Reefton

Save me a lot of wasted time as well. I could finally forget the game once and for all

They've had a charmed run with the Cops too. Compared to Cup day and Riccarton or that Cromwell day just passed the security is non existent but the pissed(and young pissed) patrons are abundant. The day there is a car smash or something with one of them trolleyed will be the end of the Kumara tolerance. To be fair breath testing is fairly strenuous for all that How they are still permitted to let people bring their own booze in...

No but I am pretty sure they get an awful lot of concessions from NZTR(well that's the talk)

They have two 1200m maidens(one for 2&3yo fillies) with almost 50% double nominated so not too much of an issue there

Do you remember that whopping great Tent Mobil put up there(which was at the time of the helicopters ferrying people in and out). Love Kumara or hate Kumara that was a piss up and a half! Trouble with them(still) is there is massive enthusiasm for organising the piss up and little for maintaining the racing surface. To be fair it is built on a swamp so it is a hard job.

To be fair I am only reporting hearsay. I have nothing whatsoever to do with the Kumara Racing Club and never set foot on their course for one year to the next but I got rung about three or so weeks ago by someone in the know wanted to know what I knew about moves by two Riccarton Trainers to have the January meeting transferred to the Riccarton AWT. Jeff McLaughlin(Secretary) assured me that NZTR had said all three days on the Coast were to be run here. I don't care really except that of course Canterbury trainers are unlikely to bother traveling all the way to the Coast if they have a meeting on their doorstep and that would adversely affect our meeting three days before. There is talk about the Kumara Track(again I have never been on it since the last meeting) and in my experience when it comes to talk about the Kumara track where there is smoke there is fire. Ironically two years ago when they cancelled one of the guys who was supposed to be getting this meeting transferred was all for defending the Kumara track and saying there was nothing wrong a day before the pin was pulled.

Lack of enthusiasm among the committee maybe? I don't 100% remember - it just ebbed away. It was/is a 1200m track so was smaller than both Hokitika and Kumara. That's another important thing about South Island and NZ Racing - it is the Committees that facilitate the racing. The product may come from the stakeholders but most of those track closures were a result of the committees losing the inclination to carry on. We ourselves were perilously close to the same fate five or so years back.

Don't get the idea I was planning something that would be focused on the future of the Coast. God knows I have said often enough that the tracks here are all substandard(with the proviso that ours is no worse than anyone else's here so arbitrarily shutting down ours is BS). The Coast is a mere sideshow in the scheme of things. But using your logic why would anyone with a horse in training in Canterbury want to race it at Oamaru or south? So why would you keep any of those tracks open? Lets just concentrate everything on Riccarton 365 days of the year eh?

All good stuff and all good reasoning. Some of the stuff I was thinking about to put this 'study' together (setting out a programme that cures a lot of the distortions being a major one but providing a logical progression two and three year old programme for the south as well - an alternative to the spring two and three year old races which as they stand are essentially a North Island benefit) Trying to get a few radical ideas to encourage(say) old geldings to stay in the game and at the same time to create a bit of interest Major concern though is that one or two prominent members of the Canterbury Trainers Assn would like everything to be at Riccarton(not unlike the prominent members of the national TA who want everything at Te Rapa and Ellerslie). Hence the attempt to move the forthcoming Kumara date to the all weather at Riccarton. If they think Riccarton can survive in its own then they are living in la la land especially given the issues with the main track. And to be fair with that attitude why would someone like me with the imagination to do the job(a fairly rare commodity in SI or NZ racing) bother? Not only fighting NZTR and the Northern hierarchy but trying to help people who don't want to be helped?

We are not that concerned about extra days really. I would just like to have a track we can be proud of(and the huge current deficiency is its circumference). I have mentioned the possibility of extending it to Bernard (a couple of years back to be fair) and his rapid response was 'We've got no money'. To which I replied 'we don't want money we just want NZTR support if we go to the Racing Safety Development Fund for half the costs'. He did not commit either way but I am wary of them - many years before they lied about the Coast when we sought money for a new set of gates that we had to ultimately fund ourselves. Basically Campbell Moncur said we didn't need them despite the fact that they had promised us a new set of gates when they insisted we stop using our old manual set. Last thing I need if we go the the RSDF is for them(NZTR) to turn around and not back us for the money. If we have a 1400m track then we have the best track on the Coast unquestionably which should totally ensure our survival(we have the best track already but it is far too small)

Kumara is run by volunteers too to be fair and they did not want to close Cromwell in the M report but regardless when the carpark is chokka you can be pretty sure it ain't at the big boys venue! And you can guarantee that irritates the shiite out of the Petone crowd. Kurow is the real ripper where in the last few years they have had to literally shut the gates because the course has been full to the brim. Now whether us purists like big crowds(I don't much) there is nothing to promote racing better than a venue bursting at the seams. And the strange thing is that at four of those events the racing and/or track could hardly be said to be of the highest quality in terms of horseflesh on display or facilities provided(and at the other one there is a huge facility that is fenced off because you cannot use it and there appears to be no discernible progress in replacing or making it usable).

