Reefton

Well I would like to win a race at Reefton yes but you have to remember I am extremely biased. The Trouble will be getting Pitty to line any of the ones I have shares in up at our meeting. Only one possible candidate but I suspect there might (fingers crossed!) be bigger fish to fry with him and anyway he may appreciate slightly move give in the ground than is likely at Reefton.

My best Boomer story was also at Hoki and also involved the late Hewey(who was bloody underrated as a rider I might add). I think the horse was called Beau Wyn. The night before the races Boomer cashes a cheque in every pub in Hoki(one would assume none were likely to be honoured) and plonked the lot on the horse ridden by RJH. Sure enough it rolls home and Boomer whips around all the pubs and buys the cheques back. Whether it is true or not it is a good story Another Hewey story which I know is true concerned a 1020m Reefton race where a prominent stable had two in, one stinking hot with Christopher William Johnson aboard and the other not liked(on the tote that is) with R Hewinson in the saddle. Somehow I got told that if the Hewey mount got round the corners it would win. Straight to the front and bolted in. I was young so was probably a two over three maximum bettor at the time but took a trifecta and got $600! I brought myself a 14 inch Colour TV with the dosh and thought I was an absolute king!

Yes Maurice Carl Thornley got caught one day in the Greymouth weighing room the day before the races. Told them he was looking for and couldn't find the toilet. Great bloke MCT. I used to go out to his stables for a year or so when I was at Varsity in the early 80's. Very astute trainer too. He is in Queensland now isn't he? There were some characters around - Boomer Bailey was another who was a bloody hard thing. RIP

Yes it is from another age all right. Only thing is in my memory they were growling then about the state of the industry and they are still growling now 50 years later

That's right. But after a terrible run of weather year on year they dropped it during my time as Secretary. There used to be five days in January with Reefton the Wednesday, Kumara Saturday, Hokitika Monday, Grey Friday and Westport Tuesday. With the four November days then another Westport two in February/March (often tacked onto Nelson and Blenheim) it actually totaled eleven days on the Coast a season. Made training here a bit more realistic . AND in those times(back in the 70's) there was the Central Otago Meeting on the same days as Kumara Westland in January. the South had more Jockeys then! Kevin Lalor another brother also trained a few winners out of Greymouth on a part time basis later on after Tom moved to Canterbury. Re the Nuggets thing yes Jim trained Frontline and Tommy Accelerate to deadheat - one by Frontal and one by Decies out of the same mare Actionette(?) Remarkable really. Jim had a bloody lot of good horses and so did Tommy both when he was at Omoto and when he shifted over the hill. Not unknown for them to train for one another - Jimmy had Butch, Great Blaze and Chilton Blaze all for Tommy. a;; smart horses and all out of the same mare Debbie Marie.

Correct. The footie players would be Alister or Ben(?) and the girl was DeeDee. Not sure where she or they ended up

Well when I was a lad there were ten racedays a year on the Coast. Now there are three. And people are pretty uncertain as to NZTR's intentions so hardly likely to start up training again. That sums it up There is a horse or two in work at Omoto they tell me plus talk of three becoming permanents at Reefton . And Kimberly Hampton at Ikamatua of course.

the Colemans. One of their daughters Deedee trained for several years

Now on the topic of Cromwell yesterday and the Otago Racing Club’s carry on. the positives - beautifully presented track(no doubt prepared by voluntary enthusiasts in Cromwell itself), good standard of racing and from my perspective good company. A great day if people watching spins your wheels and of course seeing CWJ get ever so close to that record. I would love to be there to witness the great day. BUT as I have said people queuing for 25 minutes for a beer then them closing the bar. It cost $25 to get in(that’s life I guess and I could have stayed away)but when I tried to go back to the vehicle was told no pass outs and it would cost $25 to get back in. Some lady running the Fashions in the Field with a highly irritating and loud voice competing with Justin Evans at the start of the second or third race(thought we had another Tom Woods and the National Anthem on our hands). Where is the focus in these Clubs? Surely they can educate these people to shut up when the commentator speaks? Then a couple of half wits wandering along the track at about the 500m mark before the 5th or 6th race. Some of Tesio’s future of NZ racing no doubt. We might occasionally bag the stipes but they did a great job spotting that and averting a potential tragedy. those Christmas at the races tents blocking the view down the back straight (and no grandstand to let you see over them) the disgraceful situation of no first day form in the racebook. Then as a result of a snarky little comment by some woman with a walkie talkie when I said I had managed to get into the owners area I decided to check the officials page. For a piddle arsed outfit that opens 10 or 12 days a year they have a General Manager, an Events Coordinator and a Finance Manager plus probably two or three office staff no doubt. If I couldn’t run that joint on my ear and by myself I’ll go hee... I have witnessed potential trouble with dickhead ORC people before(Andre Klein was lucky not to get his face punched in by my (admittedly non racing) mate one year when he insulted the Coast Clubs) Great day but in so many ways a decidedly average standard of service from one of the big Clubs that are going to save NZ racing.

Not one of them would stand on its own two feet financially without huge industry input but no obviously I am not bagging those days as horse racing events just questioning the way they pander to the drunken masses and treat their real regular devotees like mugs.

I was there and 99% of them would have no idea what won, what sort of racing(gallops or trots) they were at nor any interest. It was just a day for young people to get pissed, the wannabes to be seen and the regulars to get pissed off with the security and bullshit. Ellerslie is the same on Karaka Million and Derby day and so was Cromwell today - it those attendees are the future of NZ racing we are in crappers creek. But according to you and your simpleton mates in the Messara cheer squad they are. Trouble is they have the attention span of a flea. More on the Otago racing Club’s performance today later but one of my new Irish friends queued 25 minutes for a beer and could not believe when he got to the front of the queue they promptly shut the bar. Good way to impress a potential racing devotee. More big Club cockups

Because Winston liked getting on the piss there. And all the drunks (non racing I might add) telling him how great it is he saved the Club. Wouldnt be surprised he turns up there in January.

