alumni racing show -15 may 2025-michael antoniades

[the galah]

i just had a listen to this show and i think everybody should listen to it if they are interested in what harness racing can do to prosper.

obviously the usa is different with their simulcasts and so many tracks with casinos and obviously given nz harness have very little control over trackside coverage.

But many of the things he says the industry needs to occur to prosper,well the industry is doing theopposite.

The faster you make the tracks ,the worse your racing is,the less your turnover. (too many front end dominated races)-(-using that observation of his ,i  think you could add the more sprints you have the less the turnover) 

Do you have a horse shortage or a track and race day excess. You have to adapt to market conditions.

whats the interest of the betting supplier(tab/entain). If its racing then they will focus on harness racing and it will prosper-. If its cainos(or sport) then racing will become secondary.. 

you have to drive the breeding industry with the racing industry,but the racing should always be the main focus.

not running competing high oprofile meetings against each other.

Delaying the start by a couple of minutes has a drastic efffect on increasing turnovers.

lowering takeout significantly increases turnover.

refuse the stakes paid if the number of starters is small.(i've mentioned that myself)

you can't run races at similar timeslots as major races elsewhere .

increased % handle on track  is important to support clubs to get people on track.

what are the stakes required to keep people happy. e.g. age group. If they need x amount to get people to race 2 year olds,they should provide it,but reduce the number of said 2 year old races to the level where they get good field sizes.If they are going to run small fields they will go broke.  

move the races to days where they generate turnover and coverage-even if it midweek.

people want as many days as they can get,but the more you spread it out the more people prefer to race in small fields ,the more you lose money.

given the market,there should be less races and tracks.

you have to adapt to market conditions.

Edited Wednesday at 08:55 AM by the galah

[the galah]

actually ,one thing i've observed over the last 25 years, is how stakemoney on south island nz harness has gone from being more than the south island gallops,to now being much less.

And the more i've thought about it the more its obvious why that is.

they get full fields becuase the horse population correlates with the number of races run.

that leads to a far more attractive betting product,which results in increased wagering,which leads to more returns to the industry which leads to increased sustainable stake levels.(and  they always get good timeslots and coverage).

 

[mikeynz]

1 hour ago, the galah said:

actually ,one thing i've observed over the last 25 years, is how stakemoney on south island nz harness has gone from being more than the south island gallops,to now being much less.

And the more i've thought about it the more its obvious why that is.

they get full fields becuase the horse population correlates with the number of races run.

that leads to a far more attractive betting product,which results in increased wagering,which leads to more returns to the industry which leads to increased sustainable stake levels.(and  they always get good timeslots and coverage).

 

 

1 hour ago, the galah said:

 

 

Good points, to the first post, maybe those thoughts and Mark Jones comments should be taken to heirachy of HRNZ and get their ideas, or explain their gameplan.

Edited Wednesday at 10:08 AM by mikeynz

[Westview]

12 hours ago, the galah said:

i just had a listen to this show and i think everybody should listen to it if they are interested in what harness racing can do to prosper.

obviously the usa is different with their simulcasts and so many tracks with casinos and obviously given nz harness have very little control over trackside coverage.

But many of the things he says the industry needs to occur to prosper,well the industry is doing theopposite.

The faster you make the tracks ,the worse your racing is,the less your turnover. (too many front end dominated races)-(-using that observation of his ,i  think you could add the more sprints you have the less the turnover) 

Do you have a horse shortage or a track and race day excess. You have to adapt to market conditions.

whats the interest of the betting supplier(tab/entain). If its racing then they will focus on harness racing and it will prosper-. If its cainos(or sport) then racing will become secondary.. 

you have to drive the breeding industry with the racing industry,but the racing should always be the main focus.

not running competing high oprofile meetings against each other.

