Bloke

Nowhere as many sheep and they are big supporters of Napier City Rovers. There is a beautiful cricket ground in central Napier, Nelson Park and they played their first cricket game of the season there last weekend. Where else in the country can they do that?

I stand corrected, I got the impression that they shut it down for all horse activity. It was 23 degrees today in Napier top temperature in the country as it is many times.

If you had a horse that you want trained, why would you select a Hastings Trainer if the track is closed? The track closure would have had a huge impact. Hasting is the right place for the Spring Classic because the weather is probably the best in the country.

The problem is that racing clubs are not experts on property development or even straight forward property purchases. In the case of Race, they were "know it all's" and should have at a minimum sought advice from experts in the property development field and for significant property transactions they should have always sought final approval from members. In the case of Hastings, it is pleasing that they are consulting their members something The Wellington Racing Club never did for the 20 plus years that I was a member. In the case of Hastings, I think that the proposal can work if they hire the right people and not try to be the experts on property which they are not.

Depends on what you would judge as a good crowd Mikey. Cup Day at Addington used to attract 20k plus but in recent years maybe 7k?

Playing numbers in Wellington have plummeted on what they were say 30 years ago. What were once large clubs are now a fraction of that size yet amazingly; I see that Wellington have won The NPC twice in the last three years. So what does that say about the remainder of the NPC teams.

I have told this story before but just in case, I will repeat it. A couple of years ago i went to my local at the Belle Vue in Lower Hutt and looked across at Hutt Rec where there was a Rugby game on with maybe 200 watching. It turned out to be Wellington V Southland, Ranfurly Shield Game. Wellington Rugby's home ground for their NPC games is at Porirua Park where they play in front of miniscule crowds.

Earlier this season we had no one at Ellerslie for Group One racing while there was a sellout crowd across town of 25kplus watching Auckland FC. Maybe Ellerslie should have changed the date of their racing?

The answer is simple Mikey. Football is the number one sport in Auckland by a country mile. Good on the Jaffas for seeing the light

Get the spelling right TAB. It's Jaffa! Just a further F----- Aucklander

Mate I do not follow rugby. Besides in Wellington, Football has been the dominate sport for many years and Football is now NZs largest team sport in terms of participation The Wellington Men's Rugby Team has to play their games at Porirua Park in front of maybe 100 spectators. The Hurricanes and the Wellington Rugby Union have major financial issues and with any luck they will fold.

Well, they did not help themselves by having a lamb as a mascot for a Rugby Team and calling their Basketball team The Rams. I also must give TAB some credit, usually anyone who comes from Christchurch is normally a pain in the arse parochial. Not only that he has turned Jaffa.

I do not agree with your comments that the Awapuni cock ups were beyond the prediction of most investors. Firstly, they had no experience with property development so should have sought advice. For the sale of the Awapuni land it was simple. They should have firstly subdivided, then sold the sections and finally built the conference centre. That way they would have removed the risk So far as Club Management goes, Race has been a chapter of incredible cock ups. Just look at recent years. They bought the land at Sherrif's Road Awapuni for $1.6M as they though it would be good for stables. Only problem was that once again they did not do their due diligence as there was a stream around the land with a bridge which they thought gave them access. But it didn't so the last I heard was that the land was back on the market for offers of near $1M. They started a Cafe at Trentham which has cost a fortune to set up and for the first 8 or months of operation lost around $70k. Then we find the CEO's brother in-law is the chef. Once again poor research as there is an excellent Cafe across the railway line which attracts the foot traffic. ]

Race's problem goes back to "The Awapuni Debacle" when they built a conference centre / grandstand without any money. The plan was to subdivide residential land at Awapuni, sell sections and then build the new centre. However, they decided to build before they sold the land and the $9M cost was funded by the Bank with the debt to be repaid from section sales. The building was completed just as the GFC hit and they could not find buyers for the sections. When they did sell a section well below expected price the proceeds were used to only repay interest to The Bank. So, Trentham has been sold off to repay interest and principal as well as to cover the many other blunders made by so called experts. The other issue they have is that each club has two directors on the board but some of the clubs are so small in terms of membership that it would be incredibly hard to find two members with the expertise to sit as directors. For example, Marton has about 20 members plus the committee. Rangitikei and Feilding are not much better.

Maybe but I don't fancy their chances be of surviving financially given Race's appalling history.