The Centaur

Both RNZ and Newstalk ZB have a Monday summary of outstanding weekend sport performances. On RNZ Legarto never got amention whilst on Newstalk the correspondent Andrew Saville or someone got cutoff by Mike Hosking after being keen outlining the effort. Didn't get chance to mention Mick Dee the NZ jockey afterall jockeys are professional sports people. Clearly Mike Hosking is anti racing. Racing businesses should steer clear advertising on that station.

If by chance the TAB undergoes some governance changes my suggestion would be... Split out the media resources into a separate standalone media company. Partner with an Australian wagering agency keeping a separation to NZ betting Partner with local organisations i.e NZTR, HRNZ, GRC & Sports concentrating on local content and allow for clubs to run their own pools.

New Bet Types require more marketing resources. The point I make is that those assets should be employed to attract new players and not switching customers from one type to another. Furthermore betting has become far too complicated which is another turn off. Added to that over compliance is far more serious impediment than racing chiefs realize. There is one thing racing is good at and that is kicking own goals. Racing does not need bookmakers. Hong Kong is the envy of other racing jurisdictions and they get along fine without bookies. Furthermore racing clubs do not need the TAB. With new technology and media they can offer betting direct to the public without the middle man.

I see some betting outfit has collapsed in Australia with millions of high roller funds down the drain. Article under a paywall. Perhaps someone has more info.

Agree with Doomed last post but de Lore's belief that an outside betting agency should step in is a backward step. Its like Uber, AirBNB etc where laws prevent New Zealander's undertaking certain businesses but they get swept away when an overseas biz wants in. I can see NZTR/Clubs signing away exclusive rights and not accepting that new technology could make the TAB and overseas agencies obsolete.

true.. but the pick six for midweek gallops is missing. I still make the point that the TAB is creating far too many promotions often very hard to understand. A bonfire is needed. Another factor is... OVER-COMPLIANCE Any employee usually wants to do a good job. Therefore purely for own reasons they go overboard with compliance and are not interested in the wider picture. It happens in many other organisations not just TAB. On top of that you have higher management too gutless or inexperienced to reign in the behaviour.

Marketing all the different bet types and half witted promotions is probably why Mike Tod was put in by equally clueless TAB board. He was heralded this way "deeply customer-centric leader with extensive experience in key areas of focus for our organisation, including product and service innovation, marketing, brand and consumer engagement. His appointment and those areas of focus will allow us to drive further revenue growth for our racing and sporting stakeholders" Racing can no longer afford massive salaries paid to about 10 people atop the TAB gravy train. All salaries must be maxed out at $200,000 and scaled back from there. Many racetracks and horse farms probably have flood damage, participants are departing, there is a cost of living crises, a third world war about to start, climate change, COVID pandemic, supply problems... the list goes on. Put simply RACING CAN'T AFFORD THE SALARIES and no amount of hair brained schemes switching punters from tote to fixed odds will change things.

With bonfires e.g. Labour's policy bonfire being seemingly popular now could be the time to dump the myriad of confusing bet types. Understanding betting has become impossible for someone new. Instead of employing marketing experts, graphic artists etc preaching to the converted by switching them from tote betting to bookies why not try to actually gain new customers. All the bet types are missing one vital piece of information. The market percentage rake off. When tote betting was introduced it was a legal requirement to show on track the pool size. The same legal requirement should exist for the fixed odds house percentage.

So why then was Rail called up for Riccarton? Why wasn't Tony Lee asked? It just seems more of the policy by TAB to destroy thoroughbred racing along the lines of failing to make radio relevant. I blame Sharrock and the rest of NZTR for not making greater efforts forcing TAB to make broadcasting of racing entertaining. If Mike Tod is worth close to $1m salary then surely he must have the skills to fill in as commentator. Then again having any skills would be a bonus apart from broadcasting a reduced payout to racing.

