Reefton

Yes well Mike the Coast all had good crowds. We had a bloody good bunch building up but alas the 'higher authority' decided he doesn't like people enjoying themselves so stomped on it They must dead set hate Kumara with the crowd getting around the bend into the straight and all around to the bend into the back. Anyone see the drone shots? They tell me they were great. But make no error he had a serious crack at shutting them down the day before too. What has the Coast done to deserve the treatment it gets?

I was there!!!!!

The Club has taken up the battle with the RIB I tell you. If they thought I/the Club was going to lie down and take it they thought wrong. At the moment they have gone awfully quiet but until they give some sort of (final) reaction I will not release the letters and reports. For all that we will survive. I really worry about the future support from Trainers - I would love to give every owner an extra $100 or $200 in extra compensation to try to shore up our support for next year and following. It is not our fault and nor is it the stakeholders fault. And yes the Marton turnover was a tad embarrassing all right. But they do not seem to grasp the significance of getting people actually to the races

Zero of off course. Just the bulk funding that NZTR provides

Fixed odds and ordinary tote Mike plus now they track phone betting on-course and we get a percentage of that too. I guess 8% might be a chunk out of the betting but it would be a deduction anyway and one way or another the industry would receive it I don't think Harness racing get a percentage of on course TO

8% of on course. Provided of course the Chief Stipendiary Steward of NZ decided he would let you race. But that is another story...........

to be fair to the TAB on course staff they are not bad people doing their best. And they have had shiite squeezed out of them with cost cutting and staff cutting too. Not saying these people are the cause of this restriction and I have had arguments with them before but they are certainly not living the highlife on the industry. The hierarchy maybe but not those guys

100% correct. Outrageous to have a ten week break at the peak of summer

You are probably right re the letting themselves be pushed around but.... Those sale boys clearly hold a lot of sway. That carnival was always such good racing with three days in a week. And really provided there are not too many carnivals I think we can sustain them. That was such a highlight like the NZ Cup Carnival and really The Auckland Boxing Day/New Years day deal(whether the March week is as good????? All these feature days in the South are becoming ho hum. They ought to be something to look forward to not just another day at the races(and given the feature and premier day attendances all over the country they are certainly just another day at the races)

Good stakes day at Wellington this weekend and to be fair pretty full fields too But traditionally this was a carnival where the best of the South could and did turn up to compete with the North's best. By this time of year the likes of Pitty's team were at their best and usually competitive with the Northerners(even managed to win a race on Cup day myself a few years back) But the bloody dates now multiple feature days in the south in a row mean what is the incentive to take a Southern horse north. May as well stay home and race for stakes not that much inferior with probably a better chance of getting a big chunk. So not only has the Karaka Millions scheduling done its best to wreck the Wellington Cup Carnival(for years generally considered the best weeks racing in NZ) now the Southern dates schedule is attacking it from the other direction. I was the head of the WRC I would be rather irate at this point. They have destroyed one of the Jewels in the Crown of NZ racing I'm not noted for being sympathetic to the big Clubs but come on guys!

$15 I think. And there were eff all free tickets dispensed I tell you(there never is). I heard a story of owners being hit up for their $15 due to presumably overlooking to bring their NZTR email Kumara might be raking in a bit more in gate takings that Waikouaiti I would say. Bit ironic since Waikouaiti has been jammed onto their traditional day(second Saturday in January)

I said to a few that day 'the view of this racecourse crowd on Trackside will be having them cringing given there will be not a soul in sight at Trentham'.

According to last night's Grey Star the two offcourse turnovers were about $2.4m each(Kumara slightly higher). On course Kumara $236k Marton $35k. Kumara packed to the gunnels Trentham you could fire a scattergun cannon and not hit anyone You cannot get it through to them that the industry desperately needs these days that are attractive to the general public. If one in twenty of those kids at Kumara thinks 'gee I like this game' racing is the winner. Karaka Millions night or NZ Cup day it would be lucky if one in twenty can even remember it the next day

Let me assure you the bloke concerned would have been desperate to get the lot to Omoto. There has in my time never been a proposal to create a new venue OTHER THAN the one I came up with ten or so years back(and which nobody showed any interest). Up the Grey Valley was talked about but certainly not officially. It would have been too far from the population anyway Ashburton and Motukarara might have got grandstands but none of the other Coast Clubs got a brass razoo from the Amenities fund(and even if the BRC and ARC they did get dosh it will have been a pittance compared to what Riccarton has had lavished on it) The current Coast circuit relies heavily on Omoto and Reefton because we have the stabling(in our case we paid for it - in theirs the industry paid for it). Essentially that is how I saved Reefton - by telling Bernard if they had to evacuate Omoto because of flooding and they had eliminated Westland and Reefton then there was no way Reefton racecourse would allow horses to relocate there. And if it was bad enough to close the roads out of the province that might become an animal welfare issue

