what canterbury harness racing needs

[the galah]

recently HRNZ issued a press staement about the $14 million they had received from the forbury park sale.

heres what i think  they should do with a large portion of the funds.

canterbury is the backbone of the industry,but i believe Canterbury harness racing has a problem, that is going to start significantly impacting on harness racings horse numbers and publics perception in the next 10 years if they don't start planning for it now.

the serious problem being,if you want to train,graze,breed,agist,etc... where can you do it in canterbury and  if you do happen to find somewhere, will it be affordable.

you either have to be wealthy or have your own property these days or both.

if your in canterbury,just look at the internet .Prices for a 10 hectare bare blocks anywhere near christchurch.Most are around a million dollars.In areas away from christchurch small blocks of land are still very expensive.

so realistically you would think no one is going to be able to afford to set up there own training establishment unless they go some way out.

the other option is renting off current owners of training establishments. Now theres 2 reasons thats unlikely.1)trainers like to do there own thing and very few have any interest whatsoever in accomodating other trainers on their properties whether they be someone wanting to train 1 horse or 10 horses.2) if you owned a bit of ground worth over a million,are you going to subdivide and sell it for that or are you going to lease it out for minimal returns if you no longer train.obviously your going to sell.

its not just training properties where the squeeze is coming,its grazing your broodmare,grazing your spelling horse or retired racehorses.

anyone who has looked for grazing can attest to that. Either you pay rates that most cant afford or you give away or dispose of your horses. The sad reality is no one really wants them if you try and find a home for them. The life after racing horses programmes dont cater for horses over 12. There are several people out there doing there best ,to find homes for horses over that age,but there simply isn't anywhere to put them. How does the fate of those horses reflect on the industry in this day and age.many of those horses could be broodmares. 

so the solution.

hrnz should buy 100 hectares and set up a training establishment in an area within 30 minutes drive of christchurch.

where. Well for example you can get 100 hectares for 4 million near leeston.maybe somewhere drier to the west of that is more realistic.

 stables should be built,fencing,tracks,etc 

it would be a self funding establishment where the likes of up and coming trainers who have done their time in stables can use to try and establish themselves,also trainers who want to train only very small numbers but have no where else to go,breakers who are trying to establish themselves,part of the land could be dedicated to an agistment farm at affordable rates for harness horses. Breeders could place their horses with trainers willing to train for a racing half share and could have their broodmares agisted on the property at affordable rates. .Theres all sorts of possibilities.Stables made available at minimal rates  for travelling trainers. You could have a farrier renting and operating out of a stabing block,a vet in another area emplyed by hrnz as a way of providing veterinarian care at affordable prices. a feed store operated by a local harness feed merchant who discounts for bulk orders for harness horse owners.

Everything done in a way that hrnz helps keeps cost affordable for those with harness horses yet hrnz still getting a cut to make minimal profits.when you think about it,why do farriers and vets seem so expensive. its because your paying a lot for the travel and time they travel to you.Take that out and its more affordable.

paddocks set aside for Hay to be grown and sold at discounted prices to horse trainers and owners on the propery.

all sorts of other possibilites but you get my drift.

i think it could easily soon become home for over 250 horses.

Also there are many retired trainers with so much knowledge willing and able to pass that on if given the chance. such trainers could be mentors rostered on to oversee and chat and offer advice.Owners wouldn't have far to come from christchurch.its also about being located in an area not too far from affordable housing.

call me a dreamer,but ask yourself this.

Is HRNZ better spending money on short term stakes funding for things like slot races or increasing age group races or series races they are helping fund that they were never supposed to....or are they better in laying down the framework and providing solutions for the long term viability of harness racing for the next few decades.

also remember that ,but in the right location and the land alone could become a ever appreciating valued asset.

currently we have a pro racing minister in government. That should be used to harness racings benefit while they can,if borrowings were required initially,,with of course the property the security.

always remember ,just how important a strong canterbury harness racing scene is to the industry.

Edited August 20 by the galah

[TAB For Ever]

Some good points galah , but more criticism about the 'high stakes' races needs more thought IMO.

And more thought needs to go into as to who is going to breed and own the horses. These crucial parts of racing have become very expensive hobbies .In fact many small breeders now given up or soon to give up . The big breeders too feel the pinch at times and they need good sale prices for their foals to cover costs ,therefore they need big investors including newcomers to be attracted into Harness as owners.

