Special Agent

Such a long time to be racing there and to just stop abruptly. New Zealand should take note. These racecourses in the main centres are being kept with the catch cry to sell off all the small fry. In the end the big centres are going to have no help when it comes to saving them from redevelopment. Most of them already have building encroaching. Start thinking about who is pushing for the small club sales and what their personal agenda is.

By the time you foaled it, weaned it, taught it to lead and tie up, rugged it, branded it, did it's feet, wormed it, floated it etc you might as well have taken a few thousand and donated to a charity.

Yes, such a small market!!! How is this market going to exponentially grow?

The alarm bells were ringing for me when told this by the new New Zealand betting boss. What am I missing about all these announcements? I am not feeling the love for Entain others are.

Most people who make announcements make me sick!! These terms like "I'll engage with the industry", "securing the industry for the future" and "world leading focus on animal welfare" are bullshit. He is going to talk to a racing administrator - big deal. He won't be too worried about the future of the industry as he will hold off making decisions long enough to try to secure his political position next term. So, he's going to be the best in the world at looking after animals is he; animals in this country are already looked after better than it's people. If these are all priorities to be fixed what has he been doing for the last three years? So bloody well effective in the role that it is going to take an outside company from another country to revolutionalise New Zealand Racing. If the relevant boards were/are deemed useless, which his actions are inferring, he has to take a lot of the blame for not monitoring what they've been doing.

I agree with you Centaur. That is how I heard it and I thought that the monopoly was most of the attraction.

Yes, but they plan to introduce another brand in conjunction with the current. Now my memory might be a little hazy but I think Dean said something along the lines that the new brand would be because some would have an aversion to using TAB.

Funny you all had the racing mad Dads. My mother was the one with the gigantic transistor radio.

One thing is they have sold at market value with no inflated running ups.

As Aussie has neds maybe will will have zeds.

Currently TAB

Reon Murtha was the voice of Canterbury racing for quite a period and really loved both codes. He obviously added to the occasion. The vibe hasn't been quite the same since his retirement. I don't think the quick succession of commentators has helped the situation.

I can only reiterate I fail to see how the monetary support from Entain can be sustained once the short term guarantee expires. The turnover must double or treble. Good luck on that. Any amount of new betting product is not going to do that. Some points given at the Road Show include $100,000 put into rewarding stablehands/trackwork riders like the Godolphin Flying Start programme in Australia, increasing stake money at the lower end i.e. $2K into each maiden race similar to what they have done in Tasmania, an emphasis on enticing young patronage on track, encouraging a spread of investment i.e. 10 x $10 bets vs 1 x $100 as a better outcome for Entain retaining the customer as a regular, exciting the betting customer with ownership opportunities through the Entain syndication club, bringing in more betting options but not sure what they will be, a new brand to run alongside current wagering brand, produce a better quality racing product with more races and more starters per race (the Entain input into programming may be significant). There were people taking notes. I wish I had been one of them. So in answer to your question where will the emphasis be, it seems it will be in every area. If what Entain does turns out to be successful the question would have to be asked what use were the Board?

This is what racing administrators either don't realise, or ignore. They have it all wrong. The racing game should be there for everyone to play not just a privileged few. I used to go to every Addington night meeting when I was at school, even in the freezing cold. I haven't turned the TV on to watch Trackside for months as the races don't interest me. As far as small stables are concerned I always marvel at how someone like Snow Lupton could pack up his gear and horse Kiwi and take out the biggest 2 mile race in Australasia in such an unassuming NZ manner. I hope new licencing rules and regulations don't prevent that in the future.

Gammalite, Just like galah was saying we love to focus on negative over positive. The wins by Lord Module in the Allan Matson and the NZ Cup were definite highlights.

The only presentations I know of are the announcement by the Racing Minister and the three Entain Road Shows at Hamilton, Awapuni and Addington. I'm finding the differing interpretations from these announcements interesting. I heard most of the Jason Pine interview with Dean Shannon of Entain today. Dean said this is the first time he has had an agreement with a government, having already gone into 32 other countries. That comment suggests the TAB have been shoved aside and Entain are dealing directly with those at the Beehive. Dean said Entain are concerned that greyhounds and horses are looked after both whilst in work and retired so, that should appease the animal welfare people. Dean met with problem gambling groups on Monday before his presentations to stakeholders which is more than McAnulty did. Before his announcement, despite his report being full of harm minimisation statements, Kieran had only spoken with SAFE and SPCA. Back to these pokies. Is 500 pokies across New Zealand a big percentage? If you look around your area think about how many machines there are in each venue does 500 pokies still seem significant? Is this a smoke screen? Mikeynz asks if the concern could only be to stop a pokie user harming themself. All this talk of harm minimisation is ridiculous. If the harm caused by punting on whichever chosen method is the concern, why does Entain express their objective is to "grow the pie", "increase market share" and however else they describe the method of making people bet and lose more? I have to wonder where it is that everyone thinks we are going to be as an industry in five years? I bet wherever that is Cameron George will be hanging on to a title somehow by his fingernails.

Listen to all those names as you read them out. Fabulous racing in the 1980's. Almost as good as the music and fashion. Fun times.

One of my all time favourite races was the 1981 Allan Matson Free For All won by LORD MODULE. One of the most amazing races I have ever seen. Cecil Devine always struck me as a grumpy old bugger but, he knew how to condition a racehorse.

Do you know how many members of that unit there were before pokies funded it, and how much they got paid? I think the days of the gravy train are over and maybe we should be seeking honorary members for these boards. You might see true racing enthusiasts on top.

I thought one of the emails said SBS computer system starts 1st August

Since when has competition been a bad thing? Where do you all think all these extra punters and extra bets are going to come from? The turnover will need to be massive just to have the same return to racing once Entain takes out their 50%, okay I know that doesn't apply early in the contract. We only have 5 million people, many of them non punters. Do you really think Entain is going to improve the quality of our racing product and increase field size and number of races on a card sufficiently to double or treble investment? It's all very well listening to projections and modelling but it has to turn into reality. I think we should all prepare and look at what part time jobs outside of the racing industry could be going in our area

Yes exactly. Having a bob each way. A bit like the number of hits to their app for problem gamblers. It may be the deal of the century .... only for Entain though.

That quote was a shocker!! It was also against the ideas Entain told us they would implement when they were justifying their inclusion in New Zealand racing.

You have a high opinion of Matt Cross, not my cup of tea. Listening to Entain this is the type of thing they want to do. Jason Teaz might be available. I think Trackside is moving in the wrong direction. The type of pieces the galah would watch would be best served through the internet. If I was presenting on Trackside I would be scared when Entain takes over.

Well hopefully the fine won't stop Jason speaking his mind, just tweak the language. It always pays not to write anything while angry.