Brodie

We all hope it works out well for the ATC and Auckland harness racing. They arent actually anyway better than when the Chinese pulled out, in fact with the continuing accrual of monthly interest they are decidedly worse off! They still only have a conditional offer and they could well crash or they come back and renegotiate it down as they know the situation. It is really a cot case and is going to be very very hard to see how the Auckand harness racing scene can thrive. They are losing money on every meeting being run at Alexandra Park, they have no new trainers coming through and many will be retired in a few years at best! Brad Steele thinks that investing into Auckland harness racing is a good thing, well I am sure he would not be investing any of his own money into it, as-he will lose it all! just saying it as it is and more than happy to be proven wrong.

Investing in the North is worth it Brad?? Interesting times indeed, just incredible that it couldve got this bad for a once profitable Club. The interest cost is going to add probably at least another $7 million of debt if only a deposit is paid and full payment isnt made for another 16 months or so, allowing for the other payment reducing the loan! We can rest easy, we are in great hands.

Auckland is haemorrhaging millions of dollars in losses each year snd it just is not going to improve in the future going by the current HRNZ policies! What would give us some confidence that HRNZ knows what it is doing and we are talking BS, is if Brad Steele would come on to BOAY and explain to us mere mortals that everything is under control! He won’t because he knows that things are dire and he can not back up with fact that things are rosey as he stated on Trackside a few weeks ago! Doesnt have to be Brad, can be anyone that can advise us all of how great things are!

Gamma, no I do not want Auckland racing to finish but you just can not keep running sny business the way they are doing it currently. Unfortunately there is just not enough interest in the sport in the North Island nowadays and they need to change this up. Throwing money into the stakes is great for the current owners and trainers at the moment from Entain monies, however what after it runs out? They just do not seem to have any answers and the punting turnover on the North Island meetings just does not warrant the current level of stakes!! It is a business model doomed to fail without doubt! Stakes of $30k plus with only a handful of starters is just a recipe for disaster but hey HRNZ obviously are happy with this. Wouldnt be wanting them running any business I was associated with but then time is going to tell. They should be keeping money aside for future years and development of the industry rather than trying to be Father Xmas. Let us see what the Committee comes up with when it meets?

TABFOREVER, this is the problem that exists with harness racing in NZ!!!!! There is no accountability coming from those that should be showing it!!! Several of us that consistently comment actually care about what is going to happen with harness racing in NZ, even though it doesnt affect us too much personally. Those at the helm and making decisions are showing that they are only there to collect their salaries which they do not seem to deserve, and bugger what happens in the future as we will be gone! They were handed a lifeline by having all this money thrown at it from Entain and yet from the outside many of us can see what is going to happen when the money dries up, and it isnt looking good. Anyway, TABFOREVER, if you think they are doing everything right then so be it, but what I do know in a couple of years or so time, people will be saying that what we are saying was right, and what are we going to do now? Make hay while the sun shines as all this money keeps coming is HRNZ’s attitude from where Brodie sits! More than happy to be proven wrong!

Gamma, Steve Stockman is receiving preferential treatment as a punter by the NZ TAB and personally find it rather appalling! The fact that he spends mega dollars in the industry by way of racing horses should not give him any better treatment than any other punter! It is ethically and morally wrong business actions from the TAB and yet they are allowed to get away with it as it has a monopoly in NZ. Slot races are fine Gamma as a novelty but there are so few that it makes no difference to the viability of harness racing in NZ, What is very disappointing is that there seems to be a lack of accountability being shown coming out of HRNZ. Without wagering from punters there will be no harness racing end of story as there will be no stake money available. Something has to give and it will, and not sure where the Committee that was being arranged has got to?

Gamma, do appreciate your enthusiasm for all harness racing and your support for NZ racing. Unfortunately I highly doubt there would be anyone or any company that is willing to chuck money into NZ harness to support it, once Entsin pulls the plug ! It is absolutely so hard to understand how HRNZ is acting currently and it will not end well for harness racing in NZ as a consequence! At the end of the day HRNZ are supposed to be acting in the best interests of harness racing so they must be using their expertise to the best of their ability?

Auckland Friday night fields are sure to be a massive loss for the Industry! They can not keep dishing this crap out and expect things to progress! There are 7 races and only 2 races have sufficient starters to have 3 place divs. Brad Steele paints this rosey picture of how well harness racing is going and if he believes this twaddle then he should not be CEO at HRNZ! Appalling situation when they continue this racing with 5 and 6 horse fields. It will not continue indefinitely as someone with a semblance of business sense will step in and sort or harness racing is permanently stuffed in the North!!

Mile stands even?

