The Centaur

I'm intrigued by your reference to Des's jackpot. Memory not that good. Could that be Des Coppins? As for Des Coppins I think even though he is getting on racing can still benefit from his expertise say in linking racing to tourism sponsorship. Des organized the Melbourne Cup expeditions. I note someone on the new NZTR regime has been in Tourism therefore a scheme whereby syndication overseas encourages tourists into NZ visiting the trainer and local enterprises and thus making links. Otherwise the tourist would only pass through the location perhaps only getting to know the barmaid.

Totally agree in fact every Saturday even some mid week meetings should have an expo element to it. Example January month is a promotional month for the educational sector. Some areas good for tourism others good for a tiny version of Fieldays. OK some clubs try to do something but it really it has to have a head office structure making it easier for club officials to approach businesses.

Yes I remember the Ellerslie expo. Was an exhibitor there and actually got Telecom sponsorship as they were about to embrace the internet. Bevan Allen the owner of Red Tempo I think was the organiser.

Yes doing a quick survey like the NSW website they have obviously decided the clean approach is best with no reference to the Punters Intelligence app which always meets with some obstacle to download and install. Yet all the push for the screen clutter data comes from NSW sources with great fanfare but then little enthusiasm afterwards

ENTAIN are already scaling back some of its "initiatives" made in haste. Now if this latest "initiative" produces data then make the raw data freely available so people can do what they like with it such as feed it into a spread sheet. ENTAIN head office should be driving turnover not doubling up on functions the responsibilty of NZTR or private enterprise. That applies to the myriad of "tipsters" at ENTAIN & NZTR as there seems little effort into promoting businesses and sponsors.

Cost is the relevant factor. All the propaganda about the Trackside system being state of the art is bull****. Singapore racing had the system a dozen or so years ago. AI can now view a race preferably in HD and translate the colours from a frame into names and even when the colours are similar with a little human intervention can decide which is which. Why bother with GPS and all that if it is too pricey. Many years ago NZTR decided it was too expensive so I assume now it is realistic. If not that means a few dollars less for stake money.

Some of your logic is plain silly. I don't want to waste time responding. However a few points. Auckland should have view figures for the sectional pages generated from the Triple etc system.. Bookies i.e. odds settors do spend considerable effort doing the form. Fail to see what relevance sectional times have in jumpouts. So its a waste of time for example owners getting info from trainers. How silly of me to think otherwise.

H'mm ..over 40 non winners beforehand. I guess patience is the name of the game.

Some Hong Kong replays and the Ellerslie ones are clean videos i.e. no numbers on them. And indeed when Hong Kong replays do have the numbers the viewer still has to figure out the name of the horses. THe best and most efficient info is the in the running 4 still images of Hong Kong races after the event.

The more complicated racing gets the more punters will disappear because they figure there is no edge or more importantly don't have the time to do research. Neither will they take someone's word for it. They will also figure the bookie has mulled over this info so definitely no edge for the punter and unlike the bookie the punter doesn't have the time. Now if TAB wants to drive turnover pay the trackwork watchers to report and pass on quotes from the trainers.

Sorry Chief. Didn't see you had started thread already. Add the post there if you can. AS for cost don't know. However the Hong Kong system negligible on top of NZTR sectionals already produced.

When watching a live race the viewer is not really interested in the mountain of stats and timing. Post race then a case can be made. However the idea plonking all these chips onto saddles or jockeys generating useless information might be attractive to a very small few but will do nothing to attract new turnover. The cost has to be queried along with different methods obtaining relevant data. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/racing/new-graphics-part-of-tabs-long-term-plans-to-educate-punters/GJY3YNTBPVHDFCE7ZTO2DVNU44/ The Hong Kong images are simple and easily understood and something similar can be used in NZ at little cost.

The rush to sell land must be questioned against the desire of CEO's to keep their jobs or salary. I question the Ellerslie back straight selloff (not the hill) where the steeplechasers used to go. That could have been incorporated into a new configuration. Awapuni troubles can't be helped by selling land where banking of the existing track could have taken place. Similarly Avondale but that seems a dead duck. I am always surprised at UK racing where all you see is green space yet the population is more than 10 times that of New Zealand with similar land area.

The problem Hesi is that racing is not like most other businesses. Marketing people are employed to "market" the brand so for example we are seeing metro racetracks plastered with TAB billboards. They just do their job without seeing the big picture. The TAB is a monopoly in NZ so why the billboards preaching to the converted. It dissaudes legit businesses from supporting racing because of a dislike being associated with bookmakers, They will support the local club but not the gambling side.

