TAB For Ever

Yes , Salvi....his last job was up North as head of Manurewa High !

John Goodman remained a stalwart of Nelson sport particularly with Nelson College. Prior to that association I think he was a Primary school teacher. He only passed away in last couple of years.....I spoke several times to his sons Andrew and Chris. Andrew was a very good Nelson and Makos Rugby player ,Captain and goal kicker and in recent years has been and is a Coach in Pro Rugby. RIP John .

There was traffic for miles ....people just parked their car wherever they could and walked on foot. The buildings were shaking with the squash of people ,and some with not so steady foundations moved. And when people had to go , they tended not to move far ! The Ashhurst meeting also attracted 30,000 people and that meeting clashed with Trentham on Anniversary Day .....back in the days when CD and Wellington people enjoyed and supported Horse racing ! Meanwhile the Aussie cricketers are reeling at 34-4. When racing jackpots run the Aussie cricket team would rarely if ever play NZ....they would send over a B team !

Like many I too was surprised when Cameron George was thrust into TWO very difficult roles that had a history of mistakes , turmoil and under-performing ! Particularly when he was often out of the country trying to assist the Warriors thru Covid etc. Most predicted he had little chance of success. Well last year the Warriors lifted both their performance and profile considerably. While NZTR now has 'new' hope for the immediate future at least .......the crucial participants in Industry ,the Owners and punters seem to be giving others a quite positive feeling. Obviously one man can't take all the credit or blame for the work/direction of the Board but I think CG has stepped up and kept things afloat , so credit where credit is due ! Don't know him personally but watched his efforts as a Stipe and his progress since. Saw him at Ellerslie yesterday and said to hi.....Great work with the Warriors [ sadly they had lost !] and thanks for your work with Racing ! About then someone walked past with Legarto's oversize cheque for $500 k.

No egg Walt , no worries ! This the internet ,never let the facts get in the way of a good story ! Bevan Congdon another useful cricketer from Nelson/Motueka region and they performed well for many years in the Hawke Cup region for Minor Associations .Jeff Rackley played a bit with their regulars Reade, Lowans , Hampton ,Pierce etc then much later Tony Blain among others.One big talent Wayne Hodgson was too good at too many things like golf and Bowls as well plus other distractions !!! He part-owned top galloper Italian Saint with other Nelsonians. I once helped research a document of top NZ sports people from Nelson...Dixon [ x 2 ] ,Toni Hodgkinson , Olympic Sailors etc Phil Jones [Reefton] Jo Edwards.It was quite a small document but since the Makos[ Marlborough] saved Rugby there , the earthquake and sports kids have gone to bigger cities /overseas with professional career offers the next chapter will be much bigger with several All Blacks . Finn Delaney [B/Ball] and the Irish winger James Lowe . Can't recall either a Walt or Clint Eastwood in my study but hey , no body knows everything . Also did research on Cricket in Nz and recall in 1970 Auckland Primary team there names like Jeff Crowe and Martin Sneddon.

Yes sounds right.......its a balance ,like any retail business each product has a different mark up or profit ,as does any outlet /location . There are loss leaders , gimmicks and promotions. Most race meetings lose money but in the wash up the organisation has enough income streams to make a profit which it allocates to certain areas where the future can be sustained. History tells us at TAB what courses can promote the sport/industry best and handle the races with the big races [stakewise] which encourages owners to heavily invest in the horses etc who provide the betting options. Recently these mug owners were receiving about 25% back from what they invested.......without them and if we at TAB had to buy all of the Horses the industry would not last 5 minutes. Keyboard warriors often go to a picnic meeting on a public holiday and bang on about it.....in very early days most towns in NZ had a racetrack , but fortunately many of these closed down and there is more to go......NZ Racing ensures that the ones worth keeping are kept eg Wairarapa ,West Coast , Central Otago . Its kinda suggested that these small jewels who get their day in sun should have considerably more meetings but it wouldn't and couldn't work .Cos it is great to picnic with kids a little bit the novelty would soon wear off . Hence the bigger , better known tracks get more meetings.Even they struggle on many days to attract betting from tough overseas competition [especially Australia ]. So yes Tauherenikau beat Te Rapa in oncourse turnover just like Reefton beat Ellerslie 3 years ago. And they even had an entry gate fee for Reefton and Tauherenikau , none for the big dogs, Impressive. Lets start a movement to get these days rescheduled.Must be a winner if suggested on here !

