Wanganui straight track

[Stipesboy]

How's the new straight track going summer coming and all grass track what's everyone thoughts on the open day not alot said

 

[BitofaLegend]

12 hours ago, Stipesboy said:

How's the new straight track going summer coming and all grass track what's everyone thoughts on the open day not alot said

 

Fucken awful decisions left right and centre

Saw it yesterday. The project will be a complete failure.

The tracks curved so the centres higher then the outside.

They want this track to replace the sprint races at wanganui Which is insane.

You will need strong 450m dogs for this distance. Most sprinters will struggle 250m straight let alone a 350m+ straight

No middle distance dogs will race there because theres more money in middle distance races and itll be too long for the squibs.

and the straight track they based the design of doesnt race for 6 months of the year. So whats the point?

 

Edited December 22, 2023 by BitofaLegend

[BitofaLegend]

Makes completely no sense. This is before the logistics of dogs and handlers having to far to get there and on viewers at the track will have to move to watch it

[Yankiwi]

8 hours ago, BitofaLegend said:

You will need strong 450m dogs for this distance. Most sprinters will struggle 250m straight let alone a 350m+ straight

No middle distance dogs will race there because theres more money in middle distance races and itll be too long for the squibs.

 

Geesh BOL, have some faith.

GRNZ have a top-of-the-line track & infrastructure manager on the books now so how could anything possibly go wrong with a new track? Beyond that superstar, there are 15 other suits in headquarters to oversee the long overdue project.

Besides, once they get the straight track up & running (if ever), they could turn to the Palmerston North club for advice on how to reinstate a shorter starting position, since PN were able to reinstate a once abandoned dangerous starting position exactly in the same place it used to be in, just to shorten the distance on their track by 35m.

Disclosure - this post could possibly contain sarcasm.

[BitofaLegend]

Not too many people seemed too please with the set up in the cd

[Stipesboy]

O wow really hope it doesn't have to much of a curve that would be unsafe can the public see the track not sure why so much silence on this topic 

[Yankiwi]

GRNZ built a straight track that had a curve?

I wouldn't be surprised.

That could explain why racing didn't commence in April 2023 as they claimed it would.

 

 

I suspect that while in Capalaba, the project manager & engineer decided to copy the road next to the grass track instead of the track itself.

 

[BitofaLegend]

On 27/12/2023 at 4:47 PM, Stipesboy said:

O wow really hope it doesn't have to much of a curve that would be unsafe can the public see the track not sure why so much silence on this topic 

I just dont see the straight track getting utilised often unless they matched middle distance stakes or shorten the distance for the 300m dogs to race.

I used to have my own straight back in the day and 200-250m was ideal for sprinters, 300-350m for middle distance dogs and 400-450m for distance dogs.

Any trainers that arent aware of this will find out fast.

Then theres everything else alswell. Its in a poor location where the audience wont be able to see them, the track is grass and will only race 6 months a year like Capabala, the track the straights supposed to be based on, theres no running rail, its a drag lure with no inside rail at all.

Seems to be little actual thinking here from grnz and a complete waste of money

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by BitofaLegend

[curious]

Not a dog person but just saw this. There was quite a bit of discussion with Foxton Racing Club a few years back about putting a straight dog track in there. Club was open to it. Might have been a better option? Would have been a genuine straight course.

[BitofaLegend]

10 hours ago, curious said:

Not a dog person but just saw this. There was quite a bit of discussion with Foxton Racing Club a few years back about putting a straight dog track in there. Club was open to it. Might have been a better option? Would have been a genuine straight course.

Might have been a better solution to have a stand alone track with different distances.

Time will tell i guess

[Special Agent]

On 12/30/2023 at 11:50 AM, curious said:

Not a dog person but just saw this. There was quite a bit of discussion with Foxton Racing Club a few years back about putting a straight dog track in there. Club was open to it. Might have been a better option? Would have been a genuine straight course.

And Levin years before that.  It will be interesting.  I hope they achieve their objective of less injuries.

[Yankiwi]

On 27/12/2023 at 5:39 PM, Yankiwi said:

That could explain why racing didn't commence in April 2023 as they claimed it would.