When they ask the return on investment and you reply 25% if you lucky it a hard sell. And the new owner gets plenty of time to think about his investment as many horses don't even race for stakes for at least 18 months after they purchased and there no escape from the monthly bills. Many horses actually never race and most don't win more than one race !

Many of the top trainers of recent years either got  lucky when they were born into a successful Harness family ,married into one or worked bloody hard ,took a risk then nurtured a Group 1 horse and made the sale. Now days many survive and succeed  by developing and selling young horses.

Working for a successful stable , learning the art of training and impressing likely investors/owners ,while training one or two of own 'after work' seems to be the best way to go IMO. It's hard work.

Being handed all this with Industry money IMO takes away some of the incentive . And merely developing horses for sale overseas doesn't encourage young folk to enter industry as drivers etc and doesn't help the field size which is the catalyst for extra wagering .

In short ,you make  many good points but three KEYS.....Breeders/Owners/Punters  would not be satisfied.And the Canterbury concentration will contract the industry faster with the North Island drowning quicker !

[Chief Stipe]

9 hours ago, TAB For Ever said:

Some good points galah , but more criticism about the 'high stakes' races needs more thought IMO.

And more thought needs to go into as to who is going to breed and own the horses. These crucial parts of racing have become very expensive hobbies .In fact many small breeders now given up or soon to give up . The big breeders too feel the pinch at times and they need good sale prices for their foals to cover costs ,therefore they need big investors including newcomers to be attracted into Harness as owners.

When they ask the return on investment and you reply 25% if you lucky it a hard sell. And the new owner gets plenty of time to think about his investment as many horses don't even race for stakes for at least 18 months after they purchased and there no escape from the monthly bills. Many horses actually never race and most don't win more than one race !

Many of the top trainers of recent years either got  lucky when they were born into a successful Harness family ,married into one or worked bloody hard ,took a risk then nurtured a Group 1 horse and made the sale. Now days many survive and succeed  by developing and selling young horses.

Working for a successful stable , learning the art of training and impressing likely investors/owners ,while training one or two of own 'after work' seems to be the best way to go IMO. It's hard work.

Being handed all this with Industry money IMO takes away some of the incentive . And merely developing horses for sale overseas doesn't encourage young folk to enter industry as drivers etc and doesn't help the field size which is the catalyst for extra wagering .

In short ,you make  many good points but three KEYS.....Breeders/Owners/Punters  would not be satisfied.And the Canterbury concentration will contract the industry faster with the North Island drowning quicker !

@TAB For Ever to quote Melvin Udall - "the industry is drowning and you are describing the water!"

What's YOUR solution?  Don't say more stakes or slot races because that has proven time and time again to not work nor increase participation.

[Westview]

3 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

@TAB For Ever to quote Melvin Udall - "the industry is drowning and you are describing the water!"

What's YOUR solution?  Don't say more stakes or slot races because that has proven time and time again to not work nor increase participation.

Start by stop treating owners as an inconvenience on Raceday,  make it the best experience they have ever had oncourse. 

Put our money where we get the best bang for our buck, grass track meeting's in Canterbury. Cut expenses don't make me race outside of our own locality. Spread the love first win bonuses,  pretty simple worked before.

2yr old entain bonus 

3yr old 10,000 minimum to winner

4yr old 15, 000

5yr old and older 20,000

The cost to get your first win is way greater than any of these figures but will have owners and trainers chasing them. As John Dunn told me the top looks after itself. 

[Westview]

9 minutes ago, Westview said:

Start by stop treating owners as an inconvenience on Raceday,  make it the best experience they have ever had oncourse. 

Put our money where we get the best bang for our buck, grass track meeting's in Canterbury. Cut expenses don't make me race outside of our own locality. Spread the love first win bonuses,  pretty simple worked before.

2yr old entain bonus 

3yr old 10,000 minimum to winner

4yr old 15, 000

5yr old and older 20,000

The cost to get your first win is way greater than any of these figures but will have owners and trainers chasing them. As John Dunn told me the top looks after itself. 

Every meeting at Methven puts approximately 80,000 back into the industry less trackside costs which I don't know. Every meeting at Methven now puts on owners/trainers BBQ near the end of the day care of the canterbury Trotting owners Association,  irt UNHINGED and the club. Not alot of cost, bit of volunteer time alot of happy people who want to come back.