Cos I object to the clause re 'parasites'.......and the myth about 'kids games and picnic 'days being of use in this modern era. Would better reopening TAB's and offering a a free baby sitting service for day and teaching the kiddies how to fill in a bet slip ! Cheer up Cyril !

Sorry Gamma , bit late, just home from beaut day at Ellerslie. Delayed start and good success in last ! Picks... R5 1 & 4 Go Kiwi ! R6 2 & 3 R7 7 & 9 Enjoy the nights action !

God is good , but why does he create such negative thoughts among his human beings ? It is a maximum size field , with a few hopefuls missing out it has is the biggest of our 3200m Cups as far as money and 'aura' and many connections and jockeys want to win it. The field can only be the best of what is around at present time....No Aussies this year like the past 3 and no Mainlanders tho Kylie Williams is having her first ride at Ellerslie ,having never ridden north of Rotorua. That 's an extra twist..... Over the years it has often been a race lacking in top class highly rated horses hence a drop in status But it still the Auckland Cup ! Peace be with you !

Yep ,haven't been there the past couple of years but suffered thru many editions prior so if thats out of touch ,then I out of touch. But following the betting numbers it has been one of the biggest in turnover. Unsure with Covid years and two years ago it was wet and miserable. But 5000 to me is a nice comfortable crowd and I'd say take the kids out and 5000 is a good crowd. Plus I know of several TAB workers who were flown down to man the selling windows these past few years from Auckland so the point of my post was still relevant IMO. I think you have pointed out they no longer count the attendance , so with the smaller clubs who have few meetings but a gate charge I get a feel by looking at the Clubs accounts !

My Nelson family who have lived there for 50 years often dream of living up Princess Drive with all the rich people ! The dress circle of Nelson ,surrounded by rich Americans and former CEO's of big business and heads of worlds biggest hedge funds. But also just a good stone's throw from the more basic area of Victory where the ordinary people live. PD is my family's short cut to the Tahuna Beach below ! Your excuse not to drive 2 x hours to the Westport trots is one most Nelson harness followers use , hopefully you attend the local meetings or you will lose them. Do you even have a day in June now ?? Million dollar view .....my family used to rent in Rocks road opposite Hualashore Rock.

CORRECTION............The Andertons have held up Otago racing ........not contributed to current bleakness ! Last paragraph above , for those who have read above........quite a good summary if I do say myself ! Anyone been to Nelson gallops may remember Superman ,or Compensate or Grand Couer ! Or Shorty Healy !

I see your regular fans support , as per usual ,your take on things racing ! I'm impressed your 1 yr old grand daughter heading for a 'horsey' future ....but I wouldn't bet on it. Shame Black Beauty ,Ed the talking horse wasn't still on TV or National Velvet at the movies ! You have trotted the example of NELSON out before.......IMO somewhat embellished. Some of my family has happily lived in Nelson for 50 years so experienced the demise of Gallops in the area plus the decline in Harness as well ...a sleepy inertia ,but at least there a still a few Trotters in the area.When the gallops folded there was basically NO local horse population ,Nelson was hosting only 2 x gallops a year ...also 4 x trot days , now down to 3. The 2x gallops were in early April and were mainly supported by North Island trainers even some of the best .....Eales, Temperton , RMarsh , Rogerson , Bergerson ,PCampbell ,Cutterbuck. When the end was inevitable did they try and awake the sleepy locals in giving massive support to the gallops...NO......they turned to the poor people of Avondale in Auckland ! Genius ! Nelson was one of the first places to start Gallops in NZ and one of the first Jockey Clubs to form here. They had the famous Mr Redwood who bred horses , top horses and travelled far and wide to race them . However , as most Race Clubs struggled financially......there were far too many tracks most towns had one or two , The Nelson Club decided to sell their well laid out track and facilities to the Agricultural Club and rent thereafter. It wasn't long before the 'horse region' moved south to Canterbury. Nelson soon became a minnow ! Nelson gallops eventually folded because its locals had little interest and had found other things for their entertainment and gambling. By 1987 when LOTTO started things were grim. Nelson had become the retirement ,backpackers and dope smoking Capital of NZ. Around that time The Honda Car factory and Griffins biscuit factory closed and 'sunshine wages' became the norm. The high paying labour jobs in big Fish industry went to immigrants from Pacific or they just flew people in to hop on the trawlers. Great place to live but the retired people don't bet much ,neither did the European/USA folk who started all the wineries and art& craft industries.Add the fact that Nelson was most expensive place in NZ to live with Grocery prices , Petrol and the greenie Council rates etc. Around the time Gallops folded and Lotto etc emerged the 10 nightclubs all closed ! Nelson racing lacked the tenacity and robustness of neighbours on the West Coast or even boring old Blenheim. I believe Mikie from Blenhein kept the Nelson racing going for many years with his administration and funding ability.....from BlenheimDefinitely the Harness which since him have done some of their running of Club from Christchurch. Harness in early January gets boomer crowds cos half of Canterbury up there. Locals have little appetite for racing , they never have ! Even in other sports they have needed an ultimatum of sorts to wake them out of their retirement mode......most young folk leave area for good after School finishes....Nelson now has good Rugby ground ,Cricket ground for Internationals , big Sprts stadium , Athletics track etc.... They have Blenheim to thank for saving rugby....when Gallops folded they were close to worst rugby team in NZ.....with Buller and East Coast....but that a story for another time. If Nelson betting ever plummeted it was from very poor to atrocious ! You need to find a better and less embellished example........Wellington let Harness fold , and Dunedin which was one of the biggest Gallops areas in NZ and hosted the Interdominions in Harness[ 1965] let Trotting fold and the gallops scene looks bleak as well , in no small way thanks to the Anderton Dynasty . Their track still hosts plenty of meetings !

