whats up with the sunday start times?

[the galah]

looks like harness racing on sundays is all about long drawn out days.

Take your sleeeping bag as with the gaps between some races,you'll have time for a nap.

They are also all over the place.

todays its 25,32,34,40,29,42,43,25,25.

just looks like entain have decided they want multiple gallops meetings on a sunday,and realistic gaps between the harness races have gone out the window.

Seems another  backward step.

Edited September 14 by the galah

[Westview]

19 minutes ago, the galah said:

looks like harness racing on sundays is all about long drawn out days.

Take your sleeeping bag as with the gaps between some races,you'll have time for a nap.

They are also all over the place.

todays its 25,32,34,40,29,42,43,25,25.

just looks like entain have decided they want multiple gallops meetings on a sunday,and realistic gaps between the harness races have gone out the window.

Seems another  backward step.

I bought that very subject up this week at the upper regional forum which Brad Steele was a participant.  He seemed genuinely concerned and was going to bring  it up with Entain .Last weeks 12 races at Methven took 5.40hrs last year's 11 race's 4.40 . We aren't funded to provide between race entertainment which is also a problem,  if you went to the rugby and half time break was 40 minutes would you hang around. 

[mikeynz]

Think you will find the gallops are the same, jamming everything onto 1  channel creates the problem. And one delay makes it even worse.

[Westview]

3 minutes ago, mikeynz said:

Think you will find the gallops are the same, jamming everything onto 1  channel creates the problem. And one delay makes it even worse.

Correct,  Sunday's have been our money makers for a long time , fortunately the meeting held up at Methven last week about 70,000 up on last year with a Good GBR but we did have one more race. This week's OAMARU meeting we will be more the guide line when we're not on the grass .

[the galah]

1 hour ago, Westview said:

Correct,  Sunday's have been our money makers for a long time , fortunately the meeting held up at Methven last week about 70,000 up on last year with a Good GBR but we did have one more race. This week's OAMARU meeting we will be more the guide line when we're not on the grass .

Do you think the jackpoting first 4's, that you had a few of last week, was a factor in your turnover figures being up? One had over  $60,000 in the pool.Do they do break downs of pools where you get to see whether the likes of win and place were up or down. The number of roughies coming in may have helped the gbr maybe making figures better than they seem as relates to GBR also.I suppose thats part of the reason grass track meetings are such good contributors to funding.

Edited September 15 by the galah

[Westview]

42 minutes ago, the galah said:

Do you think the jackpoting first 4's, that you had a few of last week, was a factor in your turnover figures being up? One had over  $60,000 in the pool.Do they do break downs of pools where you get to see whether the likes of win and place were up or down. The number of roughies coming in may have helped the gbr maybe making figures better than they seem as relates to GBR also.I suppose thats part of the reason grass track meetings are such good contributors to funding.

Absolutely jackpoting first 4's make a   difference but grass track racing with big fields is why you get them although we didn't have as big a fields as usual, as for good GBR again Methven punches well above it's weight infact the club that produced the best total GBR last season was Methven. 

[the galah]

Invercargill sunday.

who in their right mind is going to go to a race meeting when they have to sit around for so long just waiting in the car or sitting in the grandstand,waiting mostly 40 minutes for the next race.Imagine it on a day when it was clod.

the gaps on sunday at invercargill are 25,25,31,41,40,40,40,42 and 29.

If someone owns a horse they may turn up and watch their horse race and then go home,but who else apart from the trainers and drivers,who have no choice,is going to turn up.

i find the gaps too long even sitting at home when i can fill in my time with doing something.

i remember all the talk not that long ago abouthow everyone believed gaps of even 35 minutes were too long. Seems thats gone out the window.

this week the gallops have no meetings on monday,tuesday or thursday. They have 2 sunday meetings for this week. Surely they must be thinking the same,as afterall the gallops have even less to look at between races.

much of what happens in makes little sense these days.

Edited October 15 by the galah

[Westview]

On 15/10/2024 at 1:06 PM, the galah said:

Invercargill sunday.

who in their right mind is going to go to a race meeting when they have to sit around for so long just waiting in the car or sitting in the grandstand,waiting mostly 40 minutes for the next race.Imagine it on a day when it was clod.

the gaps on sunday at invercargill are 25,25,31,41,40,40,40,42 and 29.

