Slippery Slope Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 2 hours ago, Walt said: You've touched on a subject that deserves it's own thread Brodie but we are on the same page. Where are the future of horse racing punters going to come from? If I was to say the three traditional areas from the past they would be.... 1) Our fathers 2) Melbourne Cup and associated sweepstakes etc 3) Embracing a champion racehorse. I feel we can start putting a line through the influence of our fathers. There are so many areas / sports competing for the punters dollar these days. Racing no longer has the monopoly it once enjoyed. I also believe more fathers than ever see gambling in a negative light akin to smoking cigarettes. Unsure to what degree animal welfare plays a role with some people not wanting to support horse racing like many people who disapprove of rodeo's. You also have to be committed if you intend going to the races. Ten races spread over five hours has limited appeal when most of us are in a hurry to get from one place to another. Imagine going to a Casino and telling people there for five hours they could only have one gamble every thirty minutes so could sit on their hands for 25 minutes in between. Watch how quickly the Casino emptied out. I have three daughters and three sons. All are happy to go with me to a race day like the NZ Cup day but wouldn't be interested in any other days. Only two of my sons gamble and that is almost exclusively on football, MMA and League. We've all been to NZ Cup day. There's a buzz most embrace but other punters are not fussed. Seeing so many young people on track is encouraging but that encouragement soon evaporates. Horse racing need a lot more big days targeting young people. It's up to them to work out how to do that. People like Carter Dalgety are making a difference. He's young, talented and engaging. Younger people relate to him way more than they would relate to David Butcher etc. Carter has encouraged some of his young mates into horse ownership that has produced positive results. Other young people will have noticed. Gambling should be seen as fun and with the potential of winning life changing amounts of money for relatively small outlays. Something to compete with Lotto. The nearest we come to that is Pick Six a wager that coincidently the TAB no longer want. There needs to be a weekly jackpot to get peoples attention. Something for them, especially younger folk to pool their funds into a syndicate with the chance of buying that new car with the result. Regular sweepstakes could produce positive results. More high profile raffles etc for a share in a horse that is already winning races. The TAB have a clear focus on quantity over quality. Compulsive gamblers will embrace that but once again this is the sort of thing that turns others off gambling. We are routinely missing out on features worthy of focusing on as Trackside rush off to another dog race from Wallawallabangdong and others venues that a percentage of viewers wouldn't even know what country the venue is in. Getting people to the track is key in my opinion. If I look at Nelson for example we no longer have gallops and have lost our winter harness meeting so 50% of our racing. Nelson has a superb course but the facilities look like it's been decades since a bean was spent on them. I've offered to waterblast some of the shite looking areas free of any charge but the club don't actually own the grandstands etc. The population of Nelson has grown considerably but that is not reflected via horse racing. Richmond the very area the racecourse is on has had a significant population increase and many of them are younger people. I use Nelson as an anecdotal example of racing going backwards. Is the writing on the wall and the TAB just letting it die knowing Sports Betting is not in the too hard basket? So many venues that supported "rugby, racing and beer" that were the foundations of our social life in the last century are tired and past their used by date in the mid 2020's. And all 3 of these foundations to Kiwi recreation are being hammered by much more appealing activity for the under 30's of today- basketball and football vs rugby, sports betting and online gaming vs racing, RTD's and wine vs beer. But don't throw in the towel yet on harness racing connecting with another generation. Across the South Island there are c.15 venues, including Nelson, that get both young and old up close and personal with harness racing over 8 months every year. That experience plus all the quality and regular events at Addington can nurture an interest across young people and the semi retired that can last a lifetime, if we keep supporting the product and the venues. Plenty of us have had a holiday in the UK, France or Italy at least once in our life, and there's not much new or fresh in any of those countries these days either. People regularly enjoying visiting somewhere old and often past its best, but new to them, and a day out as a customer at an gritty but genuinely fun harness racing venue can get lots of casual visitors on a fun journey not wholly dependent on their phone or laptop! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brodie Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 (edited) Personally and some will not agree with Brodie, but from what I can see is that Entain has very little interest in NZ harness racing after their guarantee is up! They have sucked in the NZ TAB and McAnulty with their bribes, and when they are finished their is going go be a massive decline in stake money. Once this happens their will be a huge drop off owners and then trainers and horses and it will spiral from there! You can disagree as much as you like but there is very little from Entain that actually shows that they are interested in the NZ harness product! The fact that they have brought out a far inferior Trackside website now being operated out of Oz is clearly showing this! They are very inaccurate, provide poor information and comments that are blatantly poorly thought out and not worth reading! Make the most of what we have got while the guarantee’s are in place as Entain know that it is going to turn to shite!! Where is this Dean Shannon bloke speaking out about the poor decisions being made. Cos he is in it for himself and wont speak out as be is only a figurehead for Entain! Feel free to dispute any of this? Edited May 21 by Brodie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newmarket Posted May 21 Author Share Posted May 21 18 hours ago, Gammalite said: you were probably held up at that window quite often, by the guy under the low brim hat and beady eyes darting about, getting his wads on? Brodie spotting a pole marker at 3-1 the place running the tote machine out of paper ? $10 about my max as a 18yo, from memory I think they had $50 window. