Why not at Avondale ?? (Matamata Cup)

[The Centaur]

Just who has bypassed the idea of running Matamata's remaining races at Avondale?

Is it NZTR, Matamata club or Avondale. There needs to be an enquiry. The track at Avondale should offer excellent racing. If not lets hear it. The silence from NZTR & Avondale itself is shocking. Just what ideas are Avondale considering for their nest egg? 

[All The Aces]

It will be run at Matamata on 15th October 

 

[The Centaur]

Bit of drying weather this afo (Tuesday) but obviously with all the rain a heavy 10. But with rail in true and little use recently the inside should be quite smooth. Very little publicity on the meeting tomorrow so little interest. That should not have been the case. 

One question has always puzzled me. With the Avondale Sunday markets popular why did Avondale club never leverage that crowd to attend meetings. Sunday meetings say six races from 3.30pm could have been held still allowing for cleanup from the markets. Even on other days an abundance of innovative ideas could have been used.

The attitude of the club very poor. e,g. no phone number contact and no one in the club interested generating general feedback and ideas. Avondale had all the advantages and could have been the most profitable in the country.

[Bill]

On 10/5/2025 at 11:13 AM, The Centaur said:

Just who has bypassed the idea of running Matamata's remaining races at Avondale?

Is it NZTR, Matamata club or Avondale. There needs to be an enquiry. The track at Avondale should offer excellent racing. If not lets hear it. The silence from NZTR & Avondale itself is shocking. Just what ideas are Avondale considering for their nest egg? 

Because its a sh*thole

[The Centaur]

7 minutes ago, Bill said:

Because its a sh*thole

Disagree forget about the main stand its actually top class.

Now if Avondale had a bit of nous they would have purchased Dargaville racecourse. Used the Avondale track as security, worked out a deal with the Dargaville Club, and Auckland Trotting club with the intention of staging combined gallops/harness meetings with also involvement of Whangarei Racing Club.

The annual Agricultural Fieldays  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/20000-people-attend-northland-field-days/XRTBL7GIMFHI3L6WH5BKD3UV2A/  are a major Northland event so that organisation would have needed to be on board. 

Once all those organisations on board then the Northern Regional Council would get right behind the whole concept resulting in easier funding. A WIN WIN situation.

[hesi]

1 hour ago, The Centaur said:

Disagree forget about the main stand its actually top class.

Now if Avondale had a bit of nous they would have purchased Dargaville racecourse. Used the Avondale track as security, worked out a deal with the Dargaville Club, and Auckland Trotting club with the intention of staging combined gallops/harness meetings with also involvement of Whangarei Racing Club.

The annual Agricultural Fieldays  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/20000-people-attend-northland-field-days/XRTBL7GIMFHI3L6WH5BKD3UV2A/  are a major Northland event so that organisation would have needed to be on board. 

Once all those organisations on board then the Northern Regional Council would get right behind the whole concept resulting in easier funding. A WIN WIN situation.

Very innovative thinking.

From what I have read from people posting who are linked to Avondale, they are too busy being bitter to ever be that clever

[Huey]

14 hours ago, The Centaur said:

 

Now if Avondale had a bit of nous they would have purchased Dargaville racecourse. Used the Avondale track as security, worked out a deal with the Dargaville Club, and Auckland Trotting club with the intention of staging combined gallops/harness meetings with also involvement of Whangarei Racing Club.

The annual Agricultural Fieldays  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/20000-people-attend-northland-field-days/XRTBL7GIMFHI3L6WH5BKD3UV2A/  are a major Northland event so that organisation would have needed to be on board. 

Once all those organisations on board then the Northern Regional Council would get right behind the whole concept resulting in easier funding. A WIN WIN situation.

How would they do that?

No bank would lend them a cent given the legislation in place.

[Chief Stipe]

14 hours ago, The Centaur said:

The annual Agricultural Fieldays  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/20000-people-attend-northland-field-days/XRTBL7GIMFHI3L6WH5BKD3UV2A/  are a major Northland event so that organisation would have needed to be on board. 

 

The field days left the Dargaville Racecourse location 20 years ago.

14 hours ago, The Centaur said:

Now if Avondale had a bit of nous they would have purchased Dargaville racecourse. Used the Avondale track as security, worked out a deal with the Dargaville Club, and Auckland Trotting club with the intention of staging combined gallops/harness meetings with also involvement of Whangarei Racing Club.

But neither Avondale, Dargaville nor the ATC have enough spare cash (or security) to renovate their own tracks and facilities.  Whangarei Racing Club aren't in clover either!!  

[The Centaur]

2 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

The field days left the Dargaville Racecourse location 20 years ago.