If someone owns a horse they may turn up and watch their horse race and then go home,but who else apart from the trainers and drivers,who have no choice,is going to turn up.

i find the gaps too long even sitting at home when i can fill in my time with doing something.

i remember all the talk not that long ago abouthow everyone believed gaps of even 35 minutes were too long. Seems thats gone out the window.

this week the gallops have no meetings on monday,tuesday or thursday. They have 2 sunday meetings for this week. Surely they must be thinking the same,as afterall the gallops have even less to look at between races.

much of what happens in makes little sense these days.

On the money galah.

[mikeynz]

2 hours ago, Westview said:

On the money galah.

Talk about time between races, but Invercargill drew up fields on Monday for a meeting on Sunday, that too seems a long time to me.

[Westview]

On 17/10/2024 at 7:03 PM, mikeynz said:

Talk about time between races, but Invercargill drew up fields on Monday for a meeting on Sunday, that too seems a long time to me.

Could be worse although Kaikoura sunday has the fast 10 treatment 20 minute intervals ( great ) it draws the short straw with the meeting Kicking off at 3.48 ( madness).

[the galah]

21 hours ago, Westview said:

Could be worse although Kaikoura sunday has the fast 10 treatment 20 minute intervals ( great ) it draws the short straw with the meeting Kicking off at 3.48 ( madness).

I see that weekend the only canterbury club with a race meeting is Methven.

I know its a meeting in which the highest rated horses starting will all be non win first start horses,given the rating system,but why do they run for only $10,000 stakes.

Is it the methven clubs decision to pay out the smaller stakes ,knowing they have no compettion in canterbury and take advantage of that fact and save a few $ at the expense of the horses competing.

Or is it a hrnz directive to take advantage of the owners lack of choice in canterbury?

Aren't methven supposed to be funded more than that by hrnz for their stakes,so why run them for less.

this isn't an attack on methven,clearly they are a very good club doing there best to cater for the cross section of industry participants.

And that meetings stakes are low every year. Methven after all are supposed to be a well off club ,so should be able to at least be expected to support owners by paying what hrnz said they were funding clubs.

 

Edited October 20 by the galah

[TAB For Ever]

8 hours ago, the galah said:

I see that weekend the only canterbury club with a race meeting is Methven.

I know its a meeting in which the highest rated horses starting will all be non win first start horses,given the rating system,but why do they run for only $10,000 stakes.

Is it the methven clubs decision to pay out the smaller stakes ,knowing they have no compettion in canterbury and take advantage of that fact and save a few $ at the expense of the horses competing.

Or is it a hrnz directive to take advantage of the owners lack of choice in canterbury?

Aren't methven supposed to be funded more than that by hrnz for their stakes,so why run them for less.

this isn't an attack on methven,clearly they are a very good club doing there best to cater for the cross section of industry participants.

And that meetings stakes are low every year. Methven after all are supposed to be a well off club ,so should be able to at least be expected to support owners by paying what hrnz said they were funding clubs.

 

Isn't Kaikoura in Canterbury , therefore a Canterbury club ?

Always races on Marlborough Anniversary weekend but it is in Canterbury and most horses from that region.

[Westview]

10 hours ago, the galah said:

I see that weekend the only canterbury club with a race meeting is Methven.

I know its a meeting in which the highest rated horses starting will all be non win first start horses,given the rating system,but why do they run for only $10,000 stakes.

Is it the methven clubs decision to pay out the smaller stakes ,knowing they have no compettion in canterbury and take advantage of that fact and save a few $ at the expense of the horses competing.

Or is it a hrnz directive to take advantage of the owners lack of choice in canterbury?

Aren't methven supposed to be funded more than that by hrnz for their stakes,so why run them for less.

this isn't an attack on methven,clearly they are a very good club doing there best to cater for the cross section of industry participants.

And that meetings stakes are low every year. Methven after all are supposed to be a well off club ,so should be able to at least be expected to support owners by paying what hrnz said they were funding clubs.

 

Stakes are governed by hrnz, we are bulk funded with part of that allocation being for stakes which is what we pay out. 

[the galah]

2 hours ago, TAB For Ever said:

Isn't Kaikoura in Canterbury , therefore a Canterbury club ?

