Otaki Track Vandalised - 4 May 2025 meeting postponed

[mikeynz]

1 hour ago, Special Agent said:

Float fare Otaki to Hawera return $800 - $1000.  I call that out of the area.

Maybe that explains why fields are a bit light at Taranaki sometimes, in fact I will change that, most times.

[Freda]

1 hour ago, Special Agent said:

Float fare Otaki to Hawera return $800 - $1000.  I call that out of the area.

FFs,  that's more expensive than the return ChCh to Invercargill.     Absurd. 

[Freda]

21 hours ago, Trojan said:

What do you mean "out of the area"?  It's the wonderous CD all working together!

Put the rail out all the way round and save the inside.  A 12 day turnaround shouldn't be a problem.  Isn't that what they used to do in the "good old days"?!

CD?   I thought Hawera was in Taranaki.

 

[Chief Stipe]

17 minutes ago, Freda said:

CD?   I thought Hawera was in Taranaki.

 

Yeah but Insider thinks Trentham is in the CD!!

Central Districts from a cricketing perspective also involves ferry travel!

The CDCA is comprised of eight District Associations: Hawke's Bay, Manawatū, Wairarapa, Horowhenua-Kāpiti, Whanganui, Taranaki, Nelson, and Marlborough.

From a Police perspective:

[Special Agent]

That is what I am trying to get across, the distance the race meeting has moved.

Now had it moved from Otaki to Foxton that's only Kapiti to Horowhenua.

Otaki to Taranaki goes across a few provinces.

[Chief Stipe]

3 minutes ago, Special Agent said:

That is what I am trying to get across, the distance the race meeting has moved.

Now had it moved from Otaki to Foxton that's only Kapiti to Horowhenua.

Otaki to Taranaki goes across a few provinces.

So I guess Waipukurau was out of the question?

[Special Agent]

If you enter for Hawera you can budget for the trip from wherever your horse is trained.  It's a bit different when it is thrust upon you.

Last year one way Otaki to Hawera cost $571.

It's okay though.  If you get to a race meeting that is put off NZTR will give you $200 compensation.

Maybe ask a Waikato trained owner what the float fare is from Matamata to Trentham.  I'm sure the $200 wouldn't put much of a dent in the travel bill.

[Special Agent]

2 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

So I guess Waipukurau was out of the question?

It costs a fortune to float there for trials from the west coast and the ride for the horse is shitty from anywhere from Awapuni west while the new gorge road is being built.

[Chief Stipe]

6 minutes ago, Special Agent said:

It costs a fortune to float there for trials from the west coast and the ride for the horse is shitty from anywhere from Awapuni west while the new gorge road is being built.

Well the new Gorge road is close to opening.  The Hawkes Bay will boom!

[Special Agent]

What the new gorge road emphasizes is the importance of Woodville. It will be a very short trip from Awapuni.  RACE and NZTR are well aware of this.  Woodville should never have been on the surplus list.  In fact it would be a great alternative training venue for any fed up Awapuni trainers who might have had enough of the AWT and keeping their horses inside 24/7.

[Dark Beau]

12 hours ago, Freda said:

FFs,  that's more expensive than the return ChCh to Invercargill.     Absurd. 

Freda, like a lot of people on these sites some don’t know what they are talking about. 
The price quoted is absurd. 

[Dark Beau]

11 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

Well the new Gorge road is close to opening.  The Hawkes Bay will boom!

If it had a racetrack. 

[Chief Stipe]

7 hours ago, Dark Beau said:

If it had a racetrack. 

Trentham barely had anything.  The HB still have a racetrack amd training is continuing on it.

[Chief Stipe]

7 hours ago, Dark Beau said:

Freda, like a lot of people on these sites some don’t know what they are talking about. 
The price quoted is absurd. 

So is the price wrong or does @Special Agent "doesn't know what she is talking about"?

[Freda]

9 hours ago, Dark Beau said:

Freda, like a lot of people on these sites some don’t know what they are talking about. 
The price quoted is absurd. 

Sorry..I didn't mean the poster was absurd, the fact that that cost had to be built into the shift in venue,  I thought absurd.  That is just how out of touch NZTR are, and continue to display. 

[Chief Stipe]

25 minutes ago, Freda said:

Sorry..I didn't mean the poster was absurd, the fact that that cost had to be built into the shift in venue,  I thought absurd.  That is just how out of touch NZTR are, and continue to display. 

What were the trainers going to walk them to Otaki?  Some will win some will lose on the distance.  Very few would have walked out of the training stable and into the birdcage anyway.  

On the one hand you can't complain about a lack of tracks which are all distant from each other and then complain about having to pay transport to get to them.

As for the transport cost it is excessive but what do you expect when there is largely a monopoly.  

[Special Agent]

Trainers and owners can, and do, go to any racetrack in the country.  However, to move a race meeting so far away from the host club's venue is head scratching material, especially when Foxton is in close proximity and deemed by NZTR safe and suitable for trials run under their jurisdiction.

The number of participants who utilise Foxton speaks volumes.

What value do the Otaki and Foxton sponsors derive from a race meeting in Hawera?

[Dark Beau]

22 hours ago, Special Agent said:

If you enter for Hawera you can budget for the trip from wherever your horse is trained.  It's a bit different when it is thrust upon you.

Last year one way Otaki to Hawera cost $571.

It's okay though.  If you get to a race meeting that is put off NZTR will give you $200 compensation.

Maybe ask a Waikato trained owner what the float fare is from Matamata to Trentham.  I'm sure the $200 wouldn't put much of a dent in the travel bill.