[Westview]

14 minutes ago, Westview said:

Every meeting at Methven puts approximately 80,000 back into the industry less trackside costs which I don't know. Every meeting at Methven now puts on owners/trainers BBQ near the end of the day care of the canterbury Trotting owners Association,  irt UNHINGED and the club. Not alot of cost, bit of volunteer time alot of happy people who want to come back.

Uhinged owners experience,  currently done in conjunction with Omakau Trotting Club 12 people walk away with a share in syndicate resulting in alot of their friends joining up , should be done at every meeting maybe not 12 people but watch this space, tours of the Stables guided by CTOA Starting soon at Addington ,i could keep going HRNZ had a group of people working on owners promotions which included myself and Jess Davidson but stopped when Jess left , get her back.

[Doomed]

1 hour ago, Westview said:

Uhinged owners experience,  currently done in conjunction with Omakau Trotting Club 12 people walk away with a share in syndicate resulting in alot of their friends joining up , should be done at every meeting maybe not 12 people but watch this space, tours of the Stables guided by CTOA Starting soon at Addington ,i could keep going HRNZ had a group of people working on owners promotions which included myself and Jess Davidson but stopped when Jess left , get her back.

Do you know what the problem is with that sort of initiative Westy? It doesn't cost a lot of money.

If you are running an industry like this and on the big money yourself it is only the big ticket items that excite you. Anything down at the commonsense level that relies on basic PR skills for its success is not really in the sphere of interest of top management. They have better things to do with their day. Propping up Auckland type things.

[the galah]

15 hours ago, TAB For Ever said:

In short ,you make  many good points but three KEYS.....Breeders/Owners/Punters  would not be satisfied.And the Canterbury concentration will contract the industry faster with the North Island drowning quicker !

Interesting you can form that opinion when i think your 3 key points are actually the strongest arguments for my suggestion and against what you say.

Just look at whats going on in the auckland/waikato region.

auckland ,quite rightly from their point of view,are currently very vocal about the importance of having a training complex for their district. They recognise that having sold the one they did have to get out of debt,that its imperative for them to provide industry participants in the area a new complex from which they can base themselves.They know,without such a complex,they won't have the numbers to have race meetings.

And you would be aware that the Auckland club has been vocal about the need for HRNZ to contribute funds to a new training complex.

ask yourself this.

what makes more sense.

Putting industry funds into a training complex for a district(auckland) that provides a product that will always be heavily subsidised to keep it going. Or put industry funds into a similar complex with as great,if not greater need in canterbury ,where the product supplied generates income and is not  subsidised. 

your second point is owners/breeders/punters would not be satisfied. Clearly the punters don't agree with that. They invest their $ far more on the canterbury product than the auckland product.

Owners and breeders,well obviously if they're from the upper north island,they will be parochial and wants whats best for them,but numbers wise there are far more owners in the south island. Same applies to the breeders. So if we applied your perspective,you would be prioritising the minority over the majority.  

 now i'm not saying auckland should or shouldn't get industry support,i'm just pointing out the obvious that canterbury has a far stronger case.

also,don't you think it would be hypocrisy for those suggesting auckland be assisted to provide a training cimplex and not canterbury,when the problem is the same.

when i started the topic i was not comparing auckland to canterbury,but have addressed the comparisons as you brought it up.

 

Edited August 21 by the galah

[the galah]

people who own their own properties or are wealthy dont have this problem.

but most are not in that position.

so ask yourself this..

if your a trainer in canterbury with 30 horses in work,renting someone elses training facilites and the owner of the propery decides to sell,where do you go?

if your a trainer wanting to train 1 horse in canterbury,where do you go?

if you own a broodmare in canterbury with a foal at foot and don't have your own property,where are you going to keep them so you can afford to breed again next year.Simply put,is there a choice locally of paying $30 each for your broodmare and foal each week and check on them yourselves,or do you have to pay the going rate of mostly around $80 a week for each on an agistment farmi. In other words do you spend the extra $5200 a year just to graze them,knowing that would be your breeding money gone.

many other scenarios for which lots of people in canterbury would have encountered.

well i know the answer to the above.

 

maybe the fella with the 30 horses will be accomodated somewhere.who knows where,but people do tend to help someone like that but that would be a one off. But all other scenerios,don't waste your time looking because if you do you will be disappointed. 

take the 5 tracks closest to christchurch. Addington,motukarara,rangiora,ashburton,methven.You ring them tomorrow and ask them do they have facilities to rent. The answer will be no.