Delaying the start by a couple of minutes has a drastic efffect on increasing turnovers.

lowering takeout significantly increases turnover.

refuse the stakes paid if the number of starters is small.(i've mentioned that myself)

you can't run races at similar timeslots as major races elsewhere .

increased % handle on track  is important to support clubs to get people on track.

what are the stakes required to keep people happy. e.g. age group. If they need x amount to get people to race 2 year olds,they should provide it,but reduce the number of said 2 year old races to the level where they get good field sizes.If they are going to run small fields they will go broke.  

move the races to days where they generate turnover and coverage-even if it midweek.

people want as many days as they can get,but the more you spread it out the more people prefer to race in small fields ,the more you lose money.

given the market,there should be less races and tracks.

you have to adapt to market conditions.

Galah do you have a link to the show,  it should be compulsory viewing for everyone in our industry. There are so many points in your summary that are as Brodie would say "On the money ".

[Westview]

12 minutes ago, Westview said:

Galah do you have a link to the show,  it should be compulsory viewing for everyone in our industry. There are so many points in your summary that are as Brodie would say "On the money ".

Found it with the help of Mr Google 

[Gammalite]

Here's some Fair dinkum points to add to the list .

No Participants = No racing at all.... should be the main point.

The Gambling dollar on harness racing is SMALL compared to gallops, casinos, lotteries, pokies , even bloody scratches. There's 'no way known' you are going to 'Lure ' new outsiders.   It'll be just the Stonewall bloke, and a few big-time owners like him having any of the Big bets, that are already involved in the industry. I would say all the old Stalwarts at BOAY even bet LESS than they used to, and we all Love the Product.

and don't think the FAST tracks are the MAIN Player here .

The fact is we have the BEST HORSEMEN on the Planet Still competing and winning . Mark Purdon , and brother Barry and the Williamsons and Butchers , and Dixons and McMullens and McCarthy's and Hall's . + Emma Stewart.

So we are getting the FASTEST and BEST horses ever seen. Does this make the racing Worse ????????

Well the tote prices are quite short I spose ( Personally I never worry about the odds but most do) 

with FIVE of the Most Magnificent Majestic Creatures Ever to put a bridle on Winning the Interdominion over the past 10 years . no wonder the odds are short . ( i'll put some photos on their own thread ) 

15 hours ago, the galah said:

The faster you make the tracks ,the worse your racing is,the less your turnover.

 

[the galah]

58 minutes ago, Gammalite said:

Here's some Fair dinkum points to add to the list .

No Participants = No racing at all.... should be the main point.

The Gambling dollar on harness racing is SMALL compared to gallops, casinos, lotteries, pokies , even bloody scratches. There's 'no way known' you are going to 'Lure ' new outsiders.   It'll be just the Stonewall bloke, and a few big-time owners like him having any of the Big bets, that are already involved in the industry. I would say all the old Stalwarts at BOAY even bet LESS than they used to, and we all Love the Product.

and don't think the FAST tracks are the MAIN Player here .

The fact is we have the BEST HORSEMEN on the Planet Still competing and winning . Mark Purdon , and brother Barry and the Williamsons and Butchers , and Dixons and McMullens and McCarthy's and Hall's . + Emma Stewart.

So we are getting the FASTEST and BEST horses ever seen. Does this make the racing Worse ????????

Well the tote prices are quite short I spose ( Personally I never worry about the odds but most do) 

with FIVE of the Most Magnificent Majestic Creatures Ever to put a bridle on Winning the Interdominion over the past 10 years . no wonder the odds are short . ( i'll put some photos on their own thread ) 

 

His conversation was about what the industry and tracks over there needed to do to be sustainable-basically he was talking about how turnovers dictate tracks either turning a profit or loss. How tracks that turned profits can prosper and tracks that didn't don't.And how he seemed to think it inevitable and just realism that the not profitable tracks would  and should close. Just market forces.

