Auckland Friday night- should they race??

[Brodie]

4 hours ago, the galah said:

i get why the auckland people continue to fight for whats best for auckland.

thats the way it should be.

But as to mr steele. This is what barry lichter reports he said at that meeting.

what you have to do with mr steele is realise what he says and what he does are often 2 different things.

so he said, he has no bias but his job was to ensure harness racing flourishes,particularly in the north island. he says nz needs 3 training centres,but his number 1 priority is the north island.

so he recognises nz needs 3 training centres.(i believe they need 2,the other in canterbury.I have no idea where he thinks the other training centre should be).

But effectively what mr steele has done, is support the direction of funds HRNZ could tap into,to auckland,thus undermining any plans for HRNZ to use funds to purchase land and put  training centres in the other 2 parts of nz that he said needs it.

so mr steeles actions show he does have a bias and his words are a contradiction.

he says population base is why he thinks the north island can flourish.

Auckland people have used that as a talking point to rally support to their cause,i have no problem with that. But i really believe only dumb people believe that,as its so blatantly obvious that auckland harness racing has in the last 3 decades shrunk big time while the population has expanded. like, if population was a favourable factor,then wheres the proof. If you use logical thinking,population growth in auckland is part of the problem.I could refer to several negative issues impacting auckland harness racing caused by population growth. Can anyone name one positive?

i mean,mr steele should realise just because someone repeats something over and over doesn't it make it true. It may make more people think its true,but it still ain't true.

why are they spending 20 million on a piece of ground they don't own. No doubt they will spend millions more in the future maintaining it.

if they really do have access to 10's of millions of $ then they should be buying land,especially just out of christchurch .

They need to have a plan where they set up 2 training centres which can be transformed into future racetracks in 10-15 years times,so that they cash up aleaxandra park and addington and move ,thus ensuring a future of the sport. What HRNZ have done is support a plan that virtually takes that off the table. I mean,its not only mr steele that has no vision,its the whole board at hrnz. 

the training centres should be  set up in a way where parcels of land,of varying shapes and sizes, within that training centre are available  for both leasing and leasing with a right of purchase on the understanding that if someone does purchase land within that area that the land purpose must be for harness racing and that, in the event of any future sale by a purchaser ,hrnz has the right to either buy back or can approve any future buyer. Thus maintaining the control of the purpose of the  training centre.In effect using harness racing participants funds to make a training centre more affordable.

this investing over 20 million on somethg you don't own is typical hrnz think. again it illustrates they only think 5 years ahead and really don't have the intelligence to ensure the sport of harness racing continues in a viable way.

as to mr steele saying "we need to get the north island pumping". i wonder if he really believes tha can happen..Hey ,maybe he really does belive that. nah,i think he knows that won't happen.

finally,I think of a trainer in auckland . they are now going to get all those new facilities,get to run in small fields with good stakes,the warmer weather and all the things tabman referred to.

It got me thinking.If your a trainer in canterbury or southland ,who's currently getting up on these cold winter mornings and walks out into the paddocks gumboot high of mud,who trains their horses on frosty tracks,who has to maintain their own track and stables,who can see their owners no longer breeding so they will most likely have to send the wife out to work soon,and to be even handed,also send the mother in law out to work for that matter if shes living on the property.

Then i think auckland might need to spend an extra 10 million on those new auckland facilities for the influx of trainers As why struggle when life could be so much easier in auckland.

Heres a suggestion,that new auckland facilty seems to be an ideal place to put in an olympic size swimming pool where the trainers can lounge around in their swim wear ,watching one of the big screen tv's that the atc have bought for them.Given harness people seemingly are quite a randy lot from all the stories i've heard over the years,with the wife and mother in law away earning,they could have a young female(i had better not say stablehand as thats stereotyping),  rub a bit of sunblock on their backs (and tummies for the randy ones).The only issue i can see is,they may doze off on the lazy friday afternoons and there may be a few late sctaching at the ribbon of light.

HRNZ are going to do what they want to, even though their decision making does seem very poor, if they are looking to have harness racing in NZ survive.

 Not much point commenting as they do not seem to want to do best for the industry and unfortunately it will not end well.

Thought that with Entain bailing racing out by dishing out hundreds of millions and a new HRNZ CEO that it was an opportunity to improve things and ensure harness could get back on track!

Very disappointed for harness in NZ!

Edited yesterday at 07:36 AM by Brodie