Galah, you are right the start was a lot better standing starts unfortunately 2000m than a lot that they have! Thing is that it is just an absolute mystery envelope as to what you get from the 2000m stands at Addington especially. We can complain as much as we want to but at the end-of the day they are always going to be very average unless the starter wants to change his attitude towards what he considers a standing start!

It is no excuse! Get them organised early snd have them standing. They are very poorly actioned are the so called stands

Lol I wouldnt call it criminal but certainly a continuation of the issues that they have with standing starts unfortunately! Thing is that we just have to put up with what we are getting served up in regards the standing starts, as clearly HRNZ do not give a rats as to how they are actioned! Very poor Forbury agreed, but only way not to get upset about them is to not bet on the stands as they do not appear to care at all?

Great that you have so many young drivers, Ozzies much larger population base in harness racing ensures this! I am sure all of the Junior drivers that competed all work very hard and deserve all the rewards they receive. As you know Gamma a very hard way to earn a living but they all are dedicated and loce the harness industry. Well done to all that competed, but personally dont think someone who has been driving for 10 years competitively should be competing against our JUNIOR drivers!

Well done to the Ozzies, Herbertson won by plenty but appears as the Kiwis were given the poorer horses lol. No way is Chloe Butler better than Carter Dalgety and any of the other kiwi boys !

Wouldnt be a great bet at the moment on the Blacks! Lol

Mikey, from the so called Big Bet alerts that Trackside have been putting up over the past month or so, there are punters with more money than sense! Most that they put up and not big bets at all, many are at the minimum $2k minimum net for a fixed win bet! Yet they limit these bets to the odd amounts that make the $2k and yet whoever is betting on the Stonewall horses is allowed anything he likes on them with the TAB? Favouritism to this punter because of who he is is pretty disgusting and hopefully he starts winning big time and then lets see what they do?

On the face of it the field was probably slightly weaker than what she had been racing in recent weeks? However personally would not consider it a great win bet, as you say from the draw and think Zarlini is probably better over longer trip! What is extremely frustrating is the fact that the NZ TAB is prepared to accept wagering from some preferential punters who are allowed to net $80,000, thats correct $80,000!!!!! Other punters or clients of the NZ TAB are only allowed to net a few hundred dollars????? Totally ethically and morally corrupt practice by the TAB, and is driving many punters away from bothering nowadays.

Gamma, just wondering how someone with so many wins and 10 years in the sulky in Australia, is still a Junior Driver??

To be fair, he was given the best set of drives tonight The kiwis will be back

Gamma, Oz have s lot more junior drivers than what NZ does and they probably drive in more races? What I would say is that our top juniors would leave the Ozzies for dead. Herbitson might be OK but Carter would be better!

Very accurate posting Galah. Do we know how many new Junior drivers have been licensed over the last year or so? I acknowledge that it is the love of the horse and industry that makes these Juniors want to be a driver nowadays rather than any monetary return. Very hard way to make a living, early morning starts, long hours and physically very demanding. Why would you want to be employed in the industry if there is not much future in it? I have no idea how much Junior drivers are earning, but the ones with UDR’s that are low will not be getting that much as winning % would be the icing on the cake. We need a constant number of young ones coming thru the stables and driving and training to replace the ones that are giving up driving and training for the industry to continue. HRNZ have told us that things are looking very rosey and suppose if they say it is then we have to believe it LOL Thing is why is this Committee needed to be formed and also just read that the Gallops and Harness are getting together to work for the one cause! When has this ever needed to happen in NZ racing bearing in mind there will be no greyhounds this time next year!

Not sure what is going on at the moment with junior drivers? We are fortunate that we have females in the harness industry and of the 8 horses in the juniors race just now at Addington 6 were driven by females. I appreciate that We have our best juniors in Canterbury in Oz at the moment and yes they are the best! There have been some very poor drives by Juniors this weekend and it just shows how much of a difference in ability between the ones in Oz representing NZ apart from a couple and the rest! Questioning how many will be able to make a career in harness after they are out of their Junior claims?

The TAB alter the fixed odds far too late to be able to wager apart from on account!! As I said the other night if someone gets a wee bit on they slash the divs and then they get very little money on it unless it moved out and that is often far too late! not going to name them but there have been some very poor drives this week that shows lack of nous from some. Hard to fathom why some trainers keep on putting on the same driver week in and week out when they are less than average in the cart? Maybe the owners have more money than sense?

Gamma, seem Brodie is near the bottom of the table, can you have a quiet word in the TAB’s and tell them it might be time for them to remove his restrictions? Tell them he wants to improve their turnover your efforts with the comps is appreciated👍

Have we had any new trainers set up in the last few years anywhere? Can not think of anyone to any scale! The thing even the children of the older established trainers are not actively persuing a career in harness racing! Yes the odd one is but very few and far between and we are lucky at the moment to have so many females working in the industry. Will this continue in the future when the stake money reduces significantly?