Last race Ascot Park.

[mikeynz]

The farewell Craig Rail pace, what's the story?

[Nowornever]

If those are the fields for near peak season then I hate to think what they might be like in the winter months. 

Half a dozen races of 6 and 7 runners looking likely maybe even less.

[pete cook]

Graig has had his contract terminated

[Brodie]

1 hour ago, Nowornever said:

If those are the fields for near peak season then I hate to think what they might be like in the winter months. 

Half a dozen races of 6 and 7 runners looking likely maybe even less.

Yes shortage of available horses around at several places at the moment, which is a big worry.

[mikeynz]

 

4 hours ago, pete cook said:

Graig has had his contract terminated

So what now, maybe races broadcast from the studio?

Edited Monday at 11:01 AM by mikeynz

[the galah]

15 hours ago, mikeynz said:

The farewell Craig Rail pace, what's the story?

 

13 hours ago, pete cook said:

Graig has had his contract terminated

thats very sad to hear.

he seems a really nice bloke and a good commentator.

He obviously did his homework on the likes of first starters breeding,often rattling off who they were related to,thereby giving recognition to the breeders,a very important industry sector,who nurture those families and never get the recognition they deserve..

he also always gave recognition to who the owners of the horses were that placed. Again,something which i'm sure people appreciated .

i heard him say 2 or 3 weeks ago he was going to miss the trackside crew and wondered whether someihing was in the works.

its surprising hrnz haven't had a story on it.i haven't read anything.They must know commentators are very well known people within the industry and  there is a public interest in this story. The lack of hrnz or media coverage is poor.Harness followers shouldn't have to guess about something like that by reading the name of a race.

i suppose the upcoming closure of the greyhounds was going to always impact commentator numbers. The likes of dan fogarty i think  a very good up and coming commentator so  you would think they will retain people like that. Just the way life works.

but as i say,its very sad when you hear anyone lose a job,especially if they  are good a it.

i felt particularly sad when kevin payne and jason teaz lost their jobs. I really did believe j teaz,in particular had an empathy with how punters view a race and added colour. Thats 3 southern commentators who they have discarded now who all must feel how unfair it all played out.

anyway,life aiin't always fair,but lets hope craig rails expertise is not lost to the industry

[mikeynz]

You never hear any of the greyhounds commentators talk about the impending ban, I think they must be muzzled, just like they no longer talk about place prices pre race, they are human robots, playing the tune Entain want them to play.

[pete cook]

All Trackside staff have been instructed not to discuss the greyhound ban

[goldilocks]

Brings back memories of Dave  MacDonald getting  the knife in the back straight after Covid

[mikeynz]

2 hours ago, pete cook said:

All Trackside staff have been instructed not to discuss the greyhound ban

Lot ov wokeness these days, I remember when Senz started in NZ, a guy who signed up to work for them Sam Casey wrote a column about women's Rugby, saying it needed a hand up rather than a helping out, or something similar, anyway his contract was cancelled, he is actually employed by sports nation now but wokeness is bad, no commentator can call it as they see it or else, Aussie is worse than us.

[mikeynz]

18 hours ago, Brodie said:

Yes shortage of available horses around at several places at the moment, which is a big worry.

59 noms for Auckland, a hundred more for Oamaru......I still maintain all races with 6 starters or less should be penalty free and no ratings reduction, no one can really manipulate things but in such small fields some are winning in poor fields that they woudnt win if there was more depth, but there is something wrong with the present handicapping issues, when anything rating 55 or something has single finger numbers mostly.

[Brodie]

1 hour ago, mikeynz said:

59 noms for Auckland, a hundred more for Oamaru......I still maintain all races with 6 starters or less should be penalty free and no ratings reduction, no one can really manipulate things but in such small fields some are winning in poor fields that they woudnt win if there was more depth, but there is something wrong with the present handicapping issues, when anything rating 55 or something has single finger numbers mostly.

Personally still can not see how on earth they believe that they can continue to race at Auckland when every meeting they are running at a significant loss?