I think so too Of the really five huge days in South Island racing(NZ Cup day, Riverton Easter Saturday, Cromwell on the last Sunday in November, Kurow and Kumara how many are at country venues?) And if you divide the stakes paid by the number of attendees on those days the writing is pretty plain on the wall. Oncourse attendance is where the new devotees are recruited in my view

I wouldn't say Cromwell 'inspired' me(the Missus and her mates enjoy the wineries and when I thought we might not be allowed in to the races was told 'we're going anyway') but I always like Central Otago and cannot understand why NZ racing does not make more use of that track(or why they shut down Omakau which was a perfectly good and immensely popular holiday date). We go every year, hardly ever back a bloody winner, but enjoy it(it coincides with our anniversary weekend here so the trip home is not at the expense of a day's work). I have often said if they forced Reefton to close I would rather relocate to Cromwell than Omoto. Re Reefton extending we need some cooperation for the local council to relocate a very minor road(not to residential houses but to the local recycling station) but our VP who was the Deputy Mayor for years reckons we will struggle to get it. The road reserve/road cuts off the necessary five or so acres we own and need for expansion. There is still genuine enthusiasm even from the Harness guys but I am struggling to impress upon them that anything less than 1400m is simply not worth it from a Thoroughbred perspective. I am not interested in a 1200m or 1300m track. Plus whatever we do we will probably need a realignment of the straight and definitely to fix the very tight bend out of the straight so there is a lot of thinking planning and negotiating to do. One thing in our favour is some very capable local contractors keen to help but we will need RSDF assistance and that means support from NZTR. That in turn means they will want to poke the nose of their 'experts' in and you all know my opinion on 'experts' touching tracks. So in summary we are at step one of a long process. Always good to have interest in our mad ideas though so thanks for that.

Nobody has been more cynical than I I can tell you. My eyes are wide open but question is whether the heart rules the head

losing enthusiasm by the minute!

That is EXACTLY why my brain is saying don't bother but my heart says have a go. I have a business to run and racing doesn't pay the mortgage. But if everyone sits back what is the inevitable outcome?

The lack of a logical two year old series was mentioned as one focus of the project yes as was trying to do something about handicapping to keep older geldings(say) in the game when they have met their mark but continue to race well enough that they are not dropping in rating Re the hierarchy well in my view the heirarchy in terms of been there done that is one man BJ Anderton and he certainly would be carefully consulted. As for the rest of those who think they should be holding sway well I think we will have a look at the way things have been going while they have held sway and draw some conclusions as to the job they have done.

thanks

If providing training tracks and facilities is the key to success then Matamata and Cambridge must be the best and most prosperous clubs in NZ? No way would either of them two have any financial issues and certainly neither would need government funding to put in an AWT?

yes I guess they had to do something in Whangarei though and it(Ruakaka) does provide nice winter footing if not too much atmosphere. And yes Westport is clean and tidy all right(wasn't a few months back though!) but I was their Auditor many years back and know a lot of them - that course has enormous local use and a very young, strong and enthusiastic committee. The presentation of the course is no coincidence

Fair comment Pam about the TAB distributions though to be fair I guess we have to have some anomalies there to fund the stakes and group racing programme. I know I did an analysis twenty years or so back when Chittick and Co wanted to shut all the small clubs down and it showed that invariably the 'big' clubs were all significantly over-funded when their turnovers were compared to the industry funding they received BUT as I say there is justification when you consider the need to fund the glamour events. I very much doubt that has changed in the last twenty years. You are also of course quite correct about the age and enthusiasm level of the volunteers in the game. I am young by comparison to many of them but my motivation just gets less and less and less as time goes by. Right now for instance I am considering writing a paper analysing South Island racing's position and(in consultation of course with people far more invested and knowledgeable than I). The intent would be to come up with some sort a plan/suggestion list to try to rescue our area at least for the current malaise but seriously why would I spend months(and it would be months) writing researching consulting and circulating a report that will just be ignored? I would love to do it because I think I could really produce something constructive but when it is all for nought? My trip to Cromwell last week just reinforced in me what great people the game involves and a bloody lot of them are hurting badly and desperately need to know that their voices are being heard, their ideas considered and their futures invested in. And as I have said before it is strange how the likes of Murray Acklin and David Lloyd who would once have been strongly on the other side of the argument with me are now great sounding boards for ideas and critiquing.

