Same race pattern at Ellerslie AGAIN! When will the Jocks switch on?

[Chief Stipe]

You can't sit back more than 4 lengths on a slow pace at Ellerlsie and expect to give your horse every chance to win!  They seem reluctant to improve on the bend.

[curious]

11 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

You can't sit back more than 4 lengths on a slow pace at Ellerlsie and expect to give your horse every chance to win!  They seem reluctant to improve on the bend.

I think that's because a lot of horses can't because of the camber? They can't get round the corner at full speed.

[Chief Stipe]

Just now, curious said:

I think that's because a lot of horses can't because of the camber? They can't get round the corner at full speed.

They ran the first race over 1200m in 37 and 33!  There's no way unless you are on pace that you can win from further back than 4 lengths.

As for the camber they don't even seem to be even trying to improve.  The lead in to the apex of the bend is cambered and slow turning.  It's the last bit that's flat and sharper.  Why can't you pump out of the gates and hold everything together until straightening or improve a few places from the 600m.  They only other option is the Damask Rose one - stay on the rails and get up behind them before straightening.  

That said I know some very capable horses that just can't get round that bottom corner at anywhere near full speed.

[TAB For Ever]

Great days racing at Ellerslie today.....fantastic to have a decent track back in action.

Augurs well for the big days ahead throughout the season !

Well worth the effort to go today ...rarely see 2 x maiden races at Ellersile on a Saturday but the good sized fields and some good riders made up for that small blemish !

 

[hesi]

I think what the day showed, is that you can take that carnival out of the Hawkes Bay, but you can never take Hawkes Bay out of that carnival.

For the sake of racing in NZ and the CD, it is imperative that it returns to Hastings in 2026.

I think many people will have realised that the 3 day meeting at HB marks the start of Spring racing in NZ and the start of new hopes and dreams for many.

Please administrators, no changes, we saw what happened when they tried to double up on what was a great 4 day carnival in Auckland over Boxing Day/NYD

[Chief Stipe]

42 minutes ago, hesi said:

I think many people will have realised that the 3 day meeting at HB marks the start of Spring racing in NZ and the start of new hopes and dreams for many.

It isn't a 3 day meeting nor in fact a Spring Carnival.  The only 3 day spring carnival in NZ racing is at Riccarton.

The Hawkes Bay - 'Triple Crown' is raced over 5 weeks with 3 weeks between the first two races and two between the last two.  Of course there are some good age group support races like the Gold Trail and the HB Guineas.

I was thinking about possible changes to the Hawkes Bay 3 days.  One that came to mind was moving the series ahead two weeks i.e. have the first day on the third Saturday in September instead of the first.  Another change would be shortening the 3 week gap between the first two to two weeks.  If you kept the 3 week gap between the first two then the final day would be Labour Weekend where the Friday before Labour Day is Hawkes Bay Anniversary Day.  Even a 1 week later start would give Spring a chance to kick in.

Some minor adjustments would need to be made to some of the age group races at other venues but in my opinion that pattern is all a bit screwed anyway.

So for arguments sake in 2026 the dates would be:

Day 1 - 20th September + 2wks
Day 2 - 4th October +2wks
Day 3 - 18th October

or

Day 1 - 20th September + 3wks
Day 2 - 11th October +2wks
Day 3 - 25th October

[Huey]

8 hours ago, TAB For Ever said:

Great days racing at Ellerslie today.....fantastic to have a decent track back in action.

Augurs well for the big days ahead throughout the season !

Well worth the effort to go today ...rarely see 2 x maiden races at Ellersile on a Saturday but the good sized fields and some good riders made up for that small blemish !

 

Wouldn't even class it as a shadow of what it was at HB, no hype or pizazz to the day , its lost most its meaning and is borderline irrelevant and thats just the G1.

But do keep the being the Tony Robbins  of Ellerslie ... its fantastic entertainment.

[Chief Stipe]

1 minute ago, Huey said:

Wouldn't even class it as a shadow of what it was at HB, no hype or pizazz to the day , its lost most its meaning and is borderline irrelevant and thats just the G1.

When was the last time you went to one of the Hawkes Bay race days?  I went to the first two last year and the place wasn't exactly rocking like it was 15 years ago.  Arguably there was as many people there on those days as there was at Ellerslie on Saturday.