Incidentally any BOAYers coming to the Coast let me know so the appropriate hospitality can be extended(at my meeting at least)

Well the name is Molloy and Mum’s name was Doolan so I’d say there is a fair chance

Anyway enough of this bullshit.... Last night I am in the Pub in Cromwell and a bunch of Irish blokes are there having great craic(or however you spell it). Get talking to one and discover he is a racing man. Ever been to the races on the Coast I say. ‘Yes’ he says ‘I love going to Reefton every year’. Next thing I have a potential sponsor on my hands. Said I will meet up at the races today but bit worried about the potential hangover subsequent! Nice to see that someone loves us.

No they bloody well won’t be picked off one by one. Not if I have anything to do with it.

I haven’t got the calculation because I am not home but on a proportionate basis on population and turnover Ellerslie should be turning over (I think) $40m on course per Raceday. They are a dollar or two away.

Difference was Westland had money in the bank and because of the actions of NZTR and co, with the passive support of the likes of you, they now don’t have the money in the bank and it(the money) is lost to the NZ racing industry. And there are people beating about it

Exactly. Riccarton and Ellerslie both prove the ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ adage. Nobody wants to go there apart form three or four days a year. I have nothing against the CJC really(most of the committee I have met are decent blokes and have been very welcoming the odd time I get into their committee room and Tim and his crew have never done me any harm) but live and let live I say. Don’t crush the RJC to fund those guys - let them stand on their own two feet.

Quite right Nomates we do need everybody and I am not seriously suggesting we can do without the major Clubs. But when people focus on us small Clubs as the reason for the industry ills then they need a bit of reality pointed out. The fact is that racing is probably the wealthiest sport in NZ (in terms of real estate - golf would be the only one within coo-ee)but that capital value is not being used the way it should. As I have said so often Riccarton could grab its insurance payout for that stand, negotiate to get a huge chuck of money for the site and move out to WestMelton or Darfield, build a model facility, have a couple of hundred mill in the bank and be able to run three or four million dollar races a year. People only turn up to the place once or twice a year so why do you need to be in the guts of the city. Their track is rooted and their buildings have seen better days. MOVE ! Even better if they could get Addington to join them. Harold Park did it. In Ellerslie’s case they have this big plan but wouldn’t you cash up the really valuable asset and redevelop Avondale? Or cash them both up and find somewhere North or South for a model facility. They could run a million dollar race every week. And ironically if those big clubs bit the bullet they would actually achieve the Messara aim anyway - pretty soon the owners would stop going to the likes of Reefton because we could not compete stakes wise. Which at the end of the day I would accept because it is true economics in action. I always said the owners and trainers will tell us when it is time to go being when they stop sending horses there. And at the moment (touch wood) that is not happening.

Well there you go. I have it on reasonably good authority that the Kurow JC has also taken steps to stop NZTR getting their grubby little paws on their asset.

Yes and so is rate of return. And the rate of return to the industry on the capital value of those valuable tracks is abysmal.

‘Supply and demand’? Is that the same supply and demand that saw Riccarton run three weekday meetings a couple of years back and not crack $30k in oncourse turnover? And battle to get 60 horses for any of the meetings. Clearly on industry days (with the same ‘crap’ stakes you lament at Westland) there is limited demand (and limited supply of horses) for their meetings.

So what is the rate of return from Kurow. The NZ industry would be vastly vastly vastly better off by cashing up the Ellerslie’s and Riccartons. Basis economics

Haven’t really been watching this debate too closely - enjoying a nice weekend in Cromwell (at the races of all places) The response to Tesio is the same as to Michael Pitman(who as everyone knows is a mate of mine) regarding Westland - the issue was patience or lack of it on the part of NZTR and their Waikato cronies. The fault for Westland giving away their asset was the way they were treated and I don’t blame them one iota for doing it. Had NZTR waited five years the Westland Racing club would have been gone and the money turned over but no these wankers had to play the tough game and look what happened. The immortal Bart Cummings had a saying ‘Patience is the cheapest thing in racing and the least used’ . Bart didn’t mean it in that way but by hell the same principle applies. As for the industry being entitled to the asset the Westland Community built up well I might say that Te Akau or Cambridge Stud or Tony Pike or whoever all owe their existence to the racing industry so why not grab all their assets? Wouldn’t the reaction to that suggestion be a delight to behold? No need to argue that owners provide those lot with their money - that $138000 you claim Westland received came from the punters (routed through the various bludger middlemen in Petone and further north all taking a cut) and the reality anyway is that most of that never goes into the Club bank account. It is accounting alone that says that is the amount received(NZTR never pays it to the club just pays it direct to the owners - those with good memories will recall me questioning the cashflow statement of the Cambridge Jockey Club but I quickly twigged that was the reason). But you Mr Tesio lay claim to Westland’s assets and further state they return a dismal amount to the industry. Well if we apply that logic the industry owns Ellerslie and Riccarton as well with values of probably $5billion and $500million respectively(and all their grandiose facilities and track renovations were built using the Amenities Fund as well I might add - unlike Westland’s which were built by the community of Hokitika). So do your sums and report back as to the return the Industry gets from ‘their’ investment in the Auckland and Christchurch venues. I think poor old Westland might come out looking rather good. But regardless you say you don’t want to come to the Coast - that’s your call but small minded people like you who seek to grab the assets others have struggled to build up and maintain would not be particularly welcome there anyway and nor will you be missed. We will have Kevin Myers and Michael Pitman plus the battlers like Pam any day.