curious

I see on the other site that Scooby has now decided that NZTR's assessment of the damage as probable vandalism is malicious gossip.

I have posted the below on another site earlier this morning and with permission from @Chief Stipe, I am re-posting here. I see on another site that Leggy aka Racingoutsider has been accused of posing as someone he is not. That is blatantly false. Another poster there also suggested that Leggy could speak for himself which of course he can but can't do currently on that forum since I am restricted from posting any content there. After two decades of supporting that site with charitable donations, subscriptions when required, and over 8000 respectful posts, I am saddened to see what it has become. Abusive, name calling posts when people disagree, bullying, posting under other members' names, accessing accounts and PMs and outright lies such as this, are quite unacceptable behaviour in any environment imo. I never posed as anyone there. It was the site owner Scooby along with some other posters who insisted that Racingoutsider was Colin Wightman despite a number of attempts by me to refute that. In the end I gave up. However, judge for yourselves. Thanks. Curious/Leggy Edited 5 hours ago by curious

Unbelievable!

Repeated abandonments damage racing as NZTR deflects blame by Brian de Lore Published 27 April 2025 The continuing theme of racing abandonments due to unsafe tracks is causing immeasurable harm to a racing industry that doesn’t seem able to get its act together. Accountability seems to be a major problem. You can’t blame the jockeys if a track is unsafe, and you can’t blame the stipendiary stewards who are bound by the Health and Safety Act. That only leaves the track managers and the protocols for the preparation of tracks that come from NZTR. Imagine that you’re an Auckland owner with a horse trained in Matamata that was supposed to trial at Taupo on March 25th. You drive to Taupo to watch it, but after two trials, they are abandoned, and you’ve made the trip for nothing. The same horse is an acceptor for Awapuni last Friday, so you drive to Palmerston North, stay in a hotel the night before, and expect to go racing the next day. The races are off after race one, leaving the owner angry, deflated and out of pocket. Don’t imagine it; it’s a true story. That owner is now inclined to give up ownership due to his rising blood pressure and depleted bank account. Awapuni last Friday adds another statistic to the countless number of abandonments we have seen over the past few years. When there is torrential rain and surface water, we all know that abandonment is inevitable, but here we are talking about avoidable abandonments after the meeting has started. How much is it costing owners? How much has it cost the owners who pay for everything on raceday? How much has it cost the TAB/Entain partnership in loss of betting revenue, and Entain in particular, because they pay the cost of running the TAB and guarantee the increased stake levels? Little wonder there has been a strained relationship between NZTR and Entain. The buck must stop with NZTR, but you wouldn’t think so reading the statement made by the new NZTR CEO, Matt Ballesty, following Friday’s Awapuni abandonment after race one. He said, “I trust that, while understandably frustrated, all participants will continue to show respect towards the track staff and club management. A significant amount of effort, resources, and consultation from track management, consultants, and officials has gone into preparing the track for racing, and the recent setback was entirely unforeseen.” RACE Awapuni General Manager Brad Taylor expressed his disappointment but was eager to review processes to prepare for future racedays. “We will examine the process leading into today and learn from it and hopefully resolve this issue to be back racing here in three weeks,” he concluded. Unforeseen track problem claim disputed New CEO Matt Ballesty’s claim that the problem was ‘unforeseen’ is disputed by several observers close to the action. He should also cut out this rubbish about being nice to the track staff because that only suggests they are to blame. NZTR is hiding behind the track staff. By saying that, he is deflecting accountability from himself as the boss of the organisation that put the structures in place. Okay, he’s been in the job only a short time A reliable source of information has told The Optimist that two Regional Track Managers in succession wouldn’t sign off Awapuni as ‘ready for use’ (one very recently), and that’s when NZTR involved two Australians, Liam O’Keeffe and Callum Brown, to advise as consultants. NZTR wanted to get racing again at Awapuni and were too impatient, according to my informant. The rail at Awapuni was positioned six metres out because rocks had appeared coming through the surface during verti-draining at one small area of the track near the 600-metre mark, about three metres out. The accusation is that they took the cheaper option to fix the problem. The horse that slipped on raceday was the widest runner, possibly another six metres out from the false rail on ground that had not been galloped on. All this after 18 months of remediation of the entire course – the last Awapuni meeting took place in September 2023; it’s a ridiculous outcome, but consistent with the Hastings debacle. My informant says that Hastings could be in use now if they simply kept the rail in its true position. Darin Balcombe and Bruce Sharrock made a hasty, ill-conceived decision to sideline Hastings. Former jockey and now trainer David Walsh testing the going at Riccarton After the Taupo trials abandonment, which had followed the Tauherenikau abandonment, NZTR released a statement saying they took some responsibility but mostly blamed the track staff. It said: “NZTR Chief Operating Officer Darin Balcombe said, ‘New Racecourse Managers are difficult to find, and we must provide them with stronger induction, training, and support systems.’ “ ‘Preparing track surfaces for racing is a specialised skill that comes only with experience, support and proper training,’ he said. “NZTR accepts that earlier involvement may have avoided the Taupō outcome. Work is already underway to strengthen support, oversight and accountability across the tracks and infrastructure network.” Abandonments keep mounting up Perhaps Darin Balcombe needs to refresh his own memory and count up the number of abandonments racing has had under his watch. NZTR has some parallels with a book I’m currently reading; it could even be the NZTR anthem. It’s entitled MISTAKES WERE MADE (but not by me), which the Wall Street Journal reviewed by saying “Illuminating when you recognize yourself in the stories it tells – mortifying.” The New Zealand Racehorse Owners’ Association President, Bernard Hickey, has written to NZTR claiming the problems at Awapuni were known well before the race date, and the meeting should have been transferred to Otaki. His letter also said, in part,” …evidence from my point of view is that RACE, RIU and NZTR were culpable in terms of the provision of the Health & Safety Act in not showing due diligence in its decision-making process. No doubt the Club’s Risk Register was updated when the hazards were identified during the week that led to the rail being pushed out, which is a risk in itself at Awapuni, but I doubt such documentation even exists.” The Trainers’ Association does nothing. It is a toothless, benign organisation that is seemingly frightened that its members won’t get their licences renewed each season if they say anything. In the first week of December 2021, NZTR put out a statement to the stakeholders entitled, “Actions following Trentham Abandonment 4 December 2021.” Here is the second half of it, outlining the ‘actions’ they would take. While reading it, think about how much of this gets done and the multitude of abandonments we’ve had since it was written: What NZTR said in 2021… Actions “The NZTR Board has considered a report and recommendations from NZTR Management. One of the major issues identified in the report was the lack of a clear shared understanding between NZTR, the RIB and Clubs about each organisation’s respective responsibilities and accountabilities to prepare a track surface, and the consequences for those entities where non-compliance is identified. “This is no longer acceptable and the NZTR Board has agreed to a suite of changes to the track preparation and management process so that it is clear what the obligations are and who is responsible for them. “The agreed actions going forward are: • NZTR to review and update the Track Preparation Policy and Abandonment protocols by the end of January 2022; • NZTR to determine, in consultation with Clubs, an investment plan for track equipment and resources for the next three years by the end of March 2022; • NZTR and NZSTI, in consultation with Clubs, fast track the implementation of and compliance with mytrackmanager.nz – an online portal for all clubs to regularly monitor track performance, build data comparisons, provide training tools and real time access to track maintenance planning by the end of June 2022; • NZTR to implement a more robust compliance program for Clubs that do not adhere to track preparation procedures and annual maintenance plans, including consequences for non-compliance with policies and procedures, by February 2022; • NZTR to investigate and arrange a whole-of-industry weather service, with decisions made by March 2022; • NZTR, in consultation with Clubs and RIB, to set a communication process to enhance the sharing of track surface information to all participants by the end of February 2022; • NZTR, in consultation with clubs, to set a plan to ensure that track renovations are aligned with the annual race date allocation process by the end of February 2022; • NZTR, in consultation with RIB and Clubs, to determine a process to manage queries/concerns from participants before and after each race meeting by the end of January 2022; and • NZTR to implement a reporting and action framework for clubs to notify track performance issues during race meetings by the end of January 2022. “ Footnote: Will the situation improve in the future? – doubtful. Will more NZTR-Stakeholders meetings be held to fix the problem? – bound to be, just as they have done in the past. It’s called Groundhog Day. No one will get sacked, and NZTR still appears to be accountable to no one. It’s simply a further reminder of Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

I am quoting @Special Agent

Then why are they "flipping" it? It's the worst of the three.

That seems a reasonable policy. A lot better than using the first race to determine whether or not the club and track manager have delivered a safe track or not.

The race morning gallop is solely required of the club for the purpose of confirming the track condition. Nothing to do with confirming safety. They are usually on the rail, only say 800-1000m and often at nowhere near racing speeds.

602 (1) From 7:30 am on Race day, the Stipendiary Stewards shall: (a) have the control of the Race Meeting and be charged with the duty of ensuring that the provisions of these Rules are applied and enforced in respect of that Race Meeting; (b) determine any question as to whether that day of racing or any part thereof should be postponed, abandoned or cancelled;

It's not necessarily under RIB control is it? It's the clubs responsibility and often before the RIB take over.