He obviously has been a highly sort after person and been involved in implementing policies at tracks which have turned around turnover and profitability.He has been involved in that for decades and had all the stats and numbers in his head.

the the fast tracks tyhing was one of several the factors he gave-he explained front end horses have an advantage,that fast tracks with bends make it too hard for backrunners to make moves and that was a factor in whether punters bet or did not bet.I mean isn't that obvious anyway.

at no point did he say anything about quality of horse being a factor. In fact he often referenced how clubs could make profits from a programme of lower grade claimers because the purses were not as significant-and how that was an important thing for thos tracks sustainabilty.

he actually mentioned some things i've mentioned before.e.g.

he said,timeslots can make or break a track.

reducing purses for small fields.

delays in races starting push turnovers up-that factor is a bit more complicated when it come sto nz as we rely on sky racing coverage in australia to boost turnover and as nz harness have no leverage due to it being tabcorp who run the racing channel,nz racing sometimes may lose coverage if races were delayed.

he refers to the meadowlands recently running racing with 20 minute gaps and running on time and saying how that was a bad decision. He said they should have known to delay the start as its what has always worked to get the turnover up-of course their coverage wouldn't be jammed in between a gallops meeting form taree and a dog race from ballarat like happens with nz harness.

But what i do think nz harness should seriously look at is eking out just a minute or so delay to the start of there nz races. Thats what they could do to help  turnover. Sky racing will still keep covering a meeting if it starts around under  2 minutes late if they can see in that last minute the horses are starting to line up and l begin within that time frame.Its not an over complicated thing. They could do things like have the mobile up the track from the horses a bit more and at the point in time he would normally start,he puts on a light on his mobile,backs up ,stops and then blows the whistle as per normal and only then do the horses start coming up. All tjhat would take up to a minute,people watching can see the start is happening and the clubs get an extra minutes coverage and turnovers increase. Or with standing starts,they revert back to what worked for 100 years,the horses starting on the front line form only 1 circle,thus i takes an extra 30 seconds to a minute  to line up ,and you get more people betting.

and they should never be running meetings with 40 minute gaps,nor 25 minute gaps. they should be a standards 30 minute gap. And when running 2 harness meetings they should never run one meeting with 10 minute gaps from the other meeting. As i said last week,auckland was not confirmed at least a couple of times before addington started.Do the people not understand how punters work if they are say sitting at a pub tab. They will not,go up to the machine,keep putting the betslip that had a collect form the previous race until it clears ,hoping they can hold up the que long enough for it to do that and them get a bet on the next race. I mean i know when the races start but i regularly get shut out myself because they either change the gaps between races of they haven't confirmed the previous harness race.

[Rangatira]

3 hours ago, Gammalite said:

Well the tote prices are quite short I spose ( Personally I never worry about the odds but most do) 

You sound more like a philanthropist than an investor.

[Gammalite]

18 minutes ago, Rangatira said:

You sound more like a philanthropist than an investor.

well had a bit of a dip here last week , posting 13 horses at BOAY  Friday and Saturday for 8 wins, 3 seconds and 2 4ths . so a pretty savvy investor if having a go lol 😂.  ( 2 of the second placings were beaten in close photo's too , and the other had to run 2nd anyway as was tipping the Quinella in that race with a toss-up. $9 Quinella in the end. 

Would rather be a Philanthropist like Kevin Seymour and give to the sport . or a Mick Boots with his support of a whole swag of trainers around the place with his many horse purchases to help keep them All in the game. Those boys being rewarded with racing Leap To Fame and Swayzee for their incredible efforts. 

50 minutes ago, the galah said:

at no point did he say anything about quality of horse being a factor

Once people stop 'recognising ' the important participants , then it's ONLY a money making exercise from then on. and appreciation of the main Player (the horse) does drop significantly as seen on BOAY and everywhere really.  And the investments ( and horses) are quickly forgotten once the 'Next' race comes along a few minutes later.

 

58 minutes ago, the galah said:

they should be a standards 30 minute gap. And when running 2 harness meetings they should never run one meeting with 10 minute gaps from the other meeting.

A standard gap of 30 minutes is excellent , as that give punters a chance to invest every 15 minutes (if following 2 meetings, and the Participating drivers/owners/jockeys/ trainers a chance to catch their breathe between races and talk about prospects and results with out the sprinting about to prepare the next runner without even time for a drink. 

A standard Familiar date for racing as well , so Punters can adopt routine. Friday night Lights has been excellent for that so NZ is showing real progress in some areas like that. (Saturday night would be best but not possible you say) 

 

[the galah]

1 hour ago, Gammalite said:

well had a bit of a dip here last week , posting 13 horses at BOAY  Friday and Saturday for 8 wins, 3 seconds and 2 4ths . so a pretty savvy investor if having a go lol 😂.  ( 2 of the second placings were beaten in close photo's too , and the other had to run 2nd anyway as was tipping the Quinella in that race with a toss-up. $9 Quinella in the end. 