Always races on Marlborough Anniversary weekend but it is in Canterbury and most horses from that region.

yes, seems you are right with it being at the top of the north canterbury region when i checked the map.

canterbury provides most horses in the nelson/west coast regions as well,so the point i was making was there seems to be a deliberate policy to run lower stakes at methven on the date in question and it happens each year.

So to me thats treating those who race at methven unfairly, as they will be the same people and horses who support that club throughout the year.

Why should the stake for a non win race at a financially sound club like methven in november, be worth less $2000 less than winning a similar race at other country clubs.

Methven will be receiving the appropriate funding to run the higher stake would they not. 

who is behind that decision. Methven or hrnz.if hrnz want it that way,then why can'tmethven stand up for the people and horses that support them regularly and say in the interests of fairness,we want to pay the appropriate stake.

 

[the galah]

24 minutes ago, Westview said:

Stakes are governed by hrnz, we are bulk funded with part of that allocation being for stakes which is what we pay out. 

that answer is a bit ambiguous to me.

does that mean hrnz is funding you less for that meeting? 

The actual question i'm trying to ask is,are hrnz telling you to keep the stakes lower or is it the methven club who have made that decision?

either way,theres the appearance of an element of unfairness in the stake levels for those who do race at your next meeting.Methven is a club that is seen as a leader in supporting the grass roots level participants,but in this case that isn't quite the case.

if however its a hrnz directive, then people should know who is taking them for granted.

Edited October 21 by the galah

[TAB For Ever]

Methven is obviously a well organised and hardworking club , who put on popular meetings with a good following.

Look at their Financials and one sees a solid Balance Sheet , with streams of cash from outside of racing...as in investment income , farming , grants and a bit from HRNZ for improvements etc.

Equity of over $4 mill is impressive ....they have a nice nest egg of Investments and  cash !

They would be well placed to add some money to stakes but obviously ask themselves...why should we ,especially when lesser performing clubs get greater handouts for Group races and basic bulk funding to provide stakes .

I see the Canterbury meetings over Labour weekend ,Addington and Ashburton have 50-70 horses nommed for some classes where only 2x races planned ,so even with double acceptors there are plenty of horses wanting to race.

Seems the current stakes, bonuses etc are definitely slowing down the sales abroad !

[Brodie]

9 hours ago, TAB For Ever said:

Methven is obviously a well organised and hardworking club , who put on popular meetings with a good following.

Look at their Financials and one sees a solid Balance Sheet , with streams of cash from outside of racing...as in investment income , farming , grants and a bit from HRNZ for improvements etc.

Equity of over $4 mill is impressive ....they have a nice nest egg of Investments and  cash !

They would be well placed to add some money to stakes but obviously ask themselves...why should we ,especially when lesser performing clubs get greater handouts for Group races and basic bulk funding to provide stakes .

I see the Canterbury meetings over Labour weekend ,Addington and Ashburton have 50-70 horses nommed for some classes where only 2x races planned ,so even with double acceptors there are plenty of horses wanting to race.

Seems the current stakes, bonuses etc are definitely slowing down the sales abroad !

What do you mean by equity of over $4million?

 

[Westview]

11 hours ago, TAB For Ever said:

Methven is obviously a well organised and hardworking club , who put on popular meetings with a good following.

Look at their Financials and one sees a solid Balance Sheet , with streams of cash from outside of racing...as in investment income , farming , grants and a bit from HRNZ for improvements etc.

Equity of over $4 mill is impressive ....they have a nice nest egg of Investments and  cash !

They would be well placed to add some money to stakes but obviously ask themselves...why should we ,especially when lesser performing clubs get greater handouts for Group races and basic bulk funding to provide stakes .

I see the Canterbury meetings over Labour weekend ,Addington and Ashburton have 50-70 horses nommed for some classes where only 2x races planned ,so even with double acceptors there are plenty of horses wanting to race.

Seems the current stakes, bonuses etc are definitely slowing down the sales abroad !

We absolutely need three race meeting every week this time of year in canterbury. Owners Don't want to race their horse's where it's not handy to go watch them, don't figure lol.

[the galah]

14 hours ago, TAB For Ever said:

 

They would be well placed to add some money to stakes but obviously ask themselves...why should we ,especially when lesser performing clubs get greater handouts for Group races and basic bulk funding to provide stakes .

