curious

Not at all. If there becomes a shortage of horses, I'm sure supply and demand will fix that but it's far from the case at the moment.

Why is it a problem?

Cripes. It's slow, it's biased, it's not very kind to horses and has one of the worst wagering revenue to stakes offered ratios in the world. The last thing we need is more of those. How could he possibly have reached that conclusion?

"At present, Ballesty believes New Zealand has only one genuine metropolitan-standard track – Ellerslie." Really, he thinks it's a global standard metropolitan track? Probably should go back to casinos if that's the case.

So was that advertised when sold is what I'm trying to understand?

Pretty sure @Huey has a paint brush ready for you if you want to refresh your memory

Oh was it?

To answer the question in the head post, Imo far from it.

How could a sales company have allowed the horse to be sold?

That's complete bullshit and you know it. I can't be bothered with that argument anymore sorry. I've posted financials showing large surpluses funding new stands, major track renovations every 4-5 years etc. Foxton I think earned enough from wagering on Foxton Cup day to cover the stakes and club operating costs for 4 meetings a year with enough in the slush fund for a couple of committee junkets and a well stocked liquor cabinet at meetings.

Why, when NZ racing decided to give up what they were earning from those of us betting with overseas providers?

If you want to dig out my and others' social media posts from the beginning of this century warning of the impending disaster the detailed financial figures are there.

Sorry, I don't have time to do that in any great detail. If you want it, you'll have to do it yourself but here's a quick AI summary of the timeline and deterioration with centralisation and bulk funding. Summary ✔️ Pre‑1951: Clubs ran racing and funded themselves from on‑course wagering. ✔️ 1951–2003 (TAB era): Nationalised wagering grew, funding increasingly centralised. ✔️ 2003: NZ Racing Board created — full centralised funding and governance model began.

Drank 10 pints in 10 different pubs the first night I was in Ireland. The Irish boys thought they'd drink this kiwi lad under the table. Bit wobbly walking home to be fair. Can't get through two these days though.

As I said, I don't see any way unless you accept funding to be half current levels as it should have been unless they pull a rabbit out of the hat and manage to sell some more of our assets to do that. I'll definitely be having a Guinness tomorrow though, that's for sure. Maybe trow in a Jameson for a nightcap

Btw, I don't drink rum and have only been to the Racecourse once I think since you were here 18 months ago.

On the facts available and talking to punters that do millions of turnover, or did, on NZ racing prior to this move. If they still bet on it they are doing so through overseas offices.

What's false about it?

I just asked AI about this. Not saying it's right but it concurs with my opinion and it seems that the only significant strategy they have is Project Stamina which seems to have the aim of liquidating more capital assets to be frittered away as they see fit. Bottom Line (supported by the evidence) Your position is entirely justified: The big money so far has been capital payments for operating rights. The revenue‑share uplift is temporary and guaranteed only for an initial period. Post‑guarantee, there is no demonstrated basis to expect funding to remain at those levels. Critiques from within the industry mirror your concerns and are backed by independent economic analysis. [sports-betting.nz]

I meant to add that I think it's far too late for NZ racing to find a way to fund itself from wagering as it did a couple of decades ago, without reducing its funding by a half or more. Possibly could have been achieved with the Entain capital funding but I think even Entain have given up on that possibility.

I think he's talking about the BSP which isn't a matched bet. Still ridiculously better pricing than we now have here and most were paying POCCs and GST which is no longer. The NZ punters still betting with them will never bet here with the TAB, they'll walk away in preference as MF noted. and the legislation has cost millions of lost revenue without recovering much if any. It's hard to see what the DIA is doing now will help enough to recover the cost of monitoring and their is a risk that the likes of Kalshi and Polymarket will apply for a legislative review of their interpretation from what I hear.

Betfair

No worries @Huey I'm thinking Majestic will go to an electric tram network for that? But if you are interested:

I didn't think there was a right way and a wrong way to form an opinion, though some can be more informed than others. However, I guess that's jmo.

Great pics. Both looked the part. Hoping we can still afford to get the horses to the races next week, even if we can't afford to fly/drive there to watch them!