Interesting .....is this something you have introduced or tried to introduce to Clubs ? Calls for change ,and many of us racefolk don't react kindly or quickly to change. The meetings which have a big on-course crowds nowdays like Cup Week in Christchurch , Kumara ,Nelson Trots ,Wellington Cup and few others have to ship or fly in Tote staff to sell tickets at the tote. Many of these people brought in from other end of New Zealand eg Auckland. They fly down to Wellington and Christchurch and up from Dunedin. During Cup week I noticed several were leaving early before end of day , then returning again for the big Saturday. When Nelson/Kumara back to back they have the fun of a bus ride and tiki tour to man the tills !

I think Alicia is on injured list so resting from driving currently. She was involved in a very serious car accident in past two years ,was quite lucky to survive ! The 'new girl' had a dream debut with a good win but the Stewards showed little understanding and lightened her purse of NZ$200 for breach of push out rule ! There is a short interview with her on FB....on Jo Stevens' page .....Track Chat Jo does a lot of good work in Harness , as well as being a Trainer ,Mum ,pre-trainer ,rehomer etc etc

Walt I trust you enjoy the trip down to the Coast for trots....hope weather stays fine. Yes the appeal of todays meeting much more than ATC tonight , where Warriors game of much more interest. With small fields tonight there will be plenty of time for mention of the Iceman , the Wizard etc All good in the City of Sails thanks !. Take care in Rocks Road ,I believe there are falling rocks !

Sometimes true , and in your case it created a lifetimei interest. The families we often went with were involved in ownership and Club administration and not ONE of their whanau developed any interest at all. Sure kids like the running races , candyfloss and bouncy castle but very few nowdays create any interest in racing at all. They can't even pick up the tickets off ground to check if they make any money. All my kids , sisters kids and related family members never go near a race meeting....why....it is so damn boring ,a few horses running ,some plodding around a big track for 2 mins every 40 minutes. Not one vaguely interested even if their parents and grand parents ,uncles etc went regularly before them and/or worked at races on day. A lot of the so called 'parasites' are regular race attenders , bet regularly etc will become owners and are the future of Racing. Picnic races on public holidays traditionally get the good crowds ,often the only thing on. Young people too busy at beach ,waterskiing ,music festival , concerts , sport , malls...not interested to drive 60 - 180 mins to race meeting. 'Parasites' an inappropriate term and should be kicked to touch !

May be cost cutting but a lot of security on hand...increasing that. NZ Cup closed off at 15,000 so clearly tops from Karaka Day closed off at 12,000.. Yes Tauherenikau gets great crowds but judging from their accounts it not reflected in gate takings so obviously a hell of a lot of kids. Great country /picnic atmospher. They were on one lisI saw at about 6th best in NZ a few years back. Against predictions on here , Riccarton managed big crowd without Public stand....the boot parties and music dancers didn't care. And I think entry $50 from memory ! So price OK for FOMO. The place to be !

A nice , comfortable crowd there..... I'd guess it will sneak into the Top 10 gallops meetings of year for attendance , as it did in the early days of the change over for Derby from Boxing Day to March around 2011. It was actually 5th in 2011 after Boxing day was top equal with NZ cup day with 20,000.Then in 2012 Boxing Day day was 25,000 before the 'rot' set in with change in BYO liquor laws and every one leaving town. Back then Auckland had 3 x days in the top10 for oncourse gallops attendance....now it has 5 in top 10 with Karaka day 12000 picking up a bit of slack. Re betting , in year 2017-18 Wellington Cup day led with $5.4 on their day , NZ Cup next on $5.2 then ATR had next 4 slots with Jan 1 , then Cup day, Derby Day , and Karaka with Melbourne Cup day at Ellerslie in 9th... So with food and beverage offerings more intense now the overall result would be interesting with the years that the Infield was open for BYO. The gate charge is an interesting one...been debated for years , Some say putting a value on Entry increases the 'value perception' to many. Maybe should encourage Membership as gate charges apply to main 5 x days and free book and some privileges with other Clubs too. Of course betting now encouraged to be on line.....less windows operating. The beaut newly renovated Birdcage Sports bar had no tills with people selling on Derby day ,but about 5 x machines.It was a big 'private' function so unsure about future operations.

Indeed true ,but with horse numbers as they are there should be at least a serious effort to increase numbers of horses ready to race NOW. No use providing breeding bonus's and big stakes for next years races when the need is now/yesterday. 20-30 horses from lower in the Country would be a help. Results of wagering this week in North will be terrible , Thursday at Cambridge and tiny fields on Friday , v both Rugby and Warriors opening game ! Southern numbers will hold up and those Clubs must be wondering how long will they be giving the North a leg-up ! But then do the South Islanders want to see the ATC trotting fold ....HRNZ may not be keen to dish out the current funding for Cambridge /Manawatu and some grass track racing which would eat into the Southerns Sunday wagering !

Yes ,very sad for all concerned !

A couple of Questions..... 1. Was Merv a huge punter or a huge bookmaker , that is accepting other punters bets ! 2. If so was this the reason he liked to stay low key ? 3.Was Bookmaking illegal / ps ...I think I know the answer to Q 3.

Surely you saw a bit of 'cheek in tongue' in my logic , mainly I was correcting the the opening post which had no allowance for the Cambridge noms. I daresay the Coast meetings will both head off the combined betting numbers of the two Northern meetings .You heard it here first.....as long as the weather OK , I see peoples roofs were flying in the air on the Coast today ! Re your point on Canterbury trainers not travelling to Coast in March...surely you jest ! Most of them are taking horses....a lot of big hitters....MJones,Dunns,Purvis, House, Nairn , Hope ,Stuart, Barron, Negus Bamford. Aside from Allstars and Dalgety really only RButt missing. The 'top trainers in Canterbury ' on both wins and starters currently would be Dunns, MJones and House. And Bamford doing well with wins so the best trainers well represented . My final point is that the back to back Cambridge and Auckland is a big NO-NO currently....simply not the horses

It generally agreed that running back to back meetings at Cambridge and Auckland should NOT happen in current state where there is an obvious horse shortage ! This week Cambridge had 91 noms for 8 x races while ATC had 59 [ouch] for 9 races., including 2 x 2 yr old races . The boys got a field but only 2 x fillies. ATC also had an Open FFA[Mobile] headed by Self Assured [ 5 x noms].So these races unique from Cambridge but overall there were still some DUAL nominators. But the Trot races were bizarre IMO..ATC had a $20k Trot for rated 50 + trotters and got 6 noms... includes 3 x DUAL ,1 rated 45 ! Cambridge had their $20 k BOP Cup Trot and got 27 noms , noting excess noms would be in extra race for $12.5 k. How can this type of thing happen ?

That only half the story......Cambridge on Thursday had 91 . So looking at the numbers , one could argue that North had 146 so edges out the Canterbury influx to the Coast as mostly they the same horses. North 146 , Coast 143 [ average] A rare win for North. But nothing can mask the fact the North is desperately short of Horses and the back to back meetings of Cambridge on Thursday into Auckland on Friday is a very flawed strategy ! Of course Oamaru races this week and big meeting at Invercargill on Saturday too !