Couple of things (1) I am not prepared to blatantly lie to make my CV look better than it is(not that I have a CV - never needed one) (2) I am pretty settled where I am even if it rains a lot and most importantly (3) wrong surname Oh and plus I am a bad tempered prick with absolute zero tolerance for wankers And also like I often say - I know all about what is wrong in this game but I would hate the job of trying to fix it

Those were the days of the District Committees and Greymouth (the 'Metropolitan Club' of the district) had its foot firmly on Kumara's throat. Kumara was nowhere near the meeting in those days it is now - in fact the Kumara /Hokitika weekend as it was then had a competing South Island Meeting at Omakau. The District Committee structure was that the top club had one more delegate than all the others combined(one each) so the Metro Club got everything(including all the money ex the Amenities fund - hence the big Clubs getting everything paid for by the Racing Authority. Greymouth stabling, Admin block and grandstand were all 100% funded while the rest of us got nought). Ditto Riccarton Wellington Te Rapa and Ellerslie of course The top club provided the District Committee secretary as well(I was it for a while as the Greymouth Secretary) but by my time the Amenities fund was pretty well used up(though they still pumped dosh into the big clubs). In the time you refer to the head of the District Committee (I won't name him) was a centralisation fanatic and also the delegate to the Racing Conference. Hence Kumara being under serious threat(as well as the rest of us). They wanted to race everything at Omoto. You have to remember the likes of Hororata and Amberley had something similar happen.As did Beaumont & Tapanui By my time the Chair and delegate was Jack O'Donnell who was a bit more balanced in his views - and of course the 'Kumara' event had exploded in popularity by then so they could not have done anything anyway. Kumara really went berserk when Mobil adopted them. At one stage they had a tent the size of a football field. Kumara even built a building to be the entrance to it(which still stands). Kumara outdid Wellington offcourse last weekend and did seven times as much oncourse. Something is very very wrong here when some guy is arbitrarily deciding that the meeting was not going ahead. Luckily they stood up to him

Not to my knowledge the Club didn't but I know horses galloped that morning. Kumara on the other hand has no stabling so not sure they had horses gallop that morning

There were at least 20 horses stabled there for the meet and some were running at Kumara not Reefton. I am sure the protocol was followed but I was not there to witness it. Michael Pitman had his horses there and was adamant the track was 110% safe

To be fair I would hate to have some kid in Burwood Hospital with a broken neck after my meeting so as I say where there is genuine evidence of slippery ground I am happy to abandon. In this case however there was no evidence and indeed there was a very good reason, not related to the track, for the loss of balance. You expect people sitting in judgment to be objective but in this case the abandonment decision was in place waiting for an excuse. Sort of having the answer prepared then waiting for the question.

I don't think there is any doubt when a horse genuinely slips. If the can identify a skid/slip mark no problem with abandonment. I said to Oatham(when he asked after the inspection) 'if it is safety do must do what you must do'. That was before I saw the replay that Billy Connelly refers to. Terry definitely pushed out then got bumped back in and a split second after the bump the horse lost its footing. Despite five minutes searching Oatham and co found no skid or slip mark (I know - I was with them). We are awaiting advice from the RIB re compensation. If, as I expect, they ignore us I will tell BOAY the full story but just now I need to hold fire. He wanted Greymouth off the night before and Kumara all day on the Friday but the Clubs resisted. What happened with us was a convenient loss of footing and he pounced.

he was pretty keen to abandon but the riders made it clear they were happy to continue

would it make a difference?

three out of three would have been a f*#king sight better!

It was a good day even for someone who has not always been a Kumara fan. They were a lot closer to cancellation than I let on though - a certain Stipe(the same one who tried to close down Greymouth and did close down our day) was determined on Friday that the meeting was not going to go ahead. The Secretary(an ex Stipe himself) looked like he had not slept for a week due to the pressure

I think you will find the oncourse was 65k not 130k $1.7m off course hmmmmmmmmm. I will check that. Immediate reaction I doubt it Well your options are limited if you want to bag the Coast. Perhaps go attend Tim's next offering