How silly are NZB? There was a time many years ago races had permanent names from year to year. Nowadays races particularly at the lower level have different sponsors each year. What possible relevance is it printing in the catalogue a certain horse won the Flying Duck Restaurant Handicap. No mention what class or other restrictions the race was for. In other words totally useless information yet vendors pay a fortune in entry and commission fees.

I follow racing Australian racing at the intro level. i.e. maiden races particularly at the provincials. Therefore I use Breednet to get the sale prices. That incudes the online sales where big spenders bail out. Some stallions I completely ignore when it comes winning maiden races. Those stallions incude Savabeel, Smart Missile, Dundeel, Vancouver, etc and looking at adding Almanzour to the list.

The $50 could be a way of getting around gambling legislation. By offering a free betting competition with prizes from sponsors could make the $50 a good bet in itself. I think the DIA or some similar outfit will reign in the BGP Punters Club just as they did with the jackpots many moons ago. Quite frankly no one wins with the size of the bets. Its bad to see $1/2M lost whilst its bad to see TAB profits drop by $1/2M, BGP fell into the trap set by TAB. Their advantage would have been pooling information from their members and having a small team thoroughly do research therefore being more knowledgeable than the bookies. Betting in smaller amounts optionally on any races available NZ/AUS on the day.

In the olden days I would just drive thru and say "tote maintenance" which wasn't exactly a lie. They got plenty maintenance out of me.

HJ I am not quite clear. Were you at Avonhead or Pukekohe? With COVID fear around for some time I feel catering for out door crowds most of the year round a good option. Or does it not matter?

The BGP get together at Ellerslie racecourse an interesting concept. Although common overseas there hasn't been any great enthusiasm here in NZ for phantom meetings. With numerous TAB closures and racecourse facilities sitting idle I would have thought more of a push to create racing entertainment venues. Therefore was there any atmosphere at Ellerslie? Was the event a success? etc. etc.

I think one would have to been around at that time to appreciate how good in quality this field was. It also demonstrated that having one iconic race is enough to make a great raceday. This was a midweek day at Woodville. Incidently the race prior was won by Royal Game by Mellay having its first start and plunged heavily on the tote. Mellay horses at that time were like the Zabeels of recent times. Anyway a bit more than a year later I snagged him at an auction for around $400. The auctioneers were so embarrassed by his appearance they quickly knocked him down. Took some doing but won again.

I was reading some newspapers from the seventies and came across an article where Kumara was on the point of being closed and it was only Muldoon's politicking that enabled it to carry on. As a consequence there were howls of disgust about the government's interference in racing.

