Freda

Will there be enough amateur riders? Talking to a couple of southerners yesterday, they have several middle distance horses that probably now won't get a run.

From reading the article, it appears the reference is to a dirt track - as in American dirt - not a polytrack. Towards the end of the article, thoughts are voiced about the wisdom of trying to repair this dirt track, with the option of installing a synthetic surface. So, not apples with apples.

Sadly, yes. I notice that the jumps races formerly programmed for Riverton have been deleted, along with those for Wingatui. Timaru still has them on offer - so far - but, with Riverton and Timaru on the 'to close' list, there goes jumping. Most of us have been aware for a while that the days of jumpers in the S.I were numbered...so, why pay lip service? it is only prolonging the slide to oblivion by pretending to host them at clubs that have no future [ according to the plan]. So, yes, the provincial competition option wouldn't fly either.

We were never enemies.

Not even.

Pitty and Freda don't argue or bitch. At worst - we agree to disagree. 😇

Won't be long to wait to find out, anyway. It will be trials-ready by the new season apparently.

What about the steeple course? Was it there then? I recall my erstwhile namesake rueing the introduction of the figure-eight option. There goes the best test of a true, staying jumper, she fretted. If I wanted to watch an effing figure eight competition I'd go to effing pony club.

We're not on different pages at all, I agree with what you say in essence. However, I see country circuit[s] - revamped no doubt to maximise exposure at holiday times which may differ depending on the region, with perhaps a points system culminating in a final or finals to be held at one of the metrop hubs..? and worth decent money? I'm only casting ideas around, but, such options are run/held in Aus, the Highway series comes to mind just for one example, yes, we all know they get it right, but a more modest version here could get buy-in from the regions and complement, not antagonise, the centralised model. As for nicking assets, the whole idea is so flawed, they are chasing peanuts compared to the value of what is currently locked away, and can only be frittered away until there is no more to grab.

And, to revisit the small club theme...no need [ as you said ] to forcibly close venues..market forces will do that. But, what is wrong with a country circuit to complement the flash venue?

Time critical - i.e shoulda been done last year but we didn't get around to it.

Wow. That's informative.

Should have been actioned already.

I think overseas AWT's are shown as being 'standard' , 'fast' or 'slow'. Shouldn't think there would be any need to go further than that.

Reefton's idea is a wonderful concept, but sadly, won't happen in my lifetime...if ever. I fear that by the time anyone with sufficient vision bothers to take a look at options, racing will be such a shadow of its current self [ which isn't very substantial ] that there will be zero public interest to get the thing off the ground and becoming a paying option. The Caulfield development is different in that its success depends on the very fact that it is in the city...the fabulous options shown above for other recreations, sport, entertainment, and all sustainable, need the buy-in of a large and vibrant city to make it work in the way it is depicted. But, with the post-earthquake redevelopment of Lancaster Park in the pipeline, and swimming/sports areas needed, what a potential game-changer a multi-sport/entertainment complex might have been.

As a matter of interest, one of John Austin's better ideas [ when he was Chairman of the CJC ] was to do just that.

Ngai Tahu was the initial purchaser of the lot. The idea was that it couldn't be sold for 'commercial' purposes. I had a chat with the Chairman at the time of sale, wondering why the Racecourse Trust couldn't develop the excess land in it's own right, but was told that that was not allowed under the original Deed of Gift conditions. How that resonates with the 'commercial' reality of flogging off a parcel of land for money I'm not sure.

Yes, agree. However - is the 100 hectares the land area now with the housing development?

What a courageous girl. Wonderful to see how well she has done, a way to go still, but great work by her and her support team, friends and family.

Don't depress me any further, please.

And, from a racing/training perspective, Caulfield-based trainers have access to an alternative facility at least as good, if not better - as well as incentives to facilitate the move. They haven't been told to eff off, bad luck, this is the future.

Pardon the cynicism...but can NZ compete with anything on that scale? Apart from population/ funding, which obviously is out of our collective control, there is a vibrancy and vision that we just don't seem to have any more. Yes, we have some wonderful , individual talents in artistic and sporting fields, but look at the mouldering, decrepit facilities in so many areas, a health system chronically underfunded ; a lack of vision and energy seems to pervade us.

I've noticed that horses will sometimes miss away first time in blinkers. Not always, but it can happen. I reckon that they miss that first movement of the gates with the shades covering the eye; after all, they are supposed to reduce visibility all around so the concentration is forward? So, not hard to see how it might happen.

Paeroa would have been a reasonable option at one time..but the moment has gone now.

Ah well . The slope to the end of jumping in NZ just got steeper.