All talk and no do as has been for decades now on track infrastructure?

[curious]

 

  Photo: Race Images

Infrastructure blues continue following Taupo abandonment

 

Joshua Smith, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk

25 March 2025

There’s growing frustration within the thoroughbred racing industry surrounding the sport’s infrastructure, with the abandonment of Taupo’s trials on Tuesday the latest in a long series of raceday and trial cancellations.

It comes just two days after the abandonment of Tauherenikau’s Sunday race meeting following a slip in the opening race of the card, adding to the growing track woes in the Central Districts, with both Hastings and Awapuni currently out of commission due to track renovations.

“I think we are starting to get to a point where we have got a bit of a crisis with our infrastructure,” New Zealand Trainers’ Association President Shaun Clotworthy said.

“The Central Districts have been under pressure for quite a while now, so we feel for them. In the northern area, with Ellerslie and Te Aroha coming back on board it has been a big relief to trainers up this way, but we still need to address these problems properly.

“We probably need to look at a complete review of our processes and get someone in to have a different look at it from a different angle because it’s not working at the moment.

“The cost is huge to the industry and especially to the owners, who are getting really sick of it, and trainers, who have to reorganise staff and pay different people and juggle things around, so it comes at a personal cost to them as well.

“Owners are frustrated. It is not cheap to race horses and they aren’t looking to have any extra costs added on.

“On the bright side, I think Ellerslie are going to take two trial dates next week on Tuesday and Thursday, so that is some relief, but that doesn’t alter the fact that horses have been carted to Taupo today for no result.”

New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing’s chief operating officer Darin Balcombe said the latest string of abandonments is frustrating for the industry, with a number of provincial tracks feeling the pressure of extra racedays, with a number of metropolitan tracks currently out of commission while renovations are taking place.

“We completely feel for the industry stakeholders that have been to these meetings that have been called off,” Balcombe said. “It is a terrible situation, and it is a big drain on the industry.

“The tracks are struggling with the weight of racing on them at the moment and that is causing issues.

“It is putting pressure on a number of our provincial tracks that generally are set-up to run three to four racedays a season and are being asked now to run seven or eight, and the stress is showing on those tracks.

“We need to ensure that we are getting these tracks up to speed as early as possible to make sure it doesn’t carry on.

“It makes it very difficult to be an owner when these things are happening, so we have got to get it right and we are working hard to get it right.”

Awapuni Racecourse in Palmerston North is currently one of those metropolitan tracks undergoing renovations but is set to resume racing on their turf track next month.

“It is very important that we get Awapuni back on speed, which is scheduled for the 25th of April, so I am looking forward to that,” Balcombe said. “We won’t be pushing Awapuni, so it will probably only run two or three meetings before we put it aside for winter and get it back because it is going to be an important venue next spring.”

With Hastings racecourse also out of commission, and Trentham set to undergo renovations in the near future, Balcombe said New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing have partnered with several provincial clubs to ensure they have the means to handle additional race meetings year-round.

“We are making sure every track undergoes a full renovation period,” Balcombe said. “Knowing that Hastings and Trentham were going to be out in the short-term, we did put irrigation in at Waverley and Hawera to ensure those tracks can be used because previously without the irrigation they were only available through the winter months.

“We are also looking at the possibility of having an irrigation system at Woodville just to allow that track to cover off as well because we are going to have Hastings out for a little period and on the back of that a decision has got to be made on Trentham and what needs to be done there with the track and facilities.”

Balcombe said meeting abandonments will always be a part of racing due to severe weather, particularly over the winter months, but acknowledged the number of abandonments of late is unacceptable.

“We are always going to have weather abandonments, there is no way you can get around the extreme weather, but we need to stop these track abandonments when the weather has been like it has been. The tracks need to be in a fit state,” he said.

[Wingman]

Same people, same woe is us, waffle. And they treat those not in their idiotic inner circle as 'outsiders' who will continue to nod sagely at the nonsense they have to say. Look at the sentence below 

16 minutes ago, curious said:

“Knowing that Hastings and Trentham were going to be out in the short-term,

 WHICH is then followed BY

 

17 minutes ago, curious said:

a decision has got to be made on Trentham and what needs to be done there with the track and facilities.”

 

[Doomed]

I think most of us have now decided what needs to be done with Trentham, sadly.

Edited yesterday at 03:15 AM by Doomed

[Doomed]

It's good to see the Trainers Assoc have at long last made a half hearted contribution

[curious]

14 minutes ago, Doomed said:

It's good to see the Trainers Assoc have at long last made a half hearted contribution

Not sure if that's tongue in cheek Doomed but if the TA have only just realised that "we are starting to get to a point where we have got a bit of a crisis with our infrastructure" then seriously ...

[mikeynz]

18 minutes ago, Doomed said:

I think most of us have now decided what needs to be done with Trentham, sadly.

I actually thought Trenthams races were good but the drone shot showed it to be very empty people wise, kind of sad really.

[Chief Stipe]

22 minutes ago, mikeynz said:

I actually thought Trenthams races were good but the drone shot showed it to be very empty people wise, kind of sad really.

You're kidding?

Didn't you see the drone vision of the track?

Or the fact the electronic timing is stuffed?

Or the fact the only view of the first 600m of a 1200m race for spectators, commentators and stipes is overhead drone version?

Or the BS about the track rating where they run 1:07 on a Soft 6?

[mikeynz]

1 hour ago, Chief Stipe said:

You're kidding?

Didn't you see the drone vision of the track?

Or the fact the electronic timing is stuffed?

Or the fact the only view of the first 600m of a 1200m race for spectators, commentators and stipes is overhead drone version?

Or the BS about the track rating where they run 1:07 on a Soft 6?