Exactly. Someone/s. In a situation where they can ease if it feels insecure. I don't see any mention of reports from riders who rode the gallops 48 hours out or on race morning?

Was more referring to SA's remark about the Awapuni one being "flipped" but I'm pretty sure that Riccarton last had that contracted work done in November so it is a long 4 months. NZTR told me on 20/3 that the report would be released in days/weeks, so that's certainly been days and now some weeks with AWT racing about to get under way. You'd think they would want stakeholders to have that information by now since it is evidently available.

They have to buy it. The question is, what with? Or, do they have an irrigation bore?

Why are they suddenly doing all this renovation of the AWTs since they got the Massey report 5 weeks ago and why has that not been released to stake holders?

I think the statement is either completely stupid or in error. It should have surely said ' the lack of compaction'?

What? Is that the Awapuni synthetic you mean?

So did I. The statement that "that the incident was most likely caused by the compaction of the surface and how quickly the track dried" is paradoxical and nonsensical imo.

That surely confirms a few stupidities and that Kate was correct? That it required more water, and that it had not been tested at racing speeds with the rail out there and the consequently tighter corner. Worse, the experts had recommended further renovation. Given that and the feedback from riders and trainers, they went ahead and put horses and riders at risk anyway. Tragic.

A statement has been provided regarding Friday's abandonment at Awapuni ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Awapuni Racecourse Track Update A statement from RACE Inc. General Manager Brad Taylor In the wake of the abandoned race meeting at Awapuni Racecourse on Friday, RACE, in conjunction with New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR), has made the decision to bring forward the planned renovation of the track, with work to commence immediately rather than following the James Bull Rangitikei Gold Cup meeting on May 17. The race meeting was abandoned after Race 1 due to safety concerns arising from a slip on the newly renovated Awapuni track. Brad Taylor, RACE’s General Manager of Racing, expressed the Club’s disappointment at the situation. “We are extremely disappointed with the abandonment of Friday’s race meeting,” Taylor said. “We understand the frustration and disappointment from participants, stakeholders, and fans. However, the safety of both horses and jockeys is paramount, and under the circumstances, we fully support the decision to abandon the meeting.” Taylor explained that the incident was most likely caused by the compaction of the surface and how quickly the track dried between the initial moisture reading at 6:30am and Race 1 at 1:14pm. The moisture reading at 6:30am showed an average of 38%, which was within the target range of 38–40%. After 5mm of irrigation on Wednesday night and 18mm of rain earlier in the week, readings taken on Thursday were 44% at 8:30am and 42% at 3:30pm. Based on these readings, and with a forecast low of 4 degrees, a joint decision was made not to irrigate on Thursday night. Following the abandonment, moisture readings taken in the area of the slip ranged between 29% and 33%. The rail for Friday’s meeting had been moved out six metres, a decision made based on advice from track specialists engaged during the 19-month renovation process and grow in process. “There were two reasons for putting the rail out six metres,” Taylor said. “Firstly, after Verti-Draining, a small area near the 600m mark required repair after a rock was brought to the surface. Secondly, the trials held on April 8 with 13mm of rain caused significant damage to the renovated track leading to the decision to put the rail at 6 metres.” Taylor added that the area where the slip occurred had been subjected to significant use during reconstruction, including a gallop session involving 28 horses on Tuesday morning in preparation for Friday’s scheduled meeting. Following a meeting yesterday between the Club, NZTR, Racing Integrity Board (RIB) representatives, and track specialists Liam O’Keeffe and Callum Brown, an immediate plan of action has been put in place to address the compaction issues. “We are grateful for the advice from the experts as we continue to refine the preparation processes for this new track surface, which differs considerably from the previous Awapuni track,” Taylor said. RACE will now commence renovation works immediately, involving coring, verti-draining, and adding additional sand to the surface — actions originally scheduled after May 17. RACE sincerely apologises for the inconvenience caused and greatly appreciates the support and understanding of the racing community. The Club remains focused and committed to working closely with all stakeholders to ensure the best outcomes and remains confident in the future of the renovated Awapuni track. Corporate Communications New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing nztrcommunications@nztr.co.nz

What perplexes me is that part of the solution to fixing Ellerslie was to add more sand! If you take a good natural sand based racing surface like Foxton, that has been developed by decades of integrating organic matter. Sheep manure, grass clippings etc. If anyone suggested it would be improved by adding more sand, they'd be run out of town.

More importantly, for the purpose of local accountability, who engaged them?

Personally, I'd prefer both, though I can see and measure the latter myself. But if the rider thinks they need another run, more work, some gate practice, a gear change, to learn to relax more, better footing, an extra furlong, whatever, I'd like to hear that opinion.