curious

By an "own goal" you mean that the clubs concerned brought it on themselves?

Yep. What we said. And the headline. And all from wagering revenue which doesn't come close to covering stakes for a single meeting here.

Wagering key in prizemoney boosts Ben Sporle @bensporle Wagering results will determine any further prizemoney announcements and bonuses for the autumn carnival according to new RV CEO Andrew Jones. RV announced an uplift of over $26 million to prizemoney levels in June but also flagged to review industry performance throughout the second half of 2022 before making a final determination on prizemoney for the 2023 Festival of Racing. “We are distributing as much in prizemoney as we think the industry can sustainably afford,” Jones told After the Last. “If we think wagering is going to fall off a little bit we will leave a margin of safety in our P and L (profit and loss). “But once we are confident in our revenue we distribute a percentage as prizemoney and we allocate that across the spring carnival, autumn carnival but also the day-to-day racing and which is probably how the majority of trainers, owners and staff get feed. “So it’s really important we keep the minimums healthy as well as the maximums.” While Jones believes the sport to be in a healthy position, he said prizemoney increases to feature races should not be lead by state rivalry but rather when a benefit is to be achieved. “Prizemoney is going up in both states because revenue is going up in both states,” he said. “And one of the reasons is going up in both states is because more people are watching and betting on racing. “And one of those reasons is because prizemoney is going up so it attracts interest to the sport. “So to an extent its part of the marketing budget for racing, it’s quite healthy. “I think were you get into issues is where you are funding the same type of race at the same time where you really are doubling the money and reducing the quality at the same time.”

Because? 2 weeks out from the National meeting? Surely has to be open 3 days a week at the moment?

What's wrong with the new grass gallop at Riccarton?

Yeahh but watching those horses streaming over fences at Trentham yesterday was gold.

There now.

Just looking at the programme there. Not a single highweight any of the 3 days? How do they expect the jumps riders to survive for the week, let alone get there and back?

MAAT Races are Maiden races for horses that were classed as maiden horses at a particular date (eg; Maidens as at 5 June 2019).

True. I actually had another look because I wondered why the Open races weren't 35k but presumably same reason.

Not sure if anyone ever got to the bottom of this but I had another look. Doomed, the post above came from the NZTR stakes announcement for this period (Jan 25). https://loveracing.nz/News/35631/NZTRannouncesfurtherstakesincreases.aspx My mistake was I assumed this was a feature day when in fact it is designated as an industry day. So, you can't compare that with a feature day at Cambridge. Industry day MAATS stakes were set at $10-12k so they have been supplemented to provide the 17k today. Kind of an inbetweener.

That's a pretty big comment from someone like him. Did he say why?

How do I book one on?

Hell. I might even rock up for the boil up. Probably crash in the tack room though rather than dislodge the dogs. Should be all good if I can keep the chooks out. I could do the 3am feed and you could have a sleep in.

The latest report suggests they are considering that despite some weather related hold ups. Not scheduled to open for racing till May next year though. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=735207804186138

Exactly. Why has the meeting not been transferred to another track?

Dunno but if they cancel on the day I'll be asking Majestic to send the bill to NZTR.

Meeting News Woodville Abandoned 14 July The Woodville Meeting scheduled for Thursday 14 July has been abandoned. This decision was made after club reps, a jockey rep and the RIB inspected the track this morning. A large amount of rain has been received both overnight and today on an already particularly wet track. There is surface water both on the track and in surrounding areas. The Trentham nominations remain open until 9am tomorrow morning (Wednesday).

I've looked at the Awapuni AWT recently and it is very tight. I'll try to have another look when passing this week. Probably fine for slower track work and may be jump outs or trials but I doubt I'd want to race one on it. Not really designed for that, especially given the above soft tissue injury issues connected with polytracks.

Yes. Wise comment. And noted that installation and materials may have improved. A couple of years later the mandated polytracks in California were taken out at Del Mar and Santa Anita. Keeneland another significant North American track that removed the poly a couple of years later. That said, I don't agree with Bart lumping dirt tracks in with synthetics. They are the staple of North American racing and what the removed polytracks reverted to. The likes of Golden Gate, Woodbine and Turfway switched to Tapeta which didn't seem to even be considered here. Arlington Park in the major city of Chicago switched to polytrack in 2007 and has since had to close completely. It has been noted here that the Toowoomba experience should have been considered. Fields have dropped 30 percent, and wagering at Clifford has fallen 25 percent in the last two years due to the surface. “Synthetic tracks don't work overseas and in Toowoomba, where the temperature can go from the low digits to 40C, it couldn't work because it would be gluey in the summer and hard as bitumen in the winter,” said trainer Darryl Gollan. Pakenham also has had issues. Generally, the AWTs here seem to be performing well. Hard to get a handle on whether an increase in soft tissue/shear injuries has occurred as was experienced in California. Not reported here but racehorse vets in the vicinity of the two now operating may be getting some idea. There also seems to be little indication of the maintenance cost planning. It seems likely from reports that it will only stand up for 2 or 3 years without complete replacement and probably also require irrigation.

It's hard to think of a situation where any consortium of clubs has worked. NZTR itself probably the biggest disaster. Be interesting to see how the Auckland one pulls up once the initial lust wears off.

Foxton and Levin both.

I don't think they are puppets. If so, they have lost their strings. Muppets maybe?

Probably near to the point where they need to close down winter racing altogether apart from the AWTs which don't suit most winter gallopers anyway.

I wasn't questioning what racing jurisdictions you or anyone else choose to watch. I was simply pointing out that a lot of the world's racing is not conducted on turf as you suggested. That includes some 30000+ races a year in North America which are run on dirt or synthetic tracks.