Unfortunately HRNZ are going to get a very rude awakening and there are going to be many that are going to be looking for another job in the future!

It is a shame that it seems there is just no accountability going on for the way the money is being wasted!

Anyway been pointed out to them continuously and just falls on deaf ears!

 

[the galah]

1 hour ago, Brodie said:

Personally still can not see how on earth they believe that they can continue to race at Auckland when every meeting they are running at a significant loss?

Unfortunately HRNZ are going to get a very rude awakening and there are going to be many that are going to be looking for another job in the future!

It is a shame that it seems there is just no accountability going on for the way the money is being wasted!

Anyway been pointed out to them continuously and just falls on deaf ears!

 

rest assured brodie,the look north strategy is moving in the right direction. matt peden said so just 4 weeks ago.

And the metro series,a key part of that look north strategy,well hrnz think thats working as well.

just look at the 4 heats for that metro series last week,they had big numbers with an average field size of 7.

that comes on top of their bright idea to get more mares to race at nelson by having a $35,000 final at addington.That got a 6 horse field for that $35,000 race.

then theres what hrnz had been saying was good numbers of 2 year olds ready to race.Last week they scrapped 2 of the 3 races for them due to next to no nominations.

have they mentioned how high the ATC debt has got in the last few months. Nah,whats a few million extra ATC debt.

you know the thing about the turnover figures.

the way they spin northern harness racing is..They pick out the racenights that they can point to turnover being up from the previous nyear. But ignore the fact that those meetings often still run at significnat losses, because even with wagering turnover up,they still don't generate anywhere near enough to cover stakes.Hrnz interpretation of that is spin to the effect,the look north strategy is working.You have to laugh.

 

Edited Tuesday at 04:55 AM by the galah

[Nowornever]

I used to have a decent go on a good Auckland night with full fields and the pick six a few years ago but it is a complete waste of time these days. 

FFS  - seven races with an average field size of 7.8

So many trainers have left the Auckland area or downsized or given up because of one reason or another and never been replaced by the younger generation.

Sign of the times with stakes not keeping pace with inflation. It is just not worth it for the guys with no big owners to keep paying the bills which go up every year. 

HRNZ are delusional if they think they can bring back the glory days using the plan they are currently going with. Stakes vs expenses coupled with a poor racing product for punters is a downward spiral that will take North Island racing out completely in the next 20 years if not sooner. 

[the galah]

9 hours ago, Nowornever said:

I used to have a decent go on a good Auckland night with full fields and the pick six a few years ago but it is a complete waste of time these days. 

FFS  - seven races with an average field size of 7.8

So many trainers have left the Auckland area or downsized or given up because of one reason or another and never been replaced by the younger generation.

Sign of the times with stakes not keeping pace with inflation. It is just not worth it for the guys with no big owners to keep paying the bills which go up every year. 

HRNZ are delusional if they think they can bring back the glory days using the plan they are currently going with. Stakes vs expenses coupled with a poor racing product for punters is a downward spiral that will take North Island racing out completely in the next 20 years if not sooner. 

If hrnz weren't delusionla like you say,they should already had  planned for and be implementing a strategy that would have seen north isalnd harness racing prosper in years to come,albeit on a smaller scale.

The crazy thing is,current policy by hrnz means they are burning through a lot of money,money needed to provide that viable pathway forward. So, since they are stuffing it up,they won't have the resources in the future to restrucuyre north island racing to the level it could have been. 

And the worst thing is the impact current and recent hrnz policy for the north island ,will have on the south island. It seems inevitable sout island will get dragged down as well.

the apathy and short sightedness of industry stakeholders who seem happy to live in the moment and support hrnz or say nothing is strange.I assume its because the biggest voices are the ones hrnz continues to throw money at.The smaller voices simply have decided  to implement their exit strategy or have decided,i'm older,they don't listen to what i have to say anyway,they will reap what they sow, but i won't be particpating when things come to the crunch.thats reality.look around,it is.

meanwhile people like the punters who contribute to this site,like nowornever, will do what he has just seid,Turn ther back on such a poor betting product that auckland provide as the punting rewards from supporting that north isalnd product,simply isn't worth the effort.Again,thats another reality.