Would rather be a Philanthropist like Kevin Seymour and give to the sport . or a Mick Boots with his support of a whole swag of trainers around the place with his many horse purchases to help keep them All in the game. Those boys being rewarded with racing Leap To Fame and Swayzee for their incredible efforts. 

Once people stop 'recognising ' the important participants , then it's ONLY a money making exercise from then on. and appreciation of the main Player (the horse) does drop significantly as seen on BOAY and everywhere really.  And the investments ( and horses) are quickly forgotten once the 'Next' race comes along a few minutes later.

 

A standard gap of 30 minutes is excellent , as that give punters a chance to invest every 15 minutes (if following 2 meetings, and the Participating drivers/owners/jockeys/ trainers a chance to catch their breathe between races and talk about prospects and results with out the sprinting about to prepare the next runner without even time for a drink. 

A standard Familiar date for racing as well , so Punters can adopt routine. Friday night Lights has been excellent for that so NZ is showing real progress in some areas like that. (Saturday night would be best but not possible you say) 

 

that was very good selecting by you last week,hard to top that.

i'm not sure what you mean when you say-the appreciation of the main player,the horse does drop significantly as seen on bit of a yarn. Nnor where you say- people stop recognising the participants.

i've never read anyone say that on here or in general elsewhere.

if you listen to what that man said on that show,you can see everything he said is reflected in turnover figures,when those factors he mentions are at play in nz..

so,for the sake of the people and the horses in harness racing that you mention,,you need administrators implementing policies and procedures that maximise returns for industry participants.

and when you say,its only a money making exercise if people focus on how to maximise turnovers,well  that seems to undrervalue the importance of that somewhat.

Edited yesterday at 05:00 AM by the galah

[Brodie]

Problem at the moment for wagering on the Friday meetings is that the fields and odds just are not attractive enough to bother!

absolute nothing worth backing on the fixed place odds for Addington, Cambridge or Auckland!

Pointless and not worth the effort with these fields but then that affects the TAB more than it effects Brodie!

Be interesting what the turnover is for these three meetings as I have never seen it so unattractive to wager for field sizes and odds!!!

[Gammalite]

4 hours ago, the galah said:

'm not sure what you mean when you say-the appreciation of the main player,the horse does drop significantly as seen on bit of a yarn. Nnor where you say- people stop recognising the participants.

i've never read anyone say that on here or in general elsewhere.

What I meant was most Persons are more interested in their investments and race turnovers etc than the racing result from the owner/trainer or even horse prestige point of view. 

For example Brodie often posts along with many others the type of thing he literally just posted above this post.

The horse has to be Certain odds for example to even get a little of BIT of Enjoyment from the racing. 

you and I watch a LOT of races without investment on them , Whereas MOST people won't . so we appreciate the tactics and racing more than them because we don't need 'money on' to achieve some enjoyment.  just different perspectives of the action tiz all.  

. I have no problem that in a gambling industry that people worry about the gambling dollar. I don't . and often you get the feel that a Lot of folk  Are not Recognising the Participants in a Post like that above ? . Can't be bothered and all this sort of thing 🙄 . His (and hers) perogatives , But it  just seems a lack of Appreciation of the main Players in a way. This is not uncommon at all. It's a reason Harness racing is struggling to get a following.  Hope that explanation Helps explain that view of appreciation a little better.   

4 hours ago, the galah said:

and when you say,its only a money making exercise if people focus on how to maximise turnovers,well  that seems to undrervalue the importance of that somewhat.

well that's what happens I spose . for the Punter. a money making exercise. But there's still history and tradition and a living made by some,  to be had as well,  if you can dig beneath the almighty turned over Dollar .

People are still making a living out of the sport and They (and I ) couldn't give a rats what the turnover is. They are presenting their pride and joy horse at the races .  For as  long as someone Is putting races on that is.

race for $3000 a race  if you're struggling then? . There's an easy solution.  save you a 'buck' of importance. 