problem with the big clubs and their dilapidated facilities probably is attributable to this:- for years they used to get exclusive access to the Amenities Fund and most of those facilities were built using those funds(from the old Racing Authority and early NZRB days). Now like most outfits that get something for nothing(ie someone else is paying the bill - councils and government departments for instance) they had no appreciation that they should be caring for the assets they had been very generously provided with. The reasoning being that when they needed replacement the industry would come to the party again and the hundreds of millions or whatever financial assistance was necessary to replace the stuffed facilities(including stuffed tracks) would appear from nowhere as it always had done. In the meantime of course the industry has gone broke and they are now on their own two feet financially(unless Winnie organised a nice little PGF contribution to facilitate AWTs of course). The free starting gates and running rails they all got would, I would say, have been the last roll of the dice. So they have been selling off bits and pieces of surplus property to keep themselves afloat but the sort of dosh required to replace/bring those facilities up to standard is far too high to fund using the sale proceeds of the family silver. I know this because the Greymouth Club was in on the act as well(as was each of the 'Metropolitan' Clubs that held all the power under the old District Committee structure). Greymouth's stand for instance was built 100% funded(about $850,000 as I recall in the mid 80's) by Racing Authority funds - it would be worth $10m to replace so you can see that there is no realistic prospect of them being able to do so. Not that it needs to be at present though there was a suggestion of earthquake risk a few years back.. Greymouth's admin block and stabling were also courtesy of Racing Authority funds which needless to say caused quite a lot of angst among the other Coast Clubs at the time. The same would have applied in each District around NZ Now because the small Clubs had to scrimp for every cent it tended to make them very careful with their spending and very mindful that they had to look after what they had. There was no fairy Godmother to come along with a fat chequebook and cure all the trouble with their facilities. And so hence the comparatively strong financial position of many smaller clubs and the precarious state of many big Clubs. And why the Authorities want to grab the small clubs hard earned assets and in turn why the small clubs are resisting. Obviously the ARC are an exception in that their property is so valuable they can and have developed strong revenue streams outside their racing activities. But look at the old 'Metropolitan' Clubs and then think about who has the biggest issues Southland RC, Otago RC, Canterbury JC, Greymouth JC, Wellington RC, Manawatu RC, Hawkes Bay JC, Waikato RC and Auckland RC. Any common thread there? They have had hundreds of millions and pissed the lot up against the wall

Or examine whether racing is really the best option for the land holding you have in big cities. The question being are you better off to cash up the asset and use the huge financial windfall to set up in a less desirable(but still accessible) area(ie out in the outskirts somewhere) and have a very substantial nestegg to finance your racing activity. This is especially applicable when those assets are not at all well attended like Wellington would have been on Saturday, Riccarton is on 90% of its days and Ellerslie the same. If nobody is interested in attending(most of the time) it is madness to have assets of the NZ industry worth billions sitting there so they can be used once or twice a year(by a decent crowd I mean)

I'm no expert on ground composition but there are one or two I know who know their stuff. I reckon it is only logic to get air and drainage down there to improve and enhance the root structure. I believe the GJC got the big tractor and contractors in to sort their joint but it bloody worked

In my view what you do depends on the way the ground is laid down. That course is built on a riverbed and obviously a few feet down is gravel where the water drains through. Everybody(well most people) knows the Coast is a shocker for leeching fertilizer and stuff so no surprise it is hard to stop that(which compaction would) I am sure you Curious would not manage Foxton in the same way you would manage Awapuni? Different ground composition Put it this way - we had a track that had been slaughtered by the trotters(and I mean slaughtered). We either did something radical to provide a short term fix or we cancelled the racemeeting(given we raced ourselves less than seven days later). Past history with uncooperative TAB staff ruled out transferring even with seven days notice. So what did we do - rolled it. Seven days later a perfectly satisfactory days racing with no incidents and no complaints. At the time we had a senior rider of many decades experience on our committee(R McCann) and he thought it a totally appropriate solution(and there were no moans from the likes of T Moseley or C Johnson nor David Walsh). We are not total red necks - the Club has a spiker machine and the verti drainer man comes at least once a year(was there three weeks ago and I then met him at Cromwell - didn't actually know who he was until he started talking - he commended our track as excellent). Every few years the top six inches of the track gets diced up and resown after the trotter's March meeting. Easy you might say when there are only three meetings a year on the track and that is true enough. The Coast is designed and equipped to handle immense amounts of rain - hence being able to have a twelve tonne vibrating roller on the track the day after three or four inches of rain. Kumara (and Hoki in the past) are the exceptions because they were essentially built on swamp, Omoto and Reefton on riverbed. In Omoto's case the 'experts' relaid the track and, I bet, put a clay layer in it which stopped the water draining. Once the mole plough broke that up the track returned to a very acceptable state. Pam will confirm the story of the flood water being over the running rail at Omoto one raceday in the past. They postponed until the next day(as they did in those times) and by the end of that second day the track was bloody near firm. Cromwell I thought has a brilliant track and the racing was bloody good quality(even if my nags didn't salute). That was South Island racing up to a very good standard in my view