Special Agent

A whole training centre might have to cater for reverse galloping for starters.

Ellerslie vs Awapuni ?

There would be a lot members and staff of clubs who would love to be in the position of breaking even.

Writing is an art that not everyone has grasped.

Oh dear, what a read. There has been 8 months lost on rectifying Hastings. The decision announced by Matt Ballesty is contrary to the opinion of the resident caretaker. Now getting Awapuni back is not going to be rushed. It's a shame that approach wasn't taken before. Trainers need to know in advance where the races are going to be held. No shit Sherlock. The experts who fixed Ellerslie are being brought in for Awapuni. So what other experts were utilised at Awapuni till now? Organic matter will be created at Awapuni to provide a more natural surface. Is this a joke? A more natural surface is required for a turf track, and the NZ racing industry needed overseas experts to express that little gem. If Stephen Nickalls horse had not slipped in Race 1 at Awapuni on Anzac Day when would the known "rocks under the track surface" have been revealed? The flash tracks, the flash equipment, the flash personnel are being shown up by the country bumpkin committees with their shoe string budget and non-flash stuff.

That is one hell of a lot of life members. Hard to create a vibrant vibe with a stuffy sect.

Let's face it, if a track is good enough for jumpouts or trials the track surface must be okay. There must be sufficient tie up stalls. Some of the stands at these places are sub-standard but, I think that is irrelevant as the industry really needs to look at some of these venues running race meetings with minimal crowds for now so we at least have racing. Does anyone know how many courses are not funded by NZTR? Can anyone work out why the racing industry isn't self funded?

It would be nice to think increased activity has been taken into account. Training would not include regular unlimited use on the course proper of course.

Foxton has other revenue streams though. Event centres and hospitality venues aren't the only way to bring some cash in.

Is that what Trentham, Awapuni and Hastings have been doing?

There might be some tweaking to come. Waipukurau at Hastings, and Hawkes Bay at Waipukurau. Interesting none-the-less.

And that is why you are the accountant. Wages are definitely a huge expense.

Sounds like a case of blind them with science. Maybe it's science fiction.

Are wages not overheads?

One thing I think about costs to run a rural outfit as opposed to a city one appears to me to be a corporate expectation of the city employees. I feel the overheads are lower in the country areas because of the roll up your sleeves mentality. In my opinion people who live in suits seem a bit more precious, they don't take a cut lunch to work, don't source multiple quotes, can't wait for a better deal and quite like looking out over the empire. There are some very knowledgeable and practical people out a bit.

Take it as a compliment. I am.

Or pretty much any club, to be fair.

All other clubs and trainers will be drooling. How fantastic to see a racing club expanding when others have driven their assets into the ground. Then there's those clubs not in debt and minding their own business expected to give up what they do have to the failures. Well done Matamata.

Were the comments on the missing threads, like the synthetic tracks, too close to the bone for some?

The membership numbers highlight the disaster in any club joining RACE. Has Ashurst Pohangina got no members remaining? The old boys of the clubs would tell you what the assets of each joining club paid for. Ashurst Pohangina may have purchased the land in Te Wanaka Road for training stables which has been sold (or partially sold) for the development which has stalled due to various ongoing problems. I notice on here Trentham is noted several times as having no horse training population. This should not be considered an impediment. It is widely accepted horse training operations run at a loss, with Cambridge and Matamata exceptions to that rule. Like Trentham, Ellerslie has no training. CD racing has an interesting training model. The largest training centre is Awapuni which is well shy of the number of horses in training guaranteed in the application for the Provincial Growth Fund. CD is an area which boasts large private training facilities, thus significant individual trainer investment. Someone on here may have the figures of horse numbers trained at Riccarton and Rangiora which might support claims the latter is fast becoming a very important and strategic training venue, even since such reports as the Messara version came into being. Quite an amazing evolution without, and perhaps against, traditional racing administration. Thank goodness for cross code collaboration.

The article and photo with Terry and Debbie Kennedy brought a tear to my eye. I've known Jamie for years and he's been a great servant to racing. Such a sad way to go but, you know what he's still upbeat, grateful and thinking of others. Some people moan about nothing. I wish the world had more Jamie Searle's.

That is only supposing "the industry" is paying, not the individual clubs.

I think the more immediate problem is Hastings. At least we are currently racing at Trentham. It has become such a problem in that racing participants are needing to even think about club finances when they should be just turning up and competing on a safe surface with decent facilities.

Yes, you are right. Although that saddle is small and light it's not unusual to see a raceday saddle weigh less than 130g. The interesting part of the photo is that the irons are quite a heavy version of a light variety at about 190g for the pair. Light irons are commonly 120g or less for both irons. Funny to think of a saddle and irons being the equivalent of cutting a pound of butter in half.

Yes, the track was a little too good for some fronting up today mid-May at Trentham. I'd say make the most of it as June and July will be more saturating.