hesi

Sounding unusually positive, has someone hacked you. I think the aim is to get some topliners come and race in NZ. The stakes for the 3 KM races and the Kiwi are comparable with what is available in Aus and the KM's and to a lesser extent the Kiwi, fall at a time when there is not a lot going on in Melbourne and Sydney. Top horses coming from Aus adds legitimacy to what they doing here. The 2nd and 3rd tier horses coming helps but seen by most as second rate Aussie horses picking off our best races

Correct, Moir Stakes, by Baraqiel, a little bit more than a nose. It is hard to know how a horse might go in Aus. Roch 'N' Horse ran 2nd in a Telegraph, then went over and won the Newmarket and Champions Sprint (both G1) beating Nature Sprint

Meaning the stake money while improved in NZ, along with the travel incentive, is still not enough to attract top tier Aussie horses

Take the Aussies out and still very good fields. The Aussie horses are 2nd and 3rd tier horses anyway

Was never going to. It is fine and blustery today and tomorrow in Auckland so that track should come back to a G4

The days of good old wet tracks at Ellerslie are over. That new track will be a S5 or 6. Thursday and Friday look fine, with maybe a shower or 3 on Saturday.

Disagree It is a long time since we have had 11,14,16,14,14 and 13 horse fields, with almost every horse having a good form line next to its name. I could only find a handful, like Sacred Satono in the railway, and it could even win. You must be very hard to please

The point I was making was that in the past we have seen a lot of stake money put up, and the usual line you see on social media is, they could have put up half that amount and still got the same field. Well this time, I don't think that applies. Good money attracting good fields. The only exception being the Railway, where the first 5 from the Telegraph are absent, which is disappointing

You would have to say that the fields for KM evening are very good.

I don't know Entain have funded several of these bonus schemes and races, and from what I can see, it is not improving the overall quality of horses racing in NZ. The best horses either get picked off by cash rich Aus owners, or are very quickly sent across the Tasman to race, once the Spring racing kicks in. The 3 HB G1 races are usually used as a steppingstone.

The overall aim of these bonuses (this is yet another one), is to retain quality horses in NZ, so the quality of the fields rises and betting turnover increases. I'm not sure this will have any impact on this objective. Quality NZ 4-year-old horses tend to stay in NZ for all or some of the first G1's, namely the Hawkes Bay carnival, then the best ones are off to Aus for the Victorian Spring racing. Any Aus horses that compete in the Kiwi, how likely are they to come back for HB, when the Victorian Spring racing is the attraction. The $500K bonus is not large enough to change this. The 2 best 3 year olds from last season never competed as 4 year olds in NZ because they got purchased for big money by Aus. This bonus nor any other bonus would have changed that

Boxing Day and New Years Day at Ellerslie was a must, so yes been to many cups. Of course the lead up race the Queen Elizabeth was also a great betting race, along with the King's Plate, that had real WFA horses back then I can recall many years ago my father got a tip for Perhaps, which came in at about 20's.

Racing: ATC move to give Auckland racing its greatest carnival 15 Nov, 2005 10:19 PM4 mins to read Save Share Auckland is to get a cup week to rival Christchurch's annual racing extravaganza - which will mean two Auckland Trotting Cups this season. In one of the most radical moves in its history, the Auckland Trotting Club will hold an extra cup this season on March 10 in an effort to develop a serious tri-code carnival alongside the galloping and greyhound cups. That will mean Alexandra Park hosts a $250,000 cup on December 31 and another on March 10, with the March move likely to be permanent. "We are committed to creating a cup week for Aucklanders like the one they have in Christchurch," said ATC president Sid Holloway. "The Auckland Racing Club has made the move and we want to support the idea. "Cup week in Christchurch is amazing for racing and for the city itself and there is no reason we can't have one even bigger. "We know these things take time to catch on but we will give it our full support and are committed to our cup staying at the March date for at least a few years until we see how it develops. "We are excited about the idea and looking forward to the challenge of building our own Auckland cup week." Not just the date change will be radical but the conditions of the race will be greatly changed. The December 31 cup could be the last one run over 3200m from a standing start, with the March 10 race almost certain to be a 2700m mobile. That is partly to help trainers setting their horses for the rich all-mobile Tasmanian Interdominion series which starts nine days later. "We realise trainers won't want to have a 3200m stand a week before the Inters and we are going to work with them on that." Holloway says his board realises the Auckland Trotting Cup stake has to be increased to keep pace with other Australasian features like the Miracle Mile, Hunter Cup, New Zealand Cup and the staggering A$1.5 million ($1.6 million) Interdominion Final this season. "We can't afford to raise the stake this season because we are now holding two of them but we will definitely look at it for next season. "I don't think a race of $350,000 to $400,000 is unrealistic." The move will be a huge boost for Kiwi trainers who can race in the new Auckland Cup as their final lead-up to the Interdominions. But the pacer ATC officials are most hoping to attract to their new cup is glamour mare Mainland Banner, who won last Tuesday's New Zealand Cup. Her connections had no interest in the Auckland Cup last week and understandably so as Mainland Banner would have faced the 10m backmark in only her second open class start. But a March 10 Auckland Cup over 2700m mobile could fit nicely into her plans and would give Auckland harness fans their first chance to see the great mare. "We would love her to make her Alexandra Park debut in the new cup and will be talking to her connections about that," said Holloway. The latter date for the cup should also see more high class four-year-olds involved, horses like Baileys Dream, Badlands Bute, Presido and Classic Cullen far more likely to take on the open class horses in March than December. That would be a major win for the ATC as this season's four-year-olds look more glamorous than the established stars. The ATC's move was warmly greeted by the Auckland Racing Club, who were originally rebuffed when they approached the ATC about joining them by moving their cup to March. The ARC has moved its two biggest races, the Derby and Cup, to March in an effort to replicate the carnival atmospheres of Melbourne and Christchurch. "We are thrilled the ATC has made the move as well and Auckland will now have a real cup week," said Ellerslie chief executive Chris Weaver. "I think the three cups in the same week will compliment each other and be a huge pull for racing fans and tourists from here and Australia." Auckland's Cup Week March 3: Auckland Trotting Cup lead-up, Alexandra Park. March 4: $600,000 Mercedes Derby and $50,000 Kings Plate, Ellerslie. March 7: Alexandra Park March 8: $600,000 Auckland Cup, Ellerslie March 9: Auckland greyhound cup. March 10: $250,000 Auckland Trotting Cup, Alexandra Park March 11: $150,000 Diamond Stakes (2-y-os) and $150,000 New Zealand Stakes, Ellerslie.

