Hardly surprising - Riccarton Synthetic Trials Cancelled!

[curious]

It's October and horses are preparing for grass racing. Why you would schedule synthetic trials this week is a mystery.

 

Good morning

Due to insufficient entries the trials scheduled for Riccarton Park Synthetic tomorrow have been cancelled

Kind regards

 

Billy McGown   Racing Coordinator New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing p: +64 4 576 6256 a: 106-110 Jackson Street, Petone, Wellington 5012 LOVERACING.NZ

[Doomed]

Was "incompetence" the word you were searching for?

[Freda]

Ashburton is being hammered from 16th Oct - 28th Nov with 3 race days and two sets of trials.

Quite plainly, there is nowhere else to put them.

I wonder if the rationale for getting shot of Rangiora has ever been questioned in the Halls of Management?

[mikeynz]

2 minutes ago, Freda said:

Ashburton is being hammered from 16th Oct - 28th Nov with 3 race days and two sets of trials.

Quite plainly, there is nowhere else to put them.

I wonder if the rationale for getting shot of Rangiora has ever been questioned in the Halls of Management?

And Washdyke, just 1 raceday, a bit weird.

[Doomed]

2 minutes ago, Freda said:

Ashburton is being hammered from 16th Oct - 28th Nov with 3 race days and two sets of trials.

Quite plainly, there is nowhere else to put them.

I wonder if the rationale for getting shot of Rangiora has ever been questioned in the Halls of Management?

The whole industry is just being so badly run. Pouring money at it hasn't helped. It is pretty obvious the major problem wasn't money after-all.

When do Entain start eliminating all the over-paid incompetent managers? That is normally the first thing you do when you take over a business.

[Chief Stipe]

Is Motukarara off limits to gallops now or is it closed?

[Huey]

2 hours ago, curious said:

It's October and horses are preparing for grass racing. Why you would schedule synthetic trials this week is a mystery.

 

Good morning

Due to insufficient entries the trials scheduled for Riccarton Park Synthetic tomorrow have been cancelled

Kind regards

 

Billy McGown   Racing Coordinator New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing p: +64 4 576 6256 a: 106-110 Jackson Street, Petone, Wellington 5012 LOVERACING.NZ

Yep the issue was never too many tracks, it was always and still is the criminal under utilisation of these assets. The more it goes on , the more it looks like the AWT tracks were bought in merely to convince everyone that the sale of assets was never going to be an issue.

[Chief Stipe]

6 minutes ago, Huey said:

Yep the issue was never too many tracks, it was always and still is the criminal under utilisation of these assets. The more it goes on , the more it looks like the AWT tracks were bought in merely to convince everyone that the sale of assets was never going to be an issue.

The way things are going the AWT's won't be able to fund their maintenance costs.

I know one big stable won't trial their 2yr olds on them.

[Doomed]

54 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

Is Motukarara off limits to gallops now or is it closed?

There is the "in crowd" and the great unwashed. If you aren't in the in crowd you are history.

The treatment of Timaru is appalling, and also Motukarara.

The money being poured into Wingatui is equally appalling. I would love to know what sort of turnovers they do at Wingatui. Such information used to be readily available. Wingatui used to always have disappointing on-course turnovers, now it is the golden child of SI racing.

Are turnover figures and related performance information available for the AWTS?

[curious]

It's 6 weeks from the cup meeting. Probably be a nice forgiving soft 6 or 7 at Rangiora tomorrow, possibly better with the current nor'wester. If they don't want to run them there then they have to surely run them on grass at Riccarton at this time of year. Incompetence is too nice a word Doomed. It's just plain stupid like much of the other programming and they wonder why less and less people are racing less and less horses. Sigh!

Edited October 2, 2023 by curious

[Freda]

They can't run trials on grass at Riccarton. 

[Freda]

4 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

Is Motukarara off limits to gallops now or is it closed?

Trots still run there don't they?

[Chief Stipe]

11 minutes ago, Freda said:

They can't run trials on grass at Riccarton. 

Why not?  On the main track?

[Chief Stipe]

12 minutes ago, Freda said:

Trots still run there don't they?

Yes at least 6 meetings a year.

[Freda]

12 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

Why not?  On the main track?

No.   One of the selling points of the AWT was the ability to 'rest'  the turf track, switching some races to the AWT and therefore lessening the wear-and-tear. e.g the middle day of the National meeting.    So trialling is not an option given that circumstance.

Formerly,  the Hunt Club meeting, run just a couple of weeks before the Grand National meeting, meant four days of racing in a very close time frame - exactly how that was managed, is hard to imagine now.

