Waikato Greenfields Site Declared.

[hesi]

They are going to need substantial financing over upwards of 10 years.

Do you think any bank will look at them unless they have a sound and comprehensively detailed business plan.

Just looking at the article, it would appear the sale of Waipa would set the ball rolling and provide the initial money for land purchase and development of the site, but a truckload more financing will be needed and secured through the potential sales of Cambridge and Te Rapa, once the site is finished

Edited 17 hours ago by hesi

[Chief Stipe]

Forget about the financing.  Look at it from a business perspective.  How will the business make enough profit to maintain core racing assets?

That's the measure and the only measure for the business case.

[hesi]

3 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

Forget about the financing.  Look at it from a business perspective.  How will the business make enough profit to maintain core racing assets?

That's the measure and the only measure for the business case.

In other words, make enough profit

[Chief Stipe]

8 minutes ago, hesi said:

In other words, make enough profit

Correct.  Otherwise you are relying on sucking up to politicians.  

What most Club Committees don't understand is that the 2000m circular paddock they race on needs considerable maintenance each year and periodic complete renovation.  

That cost has to come from retained profits.

[hesi]

Waikato Thoroughbred Racing (WTR), if it all goes to plan, should be a cash rich club, so they may fall into the same trap of subsidising from cash reserves

[Chief Stipe]

9 minutes ago, hesi said:

Waikato Thoroughbred Racing (WTR), if it all goes to plan, should be a cash rich club, so they may fall into the same trap of subsidising from cash reserves

Which is what Ellerslie is doing.  The last two years they have had $10m operating losses each year.

[curious]

45 minutes ago, hesi said:

Waikato Thoroughbred Racing (WTR), if it all goes to plan, should be a cash rich club, so they may fall into the same trap of subsidising from cash reserves

Is that the plan? Or is the plan for the current assets to essentially cover the cost of the land acquisition and new build?

[hesi]

3 hours ago, curious said:

Is that the plan? Or is the plan for the current assets to essentially cover the cost of the land acquisition and new build?

No idea, but it would seem the only way ahead.  A deal to purchase the site in question conditional on a sale of Waipa

[curious]

Well, if you go back to the Messara report, he proposed that the sale of all 3 Waikato tracks would cover the cost of the land acquisition and a Pakenham style development of that.

[Chief Stipe]

10 minutes ago, curious said:

Well, if you go back to the Messara report, he proposed that the sale of all 3 Waikato tracks would cover the cost of the land acquisition and a Pakenham style development of that.

That may well be the case but I hope they have done the sums in terms of producing enough revenue to fund ongoing maintenance.  We now know that the AWT's don't produce enough.

In many respects they need this Greenfields site to act as a counter to Ellerslie where at the moment all roads lead to.
 

What I don't get is Ellerslie are running at an operating loss on racing yet are bolstering stakes on every race.  That in my mind is pissing good money up against the wall for no good reason.  Do premium stakes when there aren't many options to race really achieve anything?  Mind you it is the mindset we have seen in racing for decades.

[curious]

2 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

What I don't get is Ellerslie are running at an operating loss on racing yet are bolstering stakes on every race.  That in my mind is pissing good money up against the wall for no good reason.  Do premium stakes when there aren't many options to race really achieve anything?  Mind you it is the mindset we have seen in racing for decades.

Entain love and encourage it because those races sell more bets, even though they are our worst performers on a wagering revenue to stakes basis. All good for them though as long as clubs, NZTR and the wider industry are funding it.