canterbury land prices

[the galah]

i've just been looking at the price of bare land in canterbury.

say you were  wanting to purchase some land to train a couple or say you wanted to try and make a go of training professionally.

well,half way between rolleston and prebbleton theres a 4 hectare block of bare land for $860,000 plus gst.  then you could head out past lincoln way,rather wet out there so hope you like mud, and spend over a million on 10 hectares and get about 4 sheds with that as well, or head a bit further out and pay over 2 million for 30 hectares with a house.I think that may be a dual code trainer who owns that property,although could be wrong there.

Or you could go half an hours drive from the southern side of christchurch and pay around $550,000 plus gst  for 4 hectares of bare land on the outskirts of leeston, or pay around $750,000 for 4 hectares of bare land on the far boundary of west melton or you could head an hour north west of christcurch and pay about 1.2 million for 40 hectares of bare land.

so,the 4 hectare properties are probably about right for someone who trains just 3 or 4 and could put in a small track,but if your going to train full time you would be thinking you would need at least 10 heactares.

so thats just the price of land,of course you would have to add on the costs of putting in a track and building stables,appropriate fencing,power and those type of things. 

so,the hobby trainers in canterbury only need about a million in spare cashto spend time on a hobby they enjoy and the person wanting to make a go of it as a trainer full time,well they probably need to  spend about 1,500,000 spare cash, before they even think about training a horse.

so there are very few people,if any who are likely to set up new training establishments.

And of course,people who currently have training establishments,whatever the scale,are likely to cash up as they get older. And theres a lot of trainers who are getting older in canterbury.In past decades land used to be much more affordable for horse trainers,which is why you had so many scattered around the boundaries of christchurch.Not any more though. it used to be those in the past who invested in land on the outskirts of canterbury knew they had a major asset(the land),to sell in the future whenever they wanted.those days are long gone as the cost of land these days means thats not even a starter.

Thats why i always say,if hrnz doesn't invest in providing land and facilities,which of course they could run at a profit,then its inevitable harness racings footprint  in canterbury will shrink faster than people realise.Then it will all be too late and all you will have is the big stables,who prefer to focus on udr's and don't run many horses at the meetings that currently generate profits for the industry,running in small fields on friday nights,dominated by team driving and low turnovers..

Edited 15 hours ago by the galah

[Brodie]

Have we had any new trainers set up in the last few years anywhere?

Can not think of anyone to any scale!

The thing even the children of the older established trainers are not actively persuing a career in harness racing!

Yes the odd one is but very few and far between and we are lucky at the moment to have so many females working in the industry.

Will this continue in the future when the stake money reduces significantly?

 

[the galah]

1 hour ago, Brodie said:

Have we had any new trainers set up in the last few years anywhere?

Can not think of anyone to any scale!

The thing even the children of the older established trainers are not actively persuing a career in harness racing!

Yes the odd one is but very few and far between and we are lucky at the moment to have so many females working in the industry.

Will this continue in the future when the stake money reduces significantly?

 

only stonewall,but they are multi millionaires.

i can't think of anyone at all apart from them,whether big or small.

some younger trainers just use racetracks that are full to anyone new,or  the odd one  training on someone elses property or a relation,but no new establishments.  They are all disappearing gradually.people are getting older and younger people can't afford to set up themselves.

just the way it is. the trend will continue.

 

[Gammalite]

35 minutes ago, the galah said:

no new establishments.  They are all disappearing gradually.people are getting older and younger people can't afford to set up themselves.

just the way it is. the trend will continue.

I'm sure this is the same everywhere. 

You make very valid points about the Locations where the young can establish. It's very hard.

But the Main contributing factor to the future Unsustainabilty of the industry ( IMO ) is the fact that the Aged Current Participants are just so Darn Good at it.  The prep and racing of the horses. 

People that have been in the game for decades ( Fulltime too) are struggling to win races , as the current many aged participants will just beat you everytime. Look what the Williamsons do to the great southland horsepeople all the time , Dunns and Mark Jones and the Nairns etc,  often chasing the country racing as well as having some city runners.

In Aus here , I went to Redcliffe to see some mates horses go. 4 different folk with decades of experience. A couple of 4th and a couple of 6ths. The horses go so Darn Fast in town , they don't even go there anymore. and are struggling to get in the money at Redcliffe even. 

Darrel Graham used to have 1000 starters a year and win 100-200 races 10 years ago or so. This year he has won 3 Races ONLY. A giant of the state. Brittany Graham who does your NZ presenting Now is driving the 2 horses tomorrow night , but they will get NOTHING.

So same there as here . Only the MILLIONAIRES winning, just like Brodster said with Stonewall and that ,( and the young ladies driving from good families. ) 

But NEW Player Owners and Trainers ???  NO CHANCE whatsoever.  the game is Over . it will retire with Tony Herlihy and Barry Purdon and David Butcher and the like when they pull up stumps over the next decade.

 footnote: You get the odd flash new spark like kiwi lad Jack Trainor winning some Group 1 's NSW at a young age. BUT he is out for 18 months DQ so it took some 'dubious strategy to achieve some success obviously lol 🤣😂)

 

[Gammalite]

4 hours ago, Brodie said:

Have we had any new trainers set up in the last few years anywhere?

Can not think of anyone to any scale!

Well I know you guys are fiercely critical of the racing numbers in the Auckland region.

Surely the Answer is for the MIDDLE aged Trainers , that have a Current training Base to work at , and some ability with FAST horses,  all take on more horses each? simple plan.

Matty White, Zac Butcher, Ben Butcher, Arna Donnelly , Tony Cameron   should ALL have 10 city horses and 10 country horses racing regularly each. and 10 horses being worked up . 30 horses in training each .  Not just one or 2 each . And it gives the stable junior drivers a go too then  . keeps the numbers up . Keeps the WINS up.!! everything on the Up !! 

The Hackett/ Wallis stable can do it well . so why not them ?  bit more effort needed from some .  

Obviously Barry Purdon and Mark Purdon have had the MILLIONAIRE owners all their careers , so have had the best horses and always got the best results accordingly. 

The HOPE stable and Williamsons,   does it beautifully in the South Island ?, with about those numbers of horses.

TELFERS have gone double that number of horses even and are Reaping the rewards !! (same as what Dixon and McMullen achieved QLD with about 80 horses on the books) . NUMBERS win Races.