The Centaur

Why do people expect everything to be on one web site? There are plenty web site each with some sort of speciality. For barrier bias there are several but try racingzone.com example https://www.racingzone.com.au/form-guide/new-plymouth-raceway/2019-01-17/ scroll down to the bottom

Certainly can't find a large win pool for NZ racing. So far at Taranaki on a lovely day win pool yet to reach $20,000 I distinctly remember going to Taranaki races in the sixties and never would win pool be less than $40,000 Not much better at Greyhounds only just reached $5000 in previous race.

Something that hasn't been noted because back in November we did not know what systen NZTAB was going to hit us with. The OpenBet system with at least three bookmakers including Ladbrokes and Sportsbet crashed heavily in Australia before the Melbourne cup for about 1/2 hour causing chaos. The opposing bookmakers had a windfall signing up new customers at a frantic rate in that space of time. I have a theory that OpenBet were developing a new system for New Zealand but because of problems and delays have reverted to their old system hence the lack of NZ customization.

I see there are OPEN SOURCE sportsbook websites available from $1000 which must mean fatcat outfits like Tabcorp, NZTAB, BetEasy, Paddy Power etc will be too top heavy to ward off lightweight startups. Punters themselves may endup owning the websites regardless of regulation.

Are you crazy.??? Its $50 million too much. A workable tote betting site can be put up for $50K That would exclude say Sports Betting and only one of tote betting or fixed odds. Also as historical horse data available on other sites no need for duplication. Shopping around perhaps the $50K could be reduced as well. However conditional on the backend infrastructure.

But I've got no experience spending $50M. Logic would say instead of cramming everything into one site it would have been wiser splitting the website into say 4 e.g. tote, Bookie ,form. and financial. With form especially NZ form combine with NZTR, HRNZ etc and other interested parties giving punters an efficient, pleasurable experience. That way NZ racing would always have an edge plus much easier and cheaper to develop.

I've been giving the site a bit of time before making conclusions although from day one I've said the $50M spend was crazy. Now looking at the site source code bearing in mind much of it is hidden quite frankly it doesn't make sense. For a single character of information like a placing there is a 100 characters of junk. No wonder it becomes slow when the same is multiplied hundreds of times. What happened to the idea of classes. Whatever they are programming in its useless. Thats from 50 years of programming experience.

Exactly

I've got three top proposals however the difficulty is when you've got big wigs with small ideas getting someone interested takes a lot of preparation writing things up etc otherswise they won't listen to you. Then you've got to put up with the "what have you done in racing" ( you know who I mean) brainwashers its not easy if ones got a good idea getting it looked at. Quite frankly one of the proposals in theory could blow the TAB bookie system out of the water. One of the reasons I've been staunch in saying the $50M spendup is a total waste. Just on the gimmicky side I'd like to see video interaction with the head TAB bookie oncourse. Probably the next best thing to having a real bookie oncourse.

Put me in somewhere if not too late.. Thanks

Excellent post Newmarket. Ironic that the only place too difficult to bet is the racetrack when one is socialising and not into squinting at the phone, filling in complicated forms or queing up only to miss out getting on. THere are some relatively simple solutions but it needs the basics of getting the TAB honchos out of the racetrack and allowing private innovations to be put forward. I'll expand on that later.

Can't understand why desktop users have to use websites designed for mobile. Ever since html5 became the norm information is spaced out. When looking up database form you want as much as possible in front of you without scrolling or obscuring the previous page.

The streaming video is HD and much better quality than TV at least on my equipment. That however has got nothing to do with OpenBET/Paddy Power

Now apparently the new site was fully tested and everyone very confident it was straightforward launching. THerefore if there is a problem I am guessing its going to be hard to find. Wouldn't surprise the old site reappears soon.

If a jockey or trainer is late for the first race they get quite heavily fined. Her we have a mule so the tardiness is perhaps excusable.

I am sure they will be recompensed. Maybe John Allen can dip into his salary. Apparently there is a delay. They are "hoping" for 1pm. Don't know which day though.

10,9,8,7..... We have lift off. Or have we???

The whole bookie system is open to corruption. I don't say in New Zealand but from overseas with the odds feeds. Also the cost of ensuring no corruption must be taken into account. The TAB was settup to get rid of bookies. Many existed until the TAB closing times came closer to start time. If Bookies are going to compete internationally then it will mean smaller and smaller margins until one day a super run by punters cleans the bookies out. Why is NZ racing taking that chance. Instead of putting resources into marketing racing the resources are going into fleecing the punter and making it so much harder to win on the punt. Just doesn't make sense or is it just short sighted greed.

Thats very sad news. He would have come into contact with so many in racing.

It will be interesting to know the true cost of receiving the Paddy Power fixed odds. THe more the options the more likely corruption. Not just in the field of play but a bookie employee sneaking through some inflated odds for some nondescript event.

According to the TAB they had massive requests for more bet options so I guess that makes "everybody" happy. Seems the $50m launch is Monday. The recipients of the $50M I am sure will be happy for you if not happy for themselves. On Monday we’ll be launching an exciting new TAB website and mobile app, along with tens of thousands of new fixed odds betting options. Between 7pm Sunday, 6 January and 12pm Monday, 7 January we’ll be turning off our existing website and app, and moving our customer data from the old system into the new. Races scheduled to take place during the outage will not be available for betting at any time on Sunday. We’ll do our very best to complete this work as quickly as we can and expect normal services to be back up and running by 12pm. FIND OUT MORE

She used to be my lawyer. Chief probably won't let me post anymore so I won't say anymore.

Beaten by draw. Not convinced good idea taking blinkers off. Last race looks competitive with Ripa Eagle, Parliament & Nicole Ashley, Birdie Blitz best prospects. But the biggest roughie Holy Loch could sneak into 3rd or 4th. Out of Joan's Best good mare for Westbury Stud. Good draw.

Barry. See if you can find out about the gear on Sockatash. Seems Cooksley must have told the trainer take the blinkers of. Not very tractable horse so interesting how its progressing without them.

Agree with you Barry. Got on Sockatash last night at 26:1 and 6:50 a place. But just hoping the draw is not the killer. Anyone interested check out its Cambridge trials win. The other trials were ok as well. Both runs have been in form maiden races but the big plus for me is that at Avondale I thought it was fat yet ran a mighty race.