Edited October 2, 2023 by Freda

[curious]

It seems to me that the sensible option would be to set Rangiora up as a training/jumpout/trial facility capable of running 10-12 trial meetings a year. This would be very similar to what they've done in the CD with Foxton, so there is a successful model for that where the trial revenue is sufficient for a primarily volunteer organisation to remain viable. It's similarly a well drained track with irrigation and forgiving grass surface proximal to the bulk of the Canterbury horse population.

It would also serve as a venue for grass gallops for Riccarton based horses when none are available there in the same way that Awapuni trainers use Foxton for that purpose.

[Huey]

1 hour ago, curious said:

It seems to me that the sensible option would be to set Rangiora up as a training/jumpout/trial facility capable of running 10-12 trial meetings a year. This would be very similar to what they've done in the CD with Foxton, so there is a successful model for that where the trial revenue is sufficient for a primarily volunteer organisation to remain viable. It's similarly a well drained track with irrigation and forgiving grass surface proximal to the bulk of the Canterbury horse population.

It would also serve as a venue for grass gallops for Riccarton based horses when none are available there in the same way that Awapuni trainers use Foxton for that purpose.

Yes set up like that , but give them a couple of race days to keep them seriously interested. Unlikely Jumpouts & trials will achieve the prolonged enthusiasm required to keep a volunteer base going.

Racing in NZ continues to cut its nose off to spite their face , the best way forward for this industry is to utilise what it already has available & stop all the "In Club" fiasco that's gone on for a number of years.

I've said it for years the powers that be in this country are blind to the fact that the industry needs a grassroots for it prosper neigh on survive into the future.

[Doomed]

I just noticed Timaru is a good 3 for this week's meeting. You can see why they don't want to race there. They have the AWTs for good track racing and Riccarton turf for heavy track racing. No place for old fashioned good track turf racing in the modern environment.

[curious]

1 hour ago, Huey said:

Yes set up like that , but give them a couple of race days to keep them seriously interested. Unlikely Jumpouts & trials will achieve the prolonged enthusiasm required to keep a volunteer base going.

 

It's kept them going at Foxton, although the hope of a raceday or two again hasn't gone away and I'm rather surprised it wasn't called on, at least temporarily, while the Awapuni track is down for renovation.

[billy connolly]

2 hours ago, curious said:

It seems to me that the sensible option would be to set Rangiora up as a training/jumpout/trial facility capable of running 10-12 trial meetings a year.

The all weather Polytrack could (and should) have been placed at Rangiora anyway and at a much lessor initial cost.

At 1600m and cambered and with 1200m, 1600m and 2000m starting shutes already in place Rangiora was the ideal setup.

 

[curious]

2 minutes ago, billy connolly said:

The all weather Polytrack could (and should) have been placed at Rangiora anyway and at a much lessor initial cost.

At 1600m and cambered and with 1200m, 1600m and 2000m starting shutes already in place Rangiora was the ideal setup.

 

That would have left Riccarton with room for a second grass course for gallops and trials.

[Freda]

2 hours ago, curious said:

It seems to me that the sensible option would be to set Rangiora up as a training/jumpout/trial facility capable of running 10-12 trial meetings a year. This would be very similar to what they've done in the CD with Foxton, so there is a successful model for that where the trial revenue is sufficient for a primarily volunteer organisation to remain viable. It's similarly a well drained track with irrigation and forgiving grass surface proximal to the bulk of the Canterbury horse population.

It would also serve as a venue for grass gallops for Riccarton based horses when none are available there in the same way that Awapuni trainers use Foxton for that 

 

Edited October 2, 2023 by Freda

[Doomed]

26 minutes ago, curious said:

That would have left Riccarton with room for a second grass course for gallops and trials.

Now you're just being silly. Introducing common sense into a racing discussion.

Besides, Rangiora could never cope with the large crowds attracted to AWT racing.

[curious]

10 minutes ago, Doomed said:

Now you're just being silly. Introducing common sense into a racing discussion.

Besides, Rangiora could never cope with the large crowds attracted to AWT racing.

Might have met the PGF funding requirements more legitimately too?

[Chief Stipe]

46 minutes ago, curious said:

It's kept them going at Foxton, although the hope of a raceday or two again hasn't gone away and I'm rather surprised it wasn't called on, at least temporarily, while the Awapuni track is down for renovation.

Would it have been OK for the recently postponed Woodville meeting?  Afterall if you lose a day's racing (revenue) you can't get it back.