I'm. not that analytical with all the intricacies I'm purely watching the races but the drone footage of the public area was a rather sad look, no one there

[Doomed]

3 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

You're kidding?

Didn't you see the drone vision of the track?

Or the fact the electronic timing is stuffed?

Or the fact the only view of the first 600m of a 1200m race for spectators, commentators and stipes is overhead drone version?

Or the BS about the track rating where they run 1:07 on a Soft 6?

Yes, but otherwise fine.

[Chief Stipe]

5 minutes ago, Doomed said:

Yes, but otherwise fine.

Obviously the members believe their own propaganda!

[westbrew]

The interesting thing to me when you start to look at the large scale infrastructure problems that racing has is the term Industry. Is it really an Industry. Is it not a collection of sporting clubs that were designed to provide community entertainment in the form of horse racing......moving on 50 plus years its now an Industry but the problem is unlike examples like the wine industry or the kiwi fruit industry etc it is not self funding anymore and the money required to up keep its assets to the required standard in this modern age ( without a lot of unpaid community input which historically was available) is substantial. This is a classic case of wanting your cake and wanting to eat it as well, you either have stakes at the current artificiality inflated level and a racing bureaucracy growing at an expediential rate ie NZTR/RIB or you have sound well run infrastructure. The present industry leaders have decided to have the stakes and bureaucracy, while telling everyone they have a funded plan for the infrastructure problem. Simple answer is they are bullshitting, and NZ has now taken the art of Bullshitters, Bullshitting to Bullshitters to a new Level.     

[Special Agent]

If the racing "industry" was your business and sole income for you and your family, how would you view it, and what would you do to make it generate money for your survival, ruling out any potential handouts?

[westbrew]

First I would have a Board, as i owned the Industry i would be chairman, then the members would be..

A Lawyer, and Accountant, a respected ex Trainer, a respected ex Jockey, a respected ex steward, and a respected ex track official and last a civil engineer. Eight including me, my expertise is gambling/wagering so i don't need someone on that front, then you use the experience you have on the board to appoint a CEO. The key then is having a set of KPIs for that CEO that the Board set which reflect the outcomes we wish to achieve. As far as i can see with the present set up in the so called Racing Industry either the CEOs, of bodies such as NZTR and RIB are setting their own KPIs or their respective boards do not have in depth knowledge of the industry and/or outcomes that are required so either way bullshit KPIs are being set which are producing bad outcomes.  

[Chief Stipe]

1 hour ago, westbrew said:

The interesting thing to me when you start to look at the large scale infrastructure problems that racing has is the term Industry. Is it really an Industry. Is it not a collection of sporting clubs that were designed to provide community entertainment in the form of horse racing......moving on 50 plus years its now an Industry but the problem is unlike examples like the wine industry or the kiwi fruit industry etc it is not self funding anymore and the money required to up keep its assets to the required standard in this modern age ( without a lot of unpaid community input which historically was available) is substantial. This is a classic case of wanting your cake and wanting to eat it as well, you either have stakes at the current artificiality inflated level and a racing bureaucracy growing at an expediential rate ie NZTR/RIB or you have sound well run infrastructure. The present industry leaders have decided to have the stakes and bureaucracy, while telling everyone they have a funded plan for the infrastructure problem. Simple answer is they are bullshitting, and NZ has now taken the art of Bullshitters, Bullshitting to Bullshitters to a new Level.     

Rugby Clubs had to address the same issues.  Ironically they copied parts of the League model.

[westbrew]

Exactly, but Rugby and League both get assistance from the local councils in the form of the ongoing playing field infrastructure, and more importantly both the NZRFU and NZRL, are trying to grow the community engagement and participation in their sports across NZ. Racing is telling half the country that you don't fit into our plans and we are going to shut your course, and take the money, but watch us on TV and bet on our sport really??? On what planet does Messara, Peters and the board of NZTR think that is a viable long term growth strategy for racing in NZ.        

[westbrew]

The breeders have an Industry. Racing is a community based sport, and NZTR are taking that community based sport away from the community as it appears to be putting the Interest's of the Breeding Industry ahead of the sport of racing and its inherent connection to the community. 

[Doomed]

1 hour ago, Special Agent said:

If the racing "industry" was your business and sole income for you and your family, how would you view it, and what would you do to make it generate money for your survival, ruling out any potential handouts?

For many people of course the racing industry is their business and their sole source of income. I often wonder whether many of them realise what a precarious position they are in.

I find it really sad when I see some of the younger trainers and jockeys coming through, some of whom sound very impressive. At that trainers level I think the industry is in reasonably good hands. It is at the next level, club and national administration, that the industry is struggling. Virtually the entire tier of provincial club management has been wiped out, to be replaced by a bloated, centralised national administration that is proving to be totally out of their depth. And at the same time we have the TAB/Entain, which used to be purely a service organisation, who largely did what they were told, now virtually running the whole show, despite having no grass-roots racing knowledge or skills.

I can't really see how the industry can get out of this mess. Soon there won't be much left to sell off. Most of the major clubs have sold off virtually all but the essential bits of their tracks.

Talk about Emperors New Clothes. The number of people who think everything is going great because we have a bloody slot race and a $1m Oaks is staggering.

 

[Wingman]

11 minutes ago, Doomed said:

I can't really see how the industry can get out of this mess. Soon there won't be much left to sell off. Most of the major clubs have sold off virtually all but the essential bits of their tracks.

On 11 March I put forward a post titled 'Land grab and spend'.

In it I quoted the new NZTR CEO who said on the Guerin show

quote "There are some big infrastructure issues especially in the Central Districts. There are some big real estate plays that need to happen and they are in train hopefully in weeks or months. And we can start to understand what we can do with the funding" unquote

You can bet your house that what 'THEY' will not do is downsize their bureaucratic structures.