[Gammalite]

15 minutes ago, the galah said:

the apathy and short sightedness of industry stakeholders who seem happy to live in the moment and support hrnz or say nothing is strange.I assume its because the biggest voices are the ones hrnz continues to throw money at.The smaller voices simply have decided  to implement their exit strategy or have decided,i'm older,they don't listen to what i have to say anyway,they will reap what they sow, but i won't be particpating when things come to the crunch.thats reality.look around,it is.

well the moment is season to season. You can only put on a product for those that turn up.

HRNZ put on the races. Participants in the sport should turn up . SIMPLE. 

NowOrNever has hit the nail on the head (twice)   These 2 Statements. They are the critical ones. 

10 hours ago, Nowornever said:

So many trainers have left the Auckland area or downsized or given up because of one reason or another and never been replaced by the younger generation.

Sign of the times with stakes not keeping pace with inflation. It is just not worth it for the guys with no big owners to keep paying the bills which go up every year. 

Alas NZ trainers in the North have got very LAZY is what i'm putting it down too. mainly due to old age and being millionaires now there's no need for great effort anymore. 

Look at the lack of support for Fridays meeting . 

Tony Herlihy = one runner,  Telfers = one runner,  Dunns = one runner, White = one runner, Purdon M, N and B with only one runner each. Donnelly 1 runner Hackett 3 runners , House 2 runners , and hardly any Butcher in sight? 

Just 14 horses from 10 of the Top North Island Stables in what should be Peak season ??  lazy , laaazy. 

and Ray Green (with the young Delaney co-trainer  )has 5 runners . so they are actually doing something and training and racing some. Only ONE of the top 10 stables working hard and get one some runners ? well done Ray and staff.🏆

we have about 10 trainers in Brisbane with horses capable of winning Metro Saturday nights (fast enough like Alexandra Park) and they turn out 1/2 dozen horses each , week in , week out all through the year. Why can't NZ trainers do that anymore ? lazy ?  

HRNZ put races on and no one turns up anymore .   no wonder there's nothing to punt on and you're all crying .

Lazy trainers. Not working enough horses anymore?. there's the reason old mates 🤣😎 Dr Chin is 80 years old and is still towing his 2 horses in to race Friday night ( he's not lazy that's for sure lol .bless him 🤣🏆😋)

[mikeynz]

13 hours ago, Nowornever said:

I used to have a decent go on a good Auckland night with full fields and the pick six a few years ago but it is a complete waste of time these days. 

FFS  - seven races with an average field size of 7.8

So many trainers have left the Auckland area or downsized or given up because of one reason or another and never been replaced by the younger generation.

Sign of the times with stakes not keeping pace with inflation. It is just not worth it for the guys with no big owners to keep paying the bills which go up every year. 

HRNZ are delusional if they think they can bring back the glory days using the plan they are currently going with. Stakes vs expenses coupled with a poor racing product for punters is a downward spiral that will take North Island racing out completely in the next 20 years if not sooner. 

 Hawera and Taupo numbers wernt too bad, you seriously wonder if many just don't like going to A Park, traffic must be a pain getting there.

[the galah]

7 hours ago, Gammalite said:

well the moment is season to season. You can only put on a product for those that turn up.

HRNZ put on the races. Participants in the sport should turn up . SIMPLE. 

NowOrNever has hit the nail on the head (twice)   These 2 Statements. They are the critical ones. 

Alas NZ trainers in the North have got very LAZY is what i'm putting it down too. mainly due to old age and being millionaires now there's no need for great effort anymore. 

Look at the lack of support for Fridays meeting . 

Tony Herlihy = one runner,  Telfers = one runner,  Dunns = one runner, White = one runner, Purdon M, N and B with only one runner each. Donnelly 1 runner Hackett 3 runners , House 2 runners , and hardly any Butcher in sight? 

Just 14 horses from 10 of the