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newmarket Posted May 21 Author Share Posted May 21 13 minutes ago, Brodie said: Personally and some will not agree with Brodie, but from what I can see is that Entain has very little interest in NZ harness racing after their guarantee is up! They have sucked in the NZ TAB and McAnulty with their bribes, and when they are finished their is going go be a massive decline in stake money. Once this happens their will be a huge drop off owners and then trainers and horses and it will spiral from there! You can disagree as much as you like but there is very little from Entain that actually shows that they are interested in the NZ harness product! The fact that they have brought out a far inferior Trackside website now being operated out of Oz is clearly showing this! They are very inaccurate, provide poor information and comments that are blatantly poorly thought out and not worth reading! Make the most of what we have got while the guarantee’s are in place as Entain know that it is going to turn to shite!! Where is this Dean Shannon bloke speaking out about the poor decisions being made. Cos he is in it for himself and wont speak out as be is only a figurehead for Entain! Feel free to dispute any of this? Well, for me Harness & Gallops in NZ been in the slide for years. All agencies see the real money is in sports gambling, so we are lucky we have major sports events all around the world to punt on at the TAB…. Otherwise wouldn’t survive on NZ racing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newmarket Posted May 21 Author Share Posted May 21 Nobody mentioned the hot dog caravan out front….or when things got real flash, could get an American hot dog underneath….upmarket indeed. I miss that stand…. Loved the buzz of a crown on a Saturday night 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brodie Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 7 minutes ago, Newmarket said: Nobody mentioned the hot dog caravan out front….or when things got real flash, could get an American hot dog underneath….upmarket indeed. I miss that stand…. Loved the buzz of a crown on a Saturday night Yes Saturday nights are far better for getting crowds! people dont have time after work to get out to the trots early enough and would just as easy watch on Trackside from the comfort of their lounge suite! Saturday nites would be far more beneficial to get new people oncourse . Why do you think the Metro courses in Oz race on a Saturday nite? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 2 hours ago, Slippery Slope said: So many venues that supported "rugby, racing and beer" that were the foundations of our social life in the last century are tired and past their used by date in the mid 2020's. And all 3 of these foundations to Kiwi recreation are being hammered by much more appealing activity for the under 30's of today- basketball and football vs rugby, sports betting and online gaming vs racing, RTD's and wine vs beer. But don't throw in the towel yet on harness racing connecting with another generation. Across the South Island there are c.15 venues, including Nelson, that get both young and old up close and personal with harness racing over 8 months every year. That experience plus all the quality and regular events at Addington can nurture an interest across young people and the semi retired that can last a lifetime, if we keep supporting the product and the venues. Plenty of us have had a holiday in the UK, France or Italy at least once in our life, and there's not much new or fresh in any of those countries these days either. People regularly enjoying visiting somewhere old and often past its best, but new to them, and a day out as a customer at an gritty but genuinely fun harness racing venue can get lots of casual visitors on a fun journey not wholly dependent on their phone or laptop! Excellent post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 30 minutes ago, Brodie said: Yes Saturday nights are far better for getting crowds! people dont have time after work to get out to the trots early enough and would just as easy watch on Trackside from the comfort of their lounge suite! Saturday nites would be far more beneficial to get new people oncourse . Why do you think the Metro courses in Oz race on a Saturday nite? Saturday nights at Addington would be awesome especially in the summer. BBQ's in the infield etc and turn it into a normal summer event. Will be much harder to get people out on cold winter nights unless you put something extra special on. Throwing rotten fruit at Jacinda Ardern between races might draw a big crowd 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doomed Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 2 hours ago, Newmarket said: $10 about my max as a 18yo, from memory I think they had $50 window. $10 and $20 windows I think. On Cup day at Addington the only way to easily get a bet on was to go to the $10 window. In the members stand at Trentham the $10 window was always the way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brodie Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 23 minutes ago, Doomed said: $10 and $20 windows I think. On Cup day at Addington the only way to easily get a bet on was to go to the $10 window. In the members stand at Trentham the $10 window was always the way to go. $10 wouldve a reasonable amount of money back then! TAB allow me to only net $20 on some bets in 2024? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doomed Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 25 minutes ago, Brodie said: $10 wouldve a reasonable amount of money back then! TAB allow me to only net $20 on some bets in 2024? For the TAB to restrict you that must mean you are taking fixed odds bets. I have always been a tote bettor. Old fashioned I know. In my experience the odds are usually better on the tote so why the obsession with fixed odds? I don't bet on the trots these days of course so I have no idea how it works really. Are you taking red hots where $1.25 is better than the risk of money back on the tote? Or are you trying to lock in $30 shots who might come down to $10 on the tote? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brodie Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 1 hour ago, Doomed said: For the TAB to restrict you that must mean you are taking fixed odds bets. I have always been a tote bettor. Old fashioned I know. In my experience the odds are usually better on the tote so why the obsession with fixed odds? I don't bet on the trots these days of course so I have no idea how it works really. Are you taking red hots where $1.25 is better than the risk of money back on the tote? Or are you trying to lock in $30 shots who might come down to $10 on the tote? Yes only bet fixed, Doomed. Havent bet tote since fixed odds came in on racing, snd would never bet tote ever again. Not sure about tote paying more but they certainly wouldn’t if I had a tote bet, with amount in the tote pool I bet into, I would only get my money back! No, don’t back shorties ever, surefire way to be a losing punter! No, don’t back $30 fixed odds win bets either! Lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newmarket Posted May 22 Author Share Posted May 22 Talking of favourite Addington horses… One of mine would have to be Inky Lord, huge performance to win after being checked 450m from home. I used to follow and bet on dam Miss Bromac, which I think made following Inky even better. Like the story with grit in horses mouth before start, and the gentleman Ricky May driving, and Brian training…. a great story. Sadly the horse passed after, wow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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