But neither Avondale, Dargaville nor the ATC have enough spare cash (or security) to renovate their own tracks and facilities.  Whangarei Racing Club aren't in clover either!!  

Avondale is asset rich and with a sale inevitable now was an excellent time to invest. At $1.5M  or thereabouts the Dargaville property was a steal leaving plenty options open. One being working cooperation with the Field Days. Before anything is impossible it has to be proved its not possible. Installing trainers both harness or thoroughbred has possibilities. Pre training another possibility.

Clubs need to work together.  The trend in Australia is city dwellers like to travel say 60 miles to getaway from the city during the weekend.

An opportunity lost.

[hesi]

1 hour ago, The Centaur said:

Avondale is asset rich and with a sale inevitable now was an excellent time to invest. At $1.5M  or thereabouts the Dargaville property was a steal leaving plenty options open. One being working cooperation with the Field Days. Before anything is impossible it has to be proved its not possible. Installing trainers both harness or thoroughbred has possibilities. Pre training another possibility.

Clubs need to work together.  The trend in Australia is city dwellers like to travel say 60 miles to getaway from the city during the weekend.

An opportunity lost.

I'm not in the industry but been an observer for a long time.  I don't think working together is in the vocabulary in racing, parochialism is a word that sums up things better.

Clubs, industry stakeholders and industry management have been locking horns for a long time, spurred on via social media.  Never come across an industry with so many moaners.

 

[curious]

22 minutes ago, hesi said:

I'm not in the industry but been an observer for a long time.  I don't think working together is in the vocabulary in racing, parochialism is a word that sums up things better.

Clubs, industry stakeholders and industry management have been locking horns for a long time, spurred on via social media.  Never come across an industry with so many moaners.

This post is a pretty good example of the moaning it talks about.

[Chief Stipe]

1 hour ago, hesi said:

Never come across an industry with so many moaners.

It is an endemic malaise that magnified during Covid.  LOL probably due to an ageing population!

[hesi]

Not just racing and an ageing population, it seems people these days are very quick to put a label on something, that absolves them from personal responsibility.

Recall during Covid, the number of kids that just never went back to school.

 

 

[Delta Bro]

The inner sanctum of the Avondale Jockey Club appear to have been working to bring about the demise of the Racecourse and the Club. Everything is now conveniently in place for its consignment to oblivion. All tenancies gone bar two. Horse training closed down. Overtures from Avondale RSA not embraced after the $10m windfall sale of its property in 2015. No money spent upgrading facilities after the club became debt free in 2015. Part of the course proper and 800m chute fenced off for subdivision and sale in 2017. Membership applications declined in 2017. No representations made to the Select Committee when hearings were held in Auckland in 2020 by any officeholder. Members' meeting held at a venue in Henderson (2024) to gain approval for non-adversarial transfer of club's property assets to NZTR.

 

[The Centaur]

Thank you Delta Bro. Informative.

Finally found a method of communication with the "club" their facebook page but only one posting in the last 2 years. Seems the track manager does a good job. As for the rest they should get out and let a new team takeover. The phone number listed hasn't worked for 2 years.

The CEO mobile phone never gets answered and I doubt the email address would get a response. Asking say the NZTR for a contact reference gets the standard reply can't do that for privacy reasons. F***k me there was a time when every phone was listed in the phone book. Nowadays one has to waste a day just finding a business phone number. If that is what they call AI then count me out.

 

[Huey]

3 hours ago, The Centaur said:

Thank you Delta Bro. Informative.

Finally found a method of communication with the "club" their facebook page but only one posting in the last 2 years. Seems the track manager does a good job. As for the rest they should get out and let a new team takeover. The phone number listed hasn't worked for 2 years.

The CEO mobile phone never gets answered and I doubt the email address would get a response. Asking say the NZTR for a contact reference gets the standard reply can't do that for privacy reasons. F***k me there was a time when every phone was listed in the phone book. Nowadays one has to waste a day just finding a business phone number. If that is what they call AI then count me out.

 

Can you blame them, they like a lot of the minor clubs have been treated poorly by the industry and NZTR is it any wonder they are in the shape they are in?

You can't compare them to NZTR's favourites Ellerslie, Te Rapa or Matamata who have been given the passing lane any time they need it.

[Chief Stipe]

1 hour ago, Huey said:

Can you blame them, they like a lot of the minor clubs have been treated poorly by the industry and NZTR is it any wonder they are in the shape they are in?

I don't think the $8.5m loan in the late 80's helped Avondale.

[curious]

13 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

I don't think the $8.5m loan in the late 80's helped Avondale.

Dead right.

[The Centaur]

What a lot of fluffing around to run the Matamata Cup. Simple decision would have been to tun it at the Avondale meeting last week. Even with all the preceding rain the track was OK.