You drive around your district and stop and ask property owners,put ads in you local newspaper for grazing for your broodmare. even if you were able to pay more.will you find somewhere.No you won't.

Reality is this issue is real,its major and no one is addressing it.

The issue has been there for a couple of decades now,but its getting worse.

 

canterbury is the heart of harness racing in new zealand but it needs an affordable  complex where people can keep their harness horses to retain the numbers participating.And the only way to get that is for HRNZ to allocate funds for that. As i have said,such a complex properly run should still be able to generate a small profit.

Hrnz got $14 million from forbury.

Edited August 21 by the galah

[mikeynz]

41 minutes ago, the galah said:

people who own their own properties or are wealthy dont have this problem.

but most are not in that position.

so ask yourself this..

if your a trainer in canterbury with 30 horses in work,renting someone elses training facilites and the owner of the propery decides to sell,where do you go?

if your a trainer wanting to train 1 horse in canterbury,where do you go?

if you own a broodmare in canterbury with a foal at foot and don't have your own property,where are you going to keep them so you can afford to breed again next year.Simply put,is there a choice locally of paying $30 each for your broodmare and foal each week and check on them yourselves,or do you have to pay the going rate of mostly around $80 a week for each on an agistment farmi. In other words do you spend the extra $5200 a year just to graze them,knowing that would be your breeding money gone.

many other scenarios for which lots of people in canterbury would have encountered.

well i know the answer to the above.

 

maybe the fella with the 30 horses will be accomodated somewhere.who knows where,but people do tend to help someone like that but that would be a one off. But all other scenerios,don't waste your time looking because if you do you will be disappointed. 

take the 5 tracks closest to christchurch. Addington,motukarara,rangiora,ashburton,methven.You ring them tomorrow and ask them do they have facilities to rent. The answer will be no.

You drive around your district and stop and ask property owners,put ads in you local newspaper for grazing for your broodmare. even if you were able to pay more.will you find somewhere.No you won't.

Reality is this issue is real,its major and no one is addressing it.

The issue has been there for a couple of decades now,but its getting worse.

 

canterbury is the heart of harness racing in new zealand but it needs an affordable  complex where people can keep their harness horses to retain the numbers participating.And the only way to get that is for HRNZ to allocate funds for that. As i have said,such a complex properly run should still be able to generate a small profit.

Hrnz got $14 million from forbury.

Forburys money should stay in the South.

[Brodie]

Have just been reading on Harnesslink, that Harness Victoria are basically insolvent and totally in the shite financially!

They have been making massive losses over the past few years and losing in excess of $20m last year and are up the creek for in excess of $60million.

Think they have been given plenty of $ from the government in recent years as well, so a lot of mismanagement going on over there as well!

Reality is that it is not easy to turn a profit from racing now with the stakes and costs, and punter turnover isnt growing enough to support this!

 

[the galah]

26 minutes ago, Brodie said:

Have just been reading on Harnesslink, that Harness Victoria are basically insolvent and totally in the shite financially!

They have been making massive losses over the past few years and losing in excess of $20m last year and are up the creek for in excess of $60million.

Think they have been given plenty of $ from the government in recent years as well, so a lot of mismanagement going on over there as well!

Reality is that it is not easy to turn a profit from racing now with the stakes and costs, and punter turnover isnt growing enough to support this!

 

Victoria apparently in recent years borrowed from the government using the training complex,or part thereof, at melton as security. 

auckland of course did the same thing with their training complex.

so both auckland and victoria showed that investing strategically located areas,have proven over time,they can be a very,very worthwhile thing.

just another reason to support my suggestion they should do the same in canterbury..

 

Edited August 21 by the galah

[the galah]

1 hour ago, mikeynz said:

Forburys money should stay in the South.

forburyclub reportedly did get to retain a share of the $14 million. They just haven't said exactly how much they got.

[TAB For Ever]

3 hours ago, the galah said:

Interesting you can form that opinion when i think your 3 key points are actually the strongest arguments for my suggestion and against what you say.

Just look at whats going on in the auckland/waikato region.

auckland ,quite rightly from their point of view,are currently very vocal about the importance of having a training complex for their district. They recognise that having sold the one they did have to get out of debt,that its imperative for them to provide industry participants in the area a new complex from which they can base themselves.They know,without such a complex,they won't have the numbers to have race meetings.