Would clubs similar to Woodville be "allowed" today to run races like this one. ---------------------------------- KIRRAMA FAVOURED TODAY 10 January 1973. Press Assn. Wellington. Kirrama has the chance to prove he is on his way back to his former greatness when he meets what must be the best field carded at Woodville in the weight-for-age Cup and Derby Trial on the second day of the Pahiatua meeting today. Kirrama is five and his story goes back almost two seasons and a half. He was a brilliant three-year-old in one of the strongest seasons for second season horses. He went amiss before the end of that summer but in the autumn he showed a glimpse of his tremendous ability when he beat Game in an unforgettable contest for the Stars Travel Stakes. At four he was handled patiently by W. Worrall, but from a distance the chance of a successful come-back seldom seemed particularly bright. Worrall however seems to have succeeded now. The big black son of Sobig is showing most encouraging form. Nothing yet to compare with his greatest but enough to demonstrate that all the spirit and a good deal of the ability are still there. He has had five races this season and has won for the first time since he was three. Carrying 9-3. he was unplaced in his first run over six furlongs then was beaten a nose the next time at the same distance. His third run this term saw him favourite in a weight-for-age mile when he was fifth to Hi Bing. Since then he has run twice at the Auckland Cup meeting winning by two lengths over seven furlongs with 9-3. then finishing fourth in another weight-for-age mile after an extremely severe check inside the three furlongs. Undoubtedly the country's weight-for-age champion just now is the seven-year-old Bardall. The day Kirrama won his sprint. Bardall took the Clifford Plate and before that he had beaten Ben Adhem by a nose over 11 furlongs under the same conditions at Paeroa. He has since finished third to Kalgoorlie in the mile weight-for-age King’s Plate at Ellerslie, but probably he will improve again coming back to a middle distance. Beatnik, one of two mares in the field, has also become a weight-for-age exponent. She took the Harcourt Stakes at Trentham in October, won the Avondale Cup at her next start, then reverting to weight-for-age conditions ran a fair fifth in the Foxbridge Plate. She rested after that and came back a week ago to run third in a sprint at Wairarapa. Black Rod and Curly Wave are the three-year-olds in the field Black Rod with his consistent classic form looks the hotter prospect though Curly Wave's spring form (he won the Avondale Guineas) was respectable. Ben Adhem might be better over more ground but rates among the top prospects after running Bardall to a nose at Paeroa. FIRST LEG OF T.A.B. DOUBLE 2.40 p.m. CUP AND DERBY TRIAL $5500 2000m and 80yds. 4113 Bardall (4) 9 3 2154 Fort Hagen (7) 9.3 4335 Glengowan (5) 9.3 6060 Johnny Cash (3) 9.3 2574 Kirrama (6) 9.3 0664 Origin (12) 9.3 2040 Simon de Montfort (10) 9.3 1153 Beatnik (2) 9.0 1251 Ben Adhem (1) 9.0 2691 Topsy (9) 9.0 4723 Oncide (11) 8.11 4422 Black Rod (8) 8.2 2655 Curly Wave (15) 8.2 Scratched: Mr Spy (14), Nausori (13).

Thats the problem. Individual officials are dead scared that if they Ok races to continue and there is an accident the blame will fall on them. Recently I think Awapuni the officials gave away their responsibility and placed it on the riders. Deep down I don't think officials directly care that much about jockey safety as much as their own neck. For them easiest solution just cancel the meeting.

Its marvelous that we can rely on Avondale with always a good surface. Great for transferring Pukekohe to Avondale to save the track for the million dollar races. Oh well just an idea??

Now I am wondering about Ruakaka tomorrow. Wasn't the Cambridge synthetic built to handle meeting transfers when bad weather was predicted. Transfering Pukekohe to Cambridge synthetic Sunday perhaps an option. Sorry I forgot the Cambridge track only built to benefit locals selling ready to race horses overseas.

I am as keen of a racing follower as anyone. Yesterday I watched all of Otaki galloping action on Trackside including all preliminaries etc. and some of racing elsewhere although I mute things when greyhounds come on. Today I am absolutely shocked to discover there was actually harness racing at Otaki. If harness racing can't reach me I doubt it can reach Mr Average.

Its a curly one. Australia has got the feel of wide open spaces which gives confidence in fighting against Covid. Maybe country racing can boom and city regress then again due to financial restraints the other way around. I really think business such as horse trainers should button up and adjust to the market reality.

There are so many crazy things going on I don't know where to start. If we go to the radio for guidance we get... SENZ... promos for the SENZ app. i.e self propaganda BBC.... anti Russian propaganda RNZ.... Maori propaganda Newstalk.... anti Labour government propaganda. Christian Channels.... usual rubbish. Then the great logic for businesses that can't open because of weather bombs... bring in more staff from overseas. But as far as racing goes I get back to most crazy of all... pay the TAB CEO a million per year and everything will be fine.

There has been several setup shop in Victoria and soon retreat. Quite frankly Forsman is silly doing that unless its secondary to the NZ side of things. We are already at the start of World War 3 and like previous wars restrictions will come into play. Coupled with global warming which includes forest fires in Australia and also Covid along with a financial recession everything points to hard times. Cutting equine horse air travel or else making it too expensive will hit racing hard. Racing in Australia may sound rosy but needs to consolidate. Going there is not the panacea.