I think I recall that when in their wisdom, they decided to wreck the 4 day carnival at Ellerslie and have a second carnival in March, that it included the Harness and Greyhound cups

They must have figured out that they could make a bigger margin on FO betting as they seem to want to phase our tote betting. Would be surprised though as tote betting had some decent takeouts. Win/place 15%, doubles, quinellas etc 20% and some of the exotics as high as 25%. Or is it a matter of sports is the future and that is all FO, so they are increasingly left with this white elephant that is the racing totalisator

Be interested to know what those restricted would be costing them each year. Surely it can't be that much, knowing the small percentage that win. You can almost deduce that it is a small amount based on the huge losses that punters incur. Enough to fund a racing industry. The no deductions policy gained them a lot of kudos. To have a no restrictions policy would be also win them a lot of kudos. As I said I don't know what it would cost them, so that is the proviso. Maybe a case of the pros outweighing the cons. I recall the TAB always used to advertise; you know the odds now beat them

More of their garbage, Stuff illustrates the reasons why many people have turned off mainstream media. For a start they only call NZ, Aotearoa. Not sure what decided they had the right to re-name this country. Maybe the contract they signed when the Labour Govt was in power, under the guise of the PIJF (Public Interest Journalism Fund), and got paid millions of dollars.

You might remember that the Racing Board ran the TAB, the broadcasts etc etc. Bit of a poke in the eye with a blunt stick, but they had huge overheads and costs, yet could not find the money to go through and put many of our best races onto digital. I corresponded at the time with a guy called Antony Corban at the RB who was looking after the videos and there was no appetite or money to get degrading celluloid transferred to digital

Pardon my ignorance and an indication of how long ago I took an all up, but they were discontinued in Dec 2024. But yes, they went on tote odds and a large all up could significantly affect the price on a horse

Yes the heritage of NZ racing is in the legacy that all those great horses have left. Some videos on YouTube but most look like they are lost forever, only to remembered in the minds of the slowly aging people who either saw the races in person or watched on TV. And they will be gone in time. A crime that NZ racing never looked after its heritage and made sure they were preserved. If not all races, then all the feature races over the years. Particularly disappointed that I cannot watch Zonda winning the 1997 Derby. I was there and it was a tremendous run, I even have some pics of him in the parade ring with Vinnie Colgan up, just before he went out and won

NZ Racing also, with all those videos on tape. I actually looked into this and apparently all of the tapes are in storage in Wellington, slowly degrading. The cost to convert to digital is apparently in the millions, but the tapes are probably too far gone by now

Navigator certainly had the stats for that race and blew out to 40/8. I don't bet much these days, but had a $10 Top 3 multi, Doctor Askar/La Dorada/Navigator for a nice collect that would have been over double had it been an all up!

Could be a good idea. A wall of horses in front of it on New Years Day, so not persevered with to finish last in a good field. The Railway on Jan 24 is going to be a great race with a couple of Aussie group winners, plus Alabama Lass, First Five and another up and comer in Sweynesday

Speak with data, no point, info only