And you would be aware that the Auckland club has been vocal about the need for HRNZ to contribute funds to a new training complex.

ask yourself this.

what makes more sense.

Putting industry funds into a training complex for a district(auckland) that provides a product that will always be heavily subsidised to keep it going. Or put industry funds into a similar complex with as great,if not greater need in canterbury ,where the product supplied generates income and is not  subsidised. 

your second point is owners/breeders/punters would not be satisfied. Clearly the punters don't agree with that. They invest their $ far more on the canterbury product than the auckland product.

Owners and breeders,well obviously if they're from the upper north island,they will be parochial and wants whats best for them,but numbers wise there are far more owners in the south island. Same applies to the breeders. So if we applied your perspective,you would be prioritising the minority over the majority.  

 now i'm not saying auckland should or shouldn't get industry support,i'm just pointing out the obvious that canterbury has a far stronger case.

also,don't you think it would be hypocrisy for those suggesting auckland be assisted to provide a training cimplex and not canterbury,when the problem is the same.

when i started the topic i was not comparing auckland to canterbury,but have addressed the comparisons as you brought it up.

 

My mistake then.......reading your post it was all about Canterbury getting use of a good proportion of Forbury Park proceeds. Most of it referred to Canterbury

And though I no longer live in Canterbury I thought Canterbury was awash with horses and trainers etc.

And more and more Auckland owners are involved in horses racing in the South Island.

I don't think too many folk actually honestly believe that Auckland Harness can be resuscitated . Notably the mega-owner Stonewall have a big base in South now .

But obviously Entain and it's bosses are punting on Auckland rising from the dead . It still has a good facility in the City , some great horsepeople but losing horses by the week. The cost of land ,grazing , feed and training costs much higher in North.

No doubt ,Canterbury is the major force in NZ Harness.

[Brodie]

Auckland harness is clearly just a shadow of its former glory days and can not see how it can possibly survive!

The fact that stake money is still good up there and yet reducing numbers of owners, trainers, horses and punters, just shows what a flawed business plan Entain is adopting!

Reality is that they dont really care if it sinks or swims, they have got what they were after, the control of all sports wagering for 25 years.

The amount they guaranteed to put into racing is chicken feed to them and they will not be putting more in when the five years us up.

It was a dumb idea to allow Entain in by McAnulty and co.

Despite the media BS from them.

 

[the galah]

2 hours ago, TAB For Ever said:

My mistake then.......reading your post it was all about Canterbury getting use of a good proportion of Forbury Park proceeds. Most of it referred to Canterbury

And though I no longer live in Canterbury I thought Canterbury was awash with horses and trainers etc.

And more and more Auckland owners are involved in horses racing in the South Island.

I don't think too many folk actually honestly believe that Auckland Harness can be resuscitated . Notably the mega-owner Stonewall have a big base in South now .

But obviously Entain and it's bosses are punting on Auckland rising from the dead . It still has a good facility in the City , some great horsepeople but losing horses by the week. The cost of land ,grazing , feed and training costs much higher in North.

No doubt ,Canterbury is the major force in NZ Harness.

you were right. my original post was suggesting the best use of some of the forbury sale proceeds would be setting up a complex in canterbury.

in my opinion canterbury harness is without doubt in decline.

the issue i raised is significant reason for that in my opinion and needs to be addressed to stop the rot.

as to canterbury being awash with horses.

if you went to woodend or rangiora on some days you may think that.

then you have addington,which is not normally available so you would see no one,then you have motukarara where i'm told you may see only 3 or 4 regulars with only one of those having more than 3 horses currently using that track.

doesn't sound awash with horses or trainers to me.

then theres this...

apart from 5 trainers with starters at addington on friday night,every other trainer has been training for years,most several decades.

the 5 recent news ones are john morrison who trains at the ashburton track,sam payne who i believe trains from his fathers propery,luke whittaker who trains in partnership with his father from the fathers propery,robie close who i assume trains at the rangiora track and angela washington who's husband has a property primarily for greyhounds.

Then you have the auckland meeting.

apart from 2 trainers ,the rest have been around for decades. Only ben butcher,who i magine does not have his own property and gareth hughes who trains in partnership with his father, i assume form his father property if he has one.

So effectively i have just proved that not even one trainer who has been taken up training in the last decade, who has a runner competing at the addington or auckland meetings this friday night, has established a new training establishment in the last 10 years.

