getting it right and adding fuel to their fire , and hence you become part of the problem . I said this to you last week as i have to other trainers with some weight to be heard , people such as yourself carry a burden in as much as you are the top of the game , if they are not listening to such as yourself then you and others have to shout louder and longer , it comes with your position in this sport . So far i have heard but a wimper from the so called leaders of OUR sport . Hence why we are just treading water .

Can assure you Pam the CD is not travelling any better than yourselfs , lots of people sitting waiting , trying to assess the current situation and what the short term future is going to bring , far less the middle to longer term . Non holding their breath .

Wont win an easier one , great turn of foot , not sure on the quality behind him but he won like he's a couple of levels above .

The stewards report is out and all they say is Extortion shifted in at the 50mtrs and contacted , but he did not contact the 3rd horse , the 3rd horse contacted him after being smashed from the inside . Well that's what i see , maybe i need specsavers , again . I just don't get what they have seen , a horse can move all over the place as long as it's not contacting or dictating another horses line , neither of which Extortion done .

I'm not letting the big clubs off , but i have said in the past let the smaller clubs race , but they mustf ulfill certain KPI's and if they can't then they don't race . This is a major failure , don't know who's at fault , but they are one of the small clubs to run a G1 , get it right . As soon as i seen the little dribbles of water they were putting on with some rain forecast i could see a problem . The big clubs should be held to the same measure and because they have more resources shouldn't f#@k it up , although they do . My point is , and i have been consistent because i believe smaller clubs have their place , but they have to meet standards or they don't get race meetings , certainly not G1 days .

They have just shown it again and i have no idea why the winner was relegated , the inside horse cannoned into the middle horse which connoned into Extortion , he at no stage contacted the winner of his volition , it was all inside out , unbelievable decision , the connections of Extortion have been delt a rough one , along with all the punters that backed this horse late from 14s to 8s .

Well i consider myself pretty objective when it comes to a relegation , i know when my bet is in trouble , but this one has me pissed off . Looking forward to the stewards report .

They wonder why people stop betting , a lot of money on Extortion late so plenty of people pissed off.

Exactly , just said so on the other thread , winner didn't cause the damage , i'm spewing , backed it at 14s , thought oh well i'm sweet , absolutely spewing . Amatuer hour .

Well their own fault , been putting little bits of irrigation on all week , not enough to allow moisture to soak thru . If these smaller clubs want to race produce the tracks or your gone .

Gobsmacked that the winner of the third was relegated , inside horse caused the mess , talking thru my pocket but i thought after watching the replay multiple times there was no way you could say the 3rd horse was going to beat the winner . All happened too close to line as well , spewing .

Rogie had a massive 2yo season a few years back , possibly the last good season he has had .

Strong argument you've got yourself there . It might be a great venue but the track is fecked , if you take your rose tinted glasses off you might notice . We're not so blinkered as yourself to think that Riccarton is alone in the state of it's racing surface , as you might find if you read other posts and threads .

I was just thinking , i don't know if OTB or SOS are even TA's best 2yo . Imperatriz looks something a bit special , i don't know why she hasn't appeared since she done SOS on New Years day , issues obviously , but could be best of the lot on her first two starts . The win at Otaki was a bit special to .

So that assumes that someone wants to study our races and watch them , big call , i feel like poking my eyes out some days .

The thing in TA's case is they are doing it with other people's money , their business model only works for them , the owners are just hoping to luck into one of their good ones . And in their case you have a better chance with them than any of the rest .

Then they have achieved their goal , now go back into the mushroom growing room , please .

Fair enough , but being considerably better than it has been isn't a positive in my book , and IMO and many others it has been knackered for a long long time , and getting a breather whilst runnuing races on an A/W isn't going to be the solve . There is a reason the best racing jurisdicitions re-lay their premier tracks , but it seems to beyond the mental capicity of the powers that be that perhaps we need to start looking to that as a solve to our racing surfaces . You only had to see the track at Awapuni yesterday and to see that the problem is country wide , but no our power brokers don't seem to think they need updating . Good on you saying something , i wish others of your profile would , then they might start taking notice . Hope you weren't in the same room as BS when you told him as i'm sure you would have run out of air , the guys an oxygen thief . Another one taking money for nothing .

Your obviously getting easier to please as you get older . No bias maybe , but the track was a mess , the overhead shots coming across the top showed an extremely worn and patchy track . Well there was no irrigation maybe , yet the shortest way home wasn't the quickest or best , Belle Fracino was about 6 widths of the fence when leading and winning . I also don't recall too many winners sneaking up the fence to win , none in fact , which they should have been considering how far of the fence most horses were racing , there certainly more than enough room to do that , yet no one chose to , go figure . If you consider that track on that day as up to standard for one of NZ's major metropolitan tracks then we're stuffed .