 

 

[Brodie]

Gamma, problem is that it HRNZ have been given more money than they can handle and I personally believe from what is going on, that there is no one making decisions that have financial intelligence!

They are blowing the future of harness racing when they were thrown a life buoy but are treating it like they were thrown an anchor!

It is not going to end well for our once great harness industry!

[the galah]

16 hours ago, Gammalite said:

What I meant was most Persons are more interested in their investments and race turnovers etc than the racing result from the owner/trainer or even horse prestige point of view. 

For example Brodie often posts along with many others the type of thing he literally just posted above this post.

The horse has to be Certain odds for example to even get a little of BIT of Enjoyment from the racing. 

you and I watch a LOT of races without investment on them , Whereas MOST people won't . so we appreciate the tactics and racing more than them because we don't need 'money on' to achieve some enjoyment.  just different perspectives of the action tiz all.  

. I have no problem that in a gambling industry that people worry about the gambling dollar. I don't . and often you get the feel that a Lot of folk  Are not Recognising the Participants in a Post like that above ? . Can't be bothered and all this sort of thing 🙄 . His (and hers) perogatives , But it  just seems a lack of Appreciation of the main Players in a way. This is not uncommon at all. It's a reason Harness racing is struggling to get a following.  Hope that explanation Helps explain that view of appreciation a little better.   

well that's what happens I spose . for the Punter. a money making exercise. But there's still history and tradition and a living made by some,  to be had as well,  if you can dig beneath the almighty turned over Dollar .

People are still making a living out of the sport and They (and I ) couldn't give a rats what the turnover is. They are presenting their pride and joy horse at the races .  For as  long as someone Is putting races on that is.

race for $3000 a race  if you're struggling then? . There's an easy solution.  save you a 'buck' of importance. 

 

 

I fully agree thats the horses and the people invoved could be better promoted in a way that maximises adding value to the industry.

Theres a reason why the unhinged content has such a following.

Its because he does exactly that.

Yet HRNZ won't even put his content on their website.Sort of an own goal by hrnz.

Unfortunately if your not on facebook,its down to only his last 2 unhinged posts that you can watch these days if you google it. it used to be about 6,then 3,but now 2.

If the stakes eventutally drop,which seems inevitable with hrnz happy to continue having expenditure exceeding its income,then there will be even greater future need to add valure to other aspects of horse ownership and promotion of the people involved at all levels(including volunteers).

Thats why not that long ago i was suggesting they should have policies focussed on the intergenerational transfer of interest in the sport through family and friend orientated on course attendance,for those who own, breed,etc harness horses,including things like financial turnover based rewards for clubs who participate.Thats one way of adding value,just as an aspect of unhingeds content is the recognition people get from success or particpation.Its the recognition that adds value.

Another thing is they don't promote the level of participation of females in the industry and foster that more..

 

Edited 13 hours ago by the galah

[Gammalite]

1 hour ago, the galah said:

Another thing is they don't promote the level of participation of females in the industry and foster that more.

you can't get any new participation Mr Galah. (unless you are family to good players already like the best new players on the track driving at least in Crystal, Carter, Housie and Orangeman son. for example)  as they are just too good. 

Like wise you mention the female Participants. 

Over the recent years Trainers Nikki Chilcott, Ms Wigg, and Arna Donnelly have been going great guns really , but are just outside the Best stables of Telfers and Barry Purdon ( because they have mega rich owners ) so are Forced to the Back blocks of Waikato and that even though they tried hard with handy horses. they get carved up and horses lose form from chasing the Big Guns. It's just too tough. 

Sacred Mountain trotting for example , and Kango and Jolimont , and a few others .  Arna has 3 'battlers' in tonight but even a classy horseperson like herself is struggling to get them over the line in First place. 

They just go to darn Hard and Fast ? . The Big stables have a HUGE advantage with the Big owners. Barry Purdon is in Dreamland with 17 horses of Dean Shannons, and the Stonewall bloke (forgot his name ) is just going NUTS with buying $300,000 plus yearlings this year, amount of horses racing, even doing big bets lately 🤣,  more horses and bets than Hot dinners that bloke. 