The stonewall establishment is the only  new player in the sport in canterbury to have not previously had a training establishment in the  last decadealthough there trainers have been around for a while,but they have the luxury of having millions in the bank from other business ventures

 

i rest my case.

Edited August 21 by the galah

[Gammalite]

3 hours ago, TAB For Ever said:

My mistake then.......reading your post it was all about Canterbury getting use of a good proportion of Forbury Park proceeds. Most of it referred to Canterbury

And though I no longer live in Canterbury I thought Canterbury was awash with horses and trainers etc.

And more and more Auckland owners are involved in horses racing in the South Island.

I don't think too many folk actually honestly believe that Auckland Harness can be resuscitated . Notably the mega-owner Stonewall have a big base in South now .

But obviously Entain and it's bosses are punting on Auckland rising from the dead . It still has a good facility in the City , some great horsepeople but losing horses by the week. The cost of land ,grazing , feed and training costs much higher in North.

No doubt ,Canterbury is the major force in NZ Harness.

Well they ATC leased back Franklin after sellingit  as am sure a few of the trainers that are left are still using it like Hackett/wallis , steven Reid and others.  Great horse country that area . With room for everyone. should just use it. (no room at Alex Park area)

FRanklin would of been the ideal spot to do what the Galah said with the Forbury Sale money for Canterbury , and build a State of the Art Racing centre with Barns to rent out to the young Trainers without a property. Sell Alexandra Park (which is hard to get too and in financial trouble) It's gunna get sold at some stage anyway. Franklin nice distance for Waikato trainers to use constantly too.

The Menangle model enabled young Trainers like the young kiwi Jack Trainor , to have a barn of horses and win big races (although currently out DQ with a Positive, but he'll be back)  so as the Galah pointed out a Canterbury facility with barns to rent , will greatly assist the young Trainers and be a valuable asset into the future.  

Auckland harness racing probably would of died sooner without Dean Shannon (or Stonewall as well)  from lack of numbers, as would of Albion Park here Brisvegas, without Kevin Seymour. (multi millionaire's who love running their horses) . We Need more of them !!. where's John Green now? he could help. As Brodster often points out the betting model is a dead loss. I think that's been the case for a long time. Harness just NOT Popular to bet on , with the gamblers around. Too many things go wrong and it's reputation is Terrible/Tarnished all the bloody time. 

[TAB For Ever]

1 hour ago, Gammalite said:

Well they ATC leased back Franklin after sellingit  as am sure a few of the trainers that are left are still using it like Hackett/wallis , steven Reid and others.  Great horse country that area . With room for everyone. should just use it. (no room at Alex Park area)

FRanklin would of been the ideal spot to do what the Galah said with the Forbury Sale money for Canterbury , and build a State of the Art Racing centre with Barns to rent out to the young Trainers without a property. Sell Alexandra Park (which is hard to get too and in financial trouble) It's gunna get sold at some stage anyway. Franklin nice distance for Waikato trainers to use constantly too.

The Menangle model enabled young Trainers like the young kiwi Jack Trainor , to have a barn of horses and win big races (although currently out DQ with a Positive, but he'll be back)  so as the Galah pointed out a Canterbury facility with barns to rent , will greatly assist the young Trainers and be a valuable asset into the future.  

Auckland harness racing probably would of died sooner without Dean Shannon (or Stonewall as well)  from lack of numbers, as would of Albion Park here Brisvegas, without Kevin Seymour. (multi millionaire's who love running their horses) . We Need more of them !!. where's John Green now? he could help. As Brodster often points out the betting model is a dead loss. I think that's been the case for a long time. Harness just NOT Popular to bet on , with the gamblers around. Too many things go wrong and it's reputation is Terrible/Tarnished all the bloody time. 

There's a few trainers based in Pukekohe and the arrangement is/was that another new establishment would be built...high tech too. But at the latest report , the expected spare money for the Project after Puke sale was looking to be less than previous. Lincoln Farms have a big stable[ Ray Green] and I think Dunns and N Purdon have boxes with them.Also Jeremy Young ,McGowan, the Blanchards and possibly Matt White are at track as well. Balles are next door and Zac Butcher there as well.Hacket/Wallis are at Waiuku and a few at Kumeu track .

Rumour has it at least one senior trainer moving to Canterbury.

Obviously there is still plenty of equity in Alexandra Park but most in Club don't want to move to somewhere an hours drive out of time. and there not a lot of available land out in the Puke area !