A few good things with UK racing bad many terrible. 1. Far too many bookmakers. A bookmaker is pre historic. RACING DOES NOT NEED BOOKMAKERS. With modern technology the bookmaker is obsolete. Good Bye. Good Riddance. 2 Pathetic information to the public. Often a presenter the only information is the trainers previous record in a race or cheek pieces are on. Pathetic. 3. Jumps racing needs to be downsized.

What a lot of fluffing around to run the Matamata Cup. Simple decision would have been to tun it at the Avondale meeting last week. Even with all the preceding rain the track was OK.

Thank you Delta Bro. Informative. Finally found a method of communication with the "club" their facebook page but only one posting in the last 2 years. Seems the track manager does a good job. As for the rest they should get out and let a new team takeover. The phone number listed hasn't worked for 2 years. The CEO mobile phone never gets answered and I doubt the email address would get a response. Asking say the NZTR for a contact reference gets the standard reply can't do that for privacy reasons. F***k me there was a time when every phone was listed in the phone book. Nowadays one has to waste a day just finding a business phone number. If that is what they call AI then count me out.

Avondale is asset rich and with a sale inevitable now was an excellent time to invest. At $1.5M or thereabouts the Dargaville property was a steal leaving plenty options open. One being working cooperation with the Field Days. Before anything is impossible it has to be proved its not possible. Installing trainers both harness or thoroughbred has possibilities. Pre training another possibility. Clubs need to work together. The trend in Australia is city dwellers like to travel say 60 miles to getaway from the city during the weekend. An opportunity lost.

Disagree forget about the main stand its actually top class. Now if Avondale had a bit of nous they would have purchased Dargaville racecourse. Used the Avondale track as security, worked out a deal with the Dargaville Club, and Auckland Trotting club with the intention of staging combined gallops/harness meetings with also involvement of Whangarei Racing Club. The annual Agricultural Fieldays https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/20000-people-attend-northland-field-days/XRTBL7GIMFHI3L6WH5BKD3UV2A/ are a major Northland event so that organisation would have needed to be on board. Once all those organisations on board then the Northern Regional Council would get right behind the whole concept resulting in easier funding. A WIN WIN situation.

Bit of drying weather this afo (Tuesday) but obviously with all the rain a heavy 10. But with rail in true and little use recently the inside should be quite smooth. Very little publicity on the meeting tomorrow so little interest. That should not have been the case. One question has always puzzled me. With the Avondale Sunday markets popular why did Avondale club never leverage that crowd to attend meetings. Sunday meetings say six races from 3.30pm could have been held still allowing for cleanup from the markets. Even on other days an abundance of innovative ideas could have been used. The attitude of the club very poor. e,g. no phone number contact and no one in the club interested generating general feedback and ideas. Avondale had all the advantages and could have been the most profitable in the country.

Just who has bypassed the idea of running Matamata's remaining races at Avondale? Is it NZTR, Matamata club or Avondale. There needs to be an enquiry. The track at Avondale should offer excellent racing. If not lets hear it. The silence from NZTR & Avondale itself is shocking. Just what ideas are Avondale considering for their nest egg?

There is a bit of AI being exercised at TAB but combining AI with custom databased knowledge should eliminate lot of the costs particularly integrity. Also there are retired people willing to contribute free services and that should be utilised. Property sales over recent times have kept many management in nice cushy jobs with little oversight. Also lets get rid of the club member mentality where those running the club think they are only answerable to the members. If an initiative is OK for one club then its possibly worth using it for all clubs.

de Lore is inaccurate suggesting Winston supported Chloe Swarbrick. Infact he distanced himself from her speech but criticized the speakers ruling. Seems to me Winston Peters personally is opposed to Luxons policy on Gaza but as NZ's rep is forced to toe the line.

Could have done that by all means. Certainly a colourful legend.There has been some good writeups including that by Dennis Ryan on loveracing. The time I met him in the eighties I remember he wasn't all that glowing about the honesty of Queensland racing as well as the politics there. As for more modern journalists I hope there is some award or acknowledgement at the end of season get togethers for Jamie Searle.

Joshua Smith . OK the trainer was positive and cooperative nevertheless these pieces are excellent in fostering interest in upcoming races. https://loveracing.nz/News/50082/Grayshuntinglocalriches.aspx