It is sort of the Same here Brissie with Mega-stables of 80 horses in each for Dixon and Pete McMullen. so they win nearly All the races for their Bands of  6 - 10  Millionaire owners.  No 'small player ' anywhere near the money 2BHonest. small players are just forced to go to Redcliffe country racing twice per week to get a quid. 

So No New Players Mate.

even the Dunn's have to struggle to get into feature Pacing races and win them even . And have a lot of staff and horses but luckily are very handy with TROTTERS like the HACKETT stables is in the North , to get a quid

so you'll only get the Mark Purdon old stable Helpers of H CULLEN and R TODD as fairly New players, as they have experience with Mark and his Impressive history ,that know how to 'beat them up' in the Feature Races.  Learning from the Grand Master.  and are doing a Sterling job at it too as well 🏆.   

[the galah]

57 minutes ago, Gammalite said:

you can't get any new participation Mr Galah. (unless you are family to good players already like the best new players on the track driving at least in Crystal, Carter, Housie and Orangeman son. for example)  as they are just too good. 

Like wise you mention the female Participants. 

Over the recent years Trainers Nikki Chilcott, Ms Wigg, and Arna Donnelly have been going great guns really , but are just outside the Best stables of Telfers and Barry Purdon ( because they have mega rich owners ) so are Forced to the Back blocks of Waikato and that even though they tried hard with handy horses. they get carved up and horses lose form from chasing the Big Guns. It's just too tough. 

Sacred Mountain trotting for example , and Kango and Jolimont , and a few others .  Arna has 3 'battlers' in tonight but even a classy horseperson like herself is struggling to get them over the line in First place. 

They just go to darn Hard and Fast ? . The Big stables have a HUGE advantage with the Big owners. Barry Purdon is in Dreamland with 17 horses of Dean Shannons, and the Stonewall bloke (forgot his name ) is just going NUTS with buying $300,000 plus yearlings this year, amount of horses racing, even doing big bets lately 🤣,  more horses and bets than Hot dinners that bloke. 

It is sort of the Same here Brissie with Mega-stables of 80 horses in each for Dixon and Pete McMullen. so they win nearly All the races for their Bands of  6 - 10  Millionaire owners.  No 'small player ' anywhere near the money 2BHonest. small players are just forced to go to Redcliffe country racing twice per week to get a quid. 

So No New Players Mate.

even the Dunn's have to struggle to get into feature Pacing races and win them even . And have a lot of staff and horses but luckily are very handy with TROTTERS like the HACKETT stables is in the North , to get a quid

so you'll only get the Mark Purdon old stable Helpers of H CULLEN and R TODD as fairly New players, as they have experience with Mark and his Impressive history ,that know how to 'beat them up' in the Feature Races.  Learning from the Grand Master.  and are doing a Sterling job at it too as well 🏆.   

Its not like you to have a defeatest attitude gamma,and i'm sure if you focussed, you could come up with as many ways as anyone to turn the female factor into positives.(consider that a pep talk to get bit of a yarns most positive thinker back on track).

Now i'm not suggesting at all that there should be preferential treatment for anyone based on gender.

I'm pointing out how male particpation in the sport is declining and that to some extent that void is being filled by women.

the industry has to recognise that trend,properly understand the reasons that is happening and capitalise on the factors whcih has lead to that trend.

Of course NZ's current leading trainers are a male and female combination.4 of the top current  7 leading trainers have women in the partnership. 2 of our top 6 drivers are currently women.

But heres where its most obvious that there has been a trend which has been happening within the industry in recent times.

Of the 38 drivers currently listed on the junior drivers premiership,there are more women than men.

I'm sure if you go around stables you will see this same gender trend . Younger women employed in stables,trainers at every level ,listed as the trainers but in fact having so much of the work done by their partners. Same with owners,wives supporting husbands.

Look,i think theres many different factors why there is this growing trend to see more women,things like their love of the horse being more a focus when they start in the industry than long term financial reward or stability.