Here is a comparison:

Otaki - Hawera 209km - Car 2 hours 39 minutes (Google Maps)

Awapuni - Cambridge 382km - Car 4 hours 36 minutes (Google Maps)

Majestic Horse Floats cost to me one way in February - Cambridge to Awapuni $598.00 incl GST.

Going from Awapuni to Cambridge in January was the same.

The cost to float from Awapuni to Trentham (return) is $454 -Distance 127km.

The distance from Otaki to Hawera is 209km. 

That is a difference increase of 64.57% therefore I would expect the cost of the Majestic to increase by the same thus making the round trip $747.00

P.S. My own horse will be traveling from Awapuni to Hawera instead of to Otaki. 
167km instead of 65km. Therefore I guess that I will have to fork out one and a half times more Dollars that what I would have otherwise. 
 

 

 

 

 

[Special Agent]

49 minutes ago, Dark Beau said:

Here is a comparison:

Otaki - Hawera 209km - Car 2 hours 39 minutes (Google Maps)

Awapuni - Cambridge 382km - Car 4 hours 36 minutes (Google Maps)

Majestic Horse Floats cost to me one way in February - Cambridge to Awapuni $598.00 incl GST.

Going from Awapuni to Cambridge in January was the same.

The cost to float from Awapuni to Trentham (return) is $454 -Distance 127km.

The distance from Otaki to Hawera is 209km. 

That is a difference increase of 64.57% therefore I would expect the cost of the Majestic to increase by the same thus making the round trip $747.00

P.S. My own horse will be traveling from Awapuni to Hawera instead of to Otaki. 
167km instead of 65km. Therefore I guess that I will have to fork out one and a half times more Dollars that what I would have otherwise. 
 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Beau,

I was working out the figures too.

Chief is right.  Only 9 would have walked from box to birdcage.  Also only 14 are stabled within the Kapiti/Horowhenua region.

On current 115 non-scratched entries 41 from the Palmerston North area are travelling about a further 100km each way.

2 from Hunterville will travel about 50km further each way.

Hawkes Bay incurs 90-odd km extra each way and there are curently 4 horses from that area.

Turakina and Marton is 20-40km more with 4 horses engaged.

1 from Wairarapa @ 100km further.

1 from Bulls/Sanson area which is approximately 70km difference.

I make that 76 horses' owners negatively impacted in travel costs alone.  Not taking recorded scratchings to date into account, I think you could guarantee some of the 76 will scratch as a result of this particular 200km venue change.

[Special Agent]

Don't these figures make it even more annoying that Awapuni is not up and running.  The comments given do not compensate for lost earnings and incurred expenses as already obviously stated.

[Special Agent]

3 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

So is the price wrong or does @Special Agent "doesn't know what she is talking about"?

Not Majestics, not a monopoly.  Not my horse, a client booking.

[Chief Stipe]

1 hour ago, Dark Beau said:

P.S. My own horse will be traveling from Awapuni to Hawera instead of to Otaki. 
167km instead of 65km. Therefore I guess that I will have to fork out one and a half times more Dollars that what I would have otherwise. 

So they charge per km?  I would have thought there was a base charge and then a distance charge.  I.e. the further you went the base charge dropped as a percentage.

 

35 minutes ago, Special Agent said:

Don't these figures make it even more annoying that Awapuni is not up and running.  The comments given do not compensate for lost earnings and incurred expenses as already obviously stated.

What lost earnings?  Otaki has been transferred to Hawera to a better track.  I know where I'd rather race a horse.

[Chief Stipe]

47 minutes ago, Special Agent said:

Thanks Beau,

I was working out the figures too.

Chief is right.  Only 9 would have walked from box to birdcage.  Also only 14 are stabled within the Kapiti/Horowhenua region.

On current 115 non-scratched entries 41 from the Palmerston North area are travelling about a further 100km each way.

2 from Hunterville will travel about 50km further each way.

Hawkes Bay incurs 90-odd km extra each way and there are curently 4 horses from that area.

Turakina and Marton is 20-40km more with 4 horses engaged.

1 from Wairarapa @ 100km further.

1 from Bulls/Sanson area which is approximately 70km difference.

I make that 76 horses' owners negatively impacted in travel costs alone.  Not taking recorded scratchings to date into account, I think you could guarantee some of the 76 will scratch as a result of this particular 200km venue change.

And everyone has to travel to Trentham.

[Dark Beau]

1 hour ago, Chief Stipe said:

And everyone has to travel to Trentham.

But a high percentage of the owners only have to spend about half an hour to get there. 
I love it when my horses are running there at it’s not too far from Awapuni for the horses to travel.  It’s a beaut fair to all track. It very close for me and my very unwell wife who’s only enjoyment in life is all her horses so I guess it’s swings and roundabouts. 
Chief, one thing is for sure, we won’t be traveling to Hawera ourselves, so what we spend on the extra float fee is slightly offset by staying home. 
Oh and by the way, the sun has come out here on the Kapiti Coast, it’s a cool breeze and as I’ve been in the garden all morning I think that the track would have been otherwise OK. A bit of a nuisance really although because we would have gone (to Otaki) and the mare is trained to the minute, extra two days could be a problem-at least I’ll have another excuse  😂

[Dark Beau]

Chief that’s too much of a diatribe for me, plus I actually have more important things to attend to, as I alluded too with one of my comments.

What actually what stopped me reading after your very first response is that you twisted what I said. 

Iv’e tried to join in, share and comment but you are too hard to deal with, sorry. 

I guess your disciples will agree with you, but just incase someone agrees with me I’ll check back tomorrow to see if a get a solitary like 😉