 

"obviously ask themselves" you say...

so your saying you think it obvious methven have chosen to reduce the stakes paid to non win horses at the upcoming meeting because they think their club isn't well treated by the funding model.

i didn't think it was obvious methven would penalise owners and trainers who regularly support them to make a point about funding. 

Maybe you are right,because its either methven or HRNZ.I would have thought it more likely to be a HRNZ directive,as we know who they prioritise and who they don't.But methven run the meeting so maybe it is them,as you think is obvious. 

the facts are,every year this meeting has non win races with stakes well below every other meeting the methven club run.

i think it a very reasonable question to ask,why and who makes these decisions ?

Whatever way you look at it,in my opinion the decision to run reduced non win stakes doesn't reflect what people who will support that meeting think should be happen.

14 hours ago, TAB For Ever said:

 

Seems the current stakes, bonuses etc are definitely slowing down the sales abroad !

have you taken note of what is happening in victoria.Thats what will happen here,its only a matter of time.In my opinion its a very safe bet to predict. Give it 4 or 5 years,its not far away.

Edited October 22 by the galah

[Brodie]

1 hour ago, the galah said:

"obviously ask themselves" you say...

so your saying you think it obvious methven have chosen to reduce the stakes paid to non win horses at the upcoming meeting because they think their club isn't well treated by the funding model.

i didn't think it was obvious methven would penalise owners and trainers who regularly support them to make a point about funding. 

Maybe you are right,because its either methven or HRNZ.I would have thought it more likely to be a HRNZ directive,as we know who they prioritise and who they don't.But methven run the meeting so maybe it is them,as you think is obvious. 

the facts are,every year this meeting has non win races with stakes well below every other meeting the methven club run.

i think it a very reasonable question to ask,why and who makes these decisions ?

Whatever way you look at it,in my opinion the decision to run reduced non win stakes doesn't reflect what people who will support that meeting think should be happen.

have you taken note of what is happening in victoria.Thats what will happen here,its only a matter of time.In my opinion its a very safe bet to predict. Give it 4 or 5 years,its not far away.

At the end of the day the people who derive their living from racing are reliant on the decision making of the people who are in charge of harness racing!

The TAB was sold out to Entain for 25 years and they have the controlling interests in that time and what they say goes.

We all want them to make a success out of it so that racing can remain a viable industry for all.

What I have seen is that they promised all this money to be thrown into increasing stakes for 5 years.

That is great but not sure what is planned after the 5 years is up?

We have all these people saying how great Entain is but apart from the stake money being put in, what else has been done?

Plenty of advertising to attract punters but are we seeing any newbies?

 

 

[the galah]

23 hours ago, Brodie said:

At the end of the day the people who derive their living from racing are reliant on the decision making of the people who are in charge of harness racing!

The TAB was sold out to Entain for 25 years and they have the controlling interests in that time and what they say goes.

We all want them to make a success out of it so that racing can remain a viable industry for all.

What I have seen is that they promised all this money to be thrown into increasing stakes for 5 years.

That is great but not sure what is planned after the 5 years is up?

We have all these people saying how great Entain is but apart from the stake money being put in, what else has been done?

Plenty of advertising to attract punters but are we seeing any newbies?

 

 

that sums up whats currently happening.

especially with hrnz.

hrnz leadership decision making is based on the premise,try and plug the holes and delay the dam bursting for another 4 or 5 years.

is that strategy wise or prudent when considering what happens after 4-5 years.

certainly not.

But i think a significant part of the consideration by some of the current decision makers is ,in 5-6 years time, when the shit hits the fan,they will have moved on to something else and won't have to deal with the consequences of their current decisions.

i find the most puzzling thing about all this,is the cross section of industry stake holders who are happy to go with the short term gain,but long term pain strategy.

Live for today,and instead of plan,substitute hope for the future. That should be hrnz's catch phrase ,whenever they make a new announcement.

HRNZ would at least be being more honest, if they added that at the end of their press releases.

 

Edited October 23 by the galah

[Westview]

On 22/10/2024 at 8:46 AM, Brodie said:

What do you mean by equity of over $4million?

 

About 3.7 at moment we spent about 300,000 on the first few stages of upgrading Stables