I really don't know why there isn't a womens group ,backed by HRNZ,getting the message out there that racing can be about families and horses and fun and that woman can come and go as the circumstances in their lives change,but will always be welcome back when the time is right again.So many ways of promoting the sport using the female angle which would allow them into areas which generate positive exposure.

look maybe there already is such a group,if there is,i've never heard of it,but really its something that hrnz should be capitalising on.

 

Edited 10 hours ago by the galah

[Brodie]

47 minutes ago, the galah said:

Its not like you to have a defeatest attitude gamma,and i'm sure if you focussed, you could come up with as many ways as anyone to turn the female factor into positives.(consider that a pep talk to get bit of a yarns most positive thinker back on track).

Now i'm not suggesting at all that there should be preferential treatment for anyone based on gender.

I'm pointing out how male particpation in the sport is declining and that to some extent that void is being filled by women.

the industry has to recognise that trend,properly understand the reasons that is happening and capitalise on the factors whcih has lead to that trend.

Of course NZ's current leading trainers are a male and female combination.4 of the top current  7 leading trainers have women in the partnership. 2 of our top 6 drivers are currently women.

But heres where its most obvious that there has been a trend which has been happening within the industry in recent times.

Of the 38 drivers currently listed on the junior drivers premiership,there are more women than men.

I'm sure if you go around stables you will see this same gender trend . Younger women employed in stables,trainers at every level ,listed as the trainers but in fact having so much of the work done by their partners. Same with owners,wives supporting husbands.

Look,i think theres many different factors why there is this growing trend to see more women,things like their love of the horse being more a focus when they start in the industry than long term financial reward or stability.

I really don't know why there isn't a womens group ,backed by HRNZ,getting the message out there that racing can be about families and horses and fun and that woman can come and go as the circumstances in their lives change,but will always be welcome back when the time is right again.So many ways of promoting the sport using the female angle which would allow them into areas which generate positive exposure.

look maybe there already is such a group,if there is,i've never heard of it,but really its something that hrnz should be capitalising on.

 

We have a lot of female Juniors going around at the moment, often more female than males in Junior races!

Reality is that most of them will be lost to the industry when they are out of their Junior driver days!

They will not pick up enough drives and there is no money in training unless you have a significant number of horses being paid for!

 

[Gammalite]

17 minutes ago, the galah said:

So many ways of promoting the sport using the female angle which would allow them into areas which generate positive exposure.

look maybe there already is such a group,if there is,i've never heard of it,but really its something that hrnz should be capitalising on.

There is One already going. with TEAM Teal has been doing it for a few years now. Raising funds for Ovarian Cancer.

They Needed to Put the Girls on a TELEVISION Ad . that's what would of worked. Could of got Huge exposure to a MASSIVE audience. someone should think of doing that one year.  

as it is the NZ and Aus lady drivers raised a lot money for the Ovarian campaign each year. QLD racing donating $200 for every lady driver win through a certain time of the year.  HRNZ the same more than likely👍

21 minutes ago, the galah said:

you to have a defeatest attitude gamma,and i'm sure if you focussed, you could come up with as many ways as anyone to turn the female factor into positives.

I'm only defeatest  by the thought of New people signing up for a go at training or driving.  nothing to do with gender. Was just talking Experience.  and used the Ladies I mentioned earlier,  as an example of how tough it is to beat the Big stables. If they can't win , with their obvious ability at preparing runners,  Then NO NEW Participant (male or female)  is a hope in Buckleys of winning a race anytime there.  so why bother trying lol. 

I mean you have some Great Horsepeople in the Deep South racing as well, so just as tough to win there if you tried to come in as new player.  People in the Game for years struggle to get a winner there at times , with Williamsons dominating and that. 

Thankfully we have 'regional ' centres where Many participants (new or old)  get a go and a win and/or Get several drives per week . Tamworth, Mildura  , Redcliffe , etc race ALL the time. 

Back in my day new participants got a go. I had a baker, a boilmaker , even a carpenter mate all getting driver licenses on my horses and having a go for fun. No one bet on em' . we weren't worried about TAB turnover, we weren't crucifying the governing body like poor old HRNZ cops . when Rocklea Racing centre raced on Saturdays, me and Darryl Graham , the young Grant Dixon and mates were going around for $550 first prize . it was fun . people loved their horses, and looked after them. and anyone could have a go ( once they passed the stewards licensing requirements) 

Thats EXACTLY what NZ needs. Rock small stakes for slow horses and slow Participants. build from scratch. 