[Brodie]

“The Reidman” is meant to be heading South!

[Taku Umanga]

150 School Road, Yaldhurst, Christchurch City - For Sale - realestate.co.nz

[Taku Umanga]

5 hours ago, TAB For Ever said:

There's a few trainers based in Pukekohe and the arrangement is/was that another new establishment would be built...high tech too. But at the latest report , the expected spare money for the Project after Puke sale was looking to be less than previous. Lincoln Farms have a big stable[ Ray Green] and I think Dunns and N Purdon have boxes with them.Also Jeremy Young ,McGowan, the Blanchards and possibly Matt White are at track as well. Balles are next door and Zac Butcher there as well.Hacket/Wallis are at Waiuku and a few at Kumeu track .

Rumour has it at least one senior trainer moving to Canterbury.

Obviously there is still plenty of equity in Alexandra Park but most in Club don't want to move to somewhere an hours drive out of time. and there not a lot of available land out in the Puke area !

Lincoln Farms property has been sold to developers but leased back for now.  Pretty sure Derek Balle's place has likewise been sold and leased back for now, as has Eddie Clarke's.  Matt White is based out Clevedon or Ardmore way on the same property as John Dickie. 

[JJ Flash]

On 20/08/2024 at 7:57 PM, the galah said:

always remember ,just how important a strong canterbury harness racing scene is to the industry.

Correct, we don't need another Auckland.

Welcome back TG, love your posts

[the galah]

3 hours ago, Taku Umanga said:

150 School Road, Yaldhurst, Christchurch City - For Sale - realestate.co.nz

the question there is where does r todd go and what about the other 3 or 4 trainers with just a couple of horses?

Its been on the market for a few months,but the sales pitch of "harness the potential" infers they may be pitching to someone interested in harness racing,which all seems a bit of an unrealistic pitch to me.Hopefully they do get someone like that but who in harness racing has that type of money. 

Its certainly a wonderful set up but realistically any new development needs to be much bigger land wise and suitable for development in a way that caters for trainers of differing sizes,those with a couple of horses to those with 20-30.

Given the larger the portion of land you buy the bigger  the value $ per hectare you get you would think it has to be at the very least 100 hectares.

it also needs to cater for other aspects like agistment,breakers,people specialising in pre training and other  industry related jobs as i mentioned earlier. 

Theres land agents like justin le lievre and stevie golding whose knowledge of suitable properties they could tap into.

at the end of the day,this is a topic that people will think,well thats a good idea that wouild certainly help sustain harness racing into the future and give peace of mind to many struggling with this issue.

But the problem is the decision makers at HRNZ seem to be all about plugging holes in a leaking boat.

.

[mikeynz]

10 hours ago, TAB For Ever said:

There's a few trainers based in Pukekohe and the arrangement is/was that another new establishment would be built...high tech too. But at the latest report , the expected spare money for the Project after Puke sale was looking to be less than previous. Lincoln Farms have a big stable[ Ray Green] and I think Dunns and N Purdon have boxes with them.Also Jeremy Young ,McGowan, the Blanchards and possibly Matt White are at track as well. Balles are next door and Zac Butcher there as well.Hacket/Wallis are at Waiuku and a few at Kumeu track .

Rumour has it at least one senior trainer moving to Canterbury.

Obviously there is still plenty of equity in Alexandra Park but most in Club don't want to move to somewhere an hours drive out of time. and there not a lot of available land out in the Puke area !

Cambridge should be the Norths main or only venue, firstly they go the right way around, secondly the cost of operating in a more rural setting is cost are less, thirdly for the poor basterds that have to drive through peak traffic every Friday for Auckland would get tedious , Fourthly no one in Auckland gives a shit, the number of people who live there who go to Alexndra  Park is miniscule so instead of propping that place up better to rationalise and move on from it.

 5 years time HRNZ and Entain may still be pouring money down this endless pit, and things more than likely will still be the same.

 

[Honestjohn]

Sorry I've  been off line.  

 

You can't trust hrnz to make any right decisions, they are actually bunch of clowns.  The owners have to do it themselves. I've stopped pretty much breeding etc because I did what I wanted by breeding a group 1 winner.  I spent a lot of money to achieve my goal so I only have a share in one horse now. 

People like Hamish Scott are the people we need,  he puts plenty in.  And deserves everything that comes his way.  Put the money in the bank,  because hrnz will blow it. 

 

Hj