Per GRNZ (8/02/24):

"The starting boxes were installed and commissioned by Steriline last Thursday, and these are now operational. Additionally, the drag lure and back-up motor was installed and commissioned last week by the manufacturer, and it is now operating.

At this stage, it is now anticipated that the track surface will be ready for trials commencing on or shortly following 6 March"

 

Not bad!

They might even have guessed which month the go button would finally get pressed a year ago, unless of course this new timeline happens to be achieved before the end of March.

[Yankiwi]

Another example of GRNZ proving themselves worthless.

After being more than a year overdue, you'd think this would be front page news for them.

Instead, it gets a blurb buried in a Stewards report.

[Yankiwi]

Seems the inaugural (dress rehearsal) race meet returned some mixed results at best.

Two of the four races had lure/boxes issues.

https://www.grnz.co.nz/catch-the-action/15983/stewards-report.aspx

After finally delivering the straight track more than a year overdue, they were unable get some of easy things done with consistency.

You don't need dogs at the track to get the lure & starting boxes in sync.

For that alone, I call it a failure.

[Yankiwi]

Race #1

 

 

 

Race #2

 

 

Race #3

 

[Chapdog]

9 hours ago, Yankiwi said:

Race #1

 

 

 

Race #2

 

 

Race #3

 

I thought they said straight track racing was cleaner racing. The way some of those dogs run across the track will be a recipe for disaster. I wonder how the PBD will be worked out for this. I guess we will find out come June 28 as the TAB have this down as an 18 race card with a mix of straight and circle racing.

[Yankiwi]

Race #2

#1 was on the lure until she got her eyes on the small flock of sparrows landing on the track, which were more interesting to her.

 

 

So how can this be enforced?

 

The #1 didn't look at other dogs or ease its stride.

She did met criteria (C) because she started chasing birds instead of the lure, which in doing so, interfered with 3 other dogs running line.

So per the rules, she didn't fail to pursue.

 

That won't give punters any confidence and temp them to go to the local dog park to watch dogs do dog things instead.

 

 

[Chief Stipe]

10 minutes ago, Yankiwi said:

Race #2

#1 was on the lure until she got her eyes on the small flock of sparrows landing on the track, which were more interesting to her.

 

 

So how can this be enforced?

 

The #1 didn't look at other dogs or ease its stride.

She did met criteria (C) because she started chasing birds instead of the lure, which in doing so, interfered with 3 other dogs running line.

So per the rules, she didn't fail to pursue.

 

That won't give punters any confidence and temp them to go to the local dog park to watch dogs do dog things instead.

 

 

LOL FFS will they hire hawkes or shotguns with silencers to get the sparrows off the track first?

[Chief Stipe]

Doesn't running the lure down the middle of the track make the dogs run out or in depending on where they start from?

I imagine some dogs take a while to adapt as they expect the lure to be on the rail.

[Lorna Mitchell]

Was turning on trackside to watch but nothing.

 

[Yankiwi]

12 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

LOL FFS will they hire hawkes or shotguns with silencers to get the sparrows off the track first?

Probably the best grass in Wanganui for birds to get a winter seed fix for their belly.

My point is the FTP criteria is designed for oval track racing, which in least in this instance, is not fit for purpose for straight track racing.

The birds flew down & were landing on the track well after the race was underway.

[Yankiwi]

6 minutes ago, Lorna Mitchell said:

Was turning on trackside to watch but nothing.

 

GRNZ uploads non-tote race videos here.

https://www.youtube.com/@GreyhoundRacingNZ/videos

[Bill]

57 minutes ago, Lorna Mitchell said:

Was turning on trackside to watch but nothing.

 

It was a test meeting, non tote, why would it be on the tele ffs

[BitofaLegend]

1 hour ago, Chief Stipe said:

Doesn't running the lure down the middle of the track make the dogs run out or in depending on where they start from?

I imagine some dogs take a while to adapt as they expect the lure to be on the rail.

Interestingly enough on our own straight track we used to train on - wide dogs would all run to one side of the track and railers would run to the other even with a drag lure through the middle.

This always seemed to be a pretty common action from the 100s of dogs that came through

[Chief Stipe]

2 hours ago, Yankiwi said:

My point is the FTP criteria is designed for oval track racing, which in least in this instance, is not fit for purpose for straight track racing.

You can't have made the point very well if you have to explain what the point is you made.