BTW   We don't have the ' Many trainer Names' you have on your One stable training tickets. Just the one name on a Training Licence  so Pete McMullen , the late Greg Sugars  , Chris Alford, Robbie Morris , Clayton Tonkin and others all put the stable training name in their Partner/wife's name .Even  Australia's best Luke McCarthy did this himself for many seasons, but Belinda now works on the Breeding side of their operation where they are standing KING of Swing , etc.  so the horses are now All in Lukes name and he is the Interdominion Champion !! ( for 2 more weeks lol😂)

The Lady drivers are here in Bulk in QLD and Pete Mcmullens and Grant Dixon's wives have very big drives tomorrow night . Chantal is even on 'The Janitor' in our Big Group 1 Rising star. Think Pete is driving the wrong one myself , but what do I know.🤔😎 

Natalie near the best driver i've seen . Her sister Kylie Rasmussen here was a gun too, but you didn't get to see her.  

 

 

 

[the galah]

2 hours ago, Gammalite said:

 

Back in my day new participants got a go. I had a baker, a boilmaker , even a carpenter mate all getting driver licenses on my horses and having a go for fun. No one bet on em' . we weren't worried about TAB turnover, we weren't crucifying the governing body like poor old HRNZ cops . when Rocklea Racing centre raced on Saturdays, me and Darryl Graham , the young Grant Dixon and mates were going around for $550 first prize . it was fun . people loved their horses, and looked after them. and anyone could have a go ( once they passed the stewards licensing requirements) 

Thats EXACTLY what NZ needs. Rock small stakes for slow horses and slow Participants. build from scratch. 

  

 

 

 

i guess that $550 would be the equivalent of about $2000 today.

i think if they end up racing for that as a winning stake,then that would mean what you describe as a slow horse,which i guess means the majority, would have to win about 15 races a year to pay for its training.

somehow, i think thats not such a good plan.

Edited 7 hours ago by the galah

[Gammalite]

57 minutes ago, the galah said:

i guess that $550 would be the equivalent of about $2000 today.

i think if they end up racing for that as a winning stake,then that would mean what you describe as a slow horse,which i guess means the majority, would have to win about 15 races a year to pay for its training.

somehow, i think thats not such a good plan.

😂 for sure. I think a lot of the horses that race all year QLD (or those regional centres)  these days have to win 4 races  PER Year to break even. possibly the same in NZ.  

Most can do it too here.  as with the rating system the way it is pitting you against similar runners every week , you will win One in every 10 starts on average. The 10 horse fields says law of averages you will one out of every 10 starts.  

It's a numbers game .

so you might start your horse 40 times in a year. (not uncommon in regional racing) and you'll win the 4 races ( and get 4 x 2nd , 4 x 3rds , 4  x 4th and so on. 

The prizemoney they raced for , seems to be calculated to cover a horses annual costs of training and racing,  to fit that exact criteria , almost to the dollar.  If they can get around the track 35-40 times per year lol. And we did enjoy the $550 at Rocklea back in the day too. Beers were only a dollar a pot in those days !! 😎🍺🍻 you win ,you shout. 

 

Of course Metro horses on a Saturday night (  equal of your Friday night lights horses) can earn a LOT more and return a profit. They Go Like BLAZES though , and very hard to win in town (city) the millionaires horses are too good. They find that out for sure in New Zealand over the years too. (Allstars owners for example) 

Vicki Rasmussen leased old NZ er  TURN IT UP off Mark Purdon about 5 years ago . He is your standard hard trying old horse and is in the Interdominion tomorrow too.  He runs about 20 times per year and wins about 5 races and $100,000 annually. so Vicki doesn't really need any other horses to race ?  when you have one like that earning your annual wages lol . He can still go close to 1.50 mile still an is amazing old horse. One of my Alltime favourites. Won an Auckland Cup once too .