mikeynz

All the main races now are being won by a few very well run stables, and in a purely business sense these guys are onto it, especially up north, especially with the young races, who can blame them, dairy farming the same, many of the smaller operators are gone now but as it's customery there are highs and lows, often the bigger one is the harder to fall in a downturn, always been like that, time will tell regarding harness, whatever it does it simply has to work within it's means, is the present situation sustainable, time will tell, no good worrying what will be will be.

I think in the main pacers races at Alexandra Park a rating 90 is racing some who are in the 50s, they call noms and then make the fields but is that competitive like for like racing, can't blame connections putting horses up for racing but a 35 points variance, that's a lot, at least the Cup at Invercargill is rating 70 with handicap, good they didn't have to adjust to a 55+ or something, just to make up numbers.

Some good money up for grabs this week at Invercargill, poor fields for what is probably their big day of the year, the cup field ain't too bad though but then heaps of money at Ashburton for some average run of the mill horses, nice for those who are cashing in though while its there, but is having the Ashburton and Invercargill programmes within 2 days of each other smart, seems Invers has been affected considerably, is this perhaps another example of poor decisions by HRNZ ?

Looks to me Ashburton $60000 day has impacted significantly on this day, not smart in my opinion, the Cup race looks ok, the hanicapping system is creating a situation where anything over rating 55 is almost non existent in the South these days or maybe the present handicapped system is not fit for purpose as a rule. Westports been demoted to their Cup being a rating 46 Motukarara has the 50+ race yet yesterday Rangiora ran a 55 race with good numbers, something wrong somewhere.

So serious sports punters not welcome ? Normally if your not welcome somewhere your told go somewhere else but where, the cartels have eliminated opposotion/alternatives.

I think the sports maximum minimum limit or whatever you call it is $1000 dollars on head to head so really that is piss all too and if you could land one big bet on the Cricket would you trust this lot to accept another big bet on the opposite result during the game to guarantee a profit, Betfair was the place for that.

Next meeting at Manawatu is Jan 8th, is a single day, might not be there.

What you waited 9 months for that, the things we do sometimes.

Strange as it, on Facebook quite a few there reckon it's a great show, they will most likely be aged 30 or less, I think it achieves nothing but the younger generation are different, I'm sure all us oldies were no different 30 plus years ago, I simply don't watch it, these days I'm watching less and less racing, when I do I can happily watch the racing and not even bet, not sure Entain would encourage everyone doing that lol.

I think it's important to have some iconic races with large stakes such as the Cup, and the Dominion and many of the supporting races, age group etc etc around cup time, everyone racing a horse has to have a summit to aspire too, unfortunately most of the money goes across the Tasman but would they come if stakes were a lot less? I just think HRNZ are overdoing the spending on many 2 and 3 year old races with a handful of starters especially early in the season, more modest stakes would suffice, i note the Kindergarton Stakes has dropped 10 grand and a 2yo fillies race at Winton has dropped from 70000 to 40, same stake as the Leonerd stakes at Addington, some have been way over the top. I would love to see after the Invercargill Cup, Westport on day 1 , Omakau and Nelson day 2 get their main races get bumped up considerably so those 3 clubs are getting their fair share back based on what they produce in turnover, they shouldn't be subsidizing others, moving the Auckland Cup to the same weekend of the galloping cup in March would also make sense, about a month before the slots races, the Auckland Cup on new year's eve don't give it it's best exposure, people are in holiday/ pissup mode on Dec 31, they probably don't care if draught horses were running lol they would probably turnup and mid January into February is probably the time our better pacers could chase some races in Oz with the culmination being the Hunter Cup in mid Feb. Interestingly Westports main race has been reduced to rating 46+ race, and Banks Peninsula has a rating 50+ race, the numbers for Westports main races have been falling as a result, Nelson probably don't help themselves by running most races on day 2 over a mile, that probably chases a few away and recently their fields have been small, not helped by Timaru racing 2 days before day 1, and Ashburton racing midweek after day2, if they want to keep these clubs going they need to adjust the odd days in the Calander.

So are you suggesting there are more than the usual😎

I wonder who those 200 offshore bookies are, sounds a bit far fetched.

You wonder if they are letting the big sports punters on in the head to head options, on the Cricket, Rugby and the like, recently with Geo blocking they extended the punters promise to some sports options to a minimum of a $1000, so one wonders what happens to the guys who might want 50 grand on the ABs or the Aussie head to head, Betfair was the place for them, even had honest cash outs, are those punters being accepted or are not welcome, meaning many have given up.

Didn't mention his strange perception of people in the South, especially having lived there once he should have been a bit smarter on that one, didn't understand that my attitude of Auckland which many agree with as in the way it's changing in demagraph is correct, I think living there you will develop a distorted perception of the rest of the country, he certainly did on that one, was still good giving him a hard time on anything Auckland, one thing he did teach us is, you can be here today gone tomorrow which puts most things in perspective that many of the things we really worry about don't matter that much in the final reality.

Fields in Southland ain't that bad in winter. Just at present like yesty were poor, 2 days in 4 days, no wonder.

There are some really good races at Addington, high stakes, high quality horses but not really good betting races, and that just seems the way is most days, if the stakes are good but the wagering ain't, it's gotta be a recipe for disaster, one day there has to be a correction, work within ya budgets.

Well just imagine the landscape if they had closed those tracks by 24 25 as was the theory.

Southland did race on Sunday, so what does one expect, Cambridge had good fields last week but no Auckland the day after, it's not rocket science, Southland do need a longer season but the winter rewards series in August was complimented by one of their better July August weather period and yes the gallopers are more interesting most times in the South, I think the lack of overkill does help.

So long since racing last held in Hawkes Bay many must have died off meaning lots of new race goers at Waipuk must be first timers lol, good crowd it seems.😁

Maybe they had a look at one of their shows and saw what others saw and then thought what others thought as well

I reckon the West Indies have finished early today so they can take in Out the Gate and Manawatu Trots 😁

I'm going to sound like a stuck record but I reckon Blenhiem should be back on the calandar but not running your average run of the mill meeting but a feature meeting, which is a Wednesday Saturday, in summer, perfect place for a Canterbury v Central Districts meeting, if the likes of Michael House travels regurley across the straight for the Palmy trots whats wrong with the gallops guys doing it, eases the load of one or two tracks too, if Harness can do it with Kaikoura with big crowds why can't racing?

You sure?

Wouldn't guarantee Leap To Fame will win FFA either, might be a replica of the Cup with two hotshots canceling each other out, setting things up nicely for the likes of Merlin, we will see in time.

Not sure if anything Mick says is gospel regarding punting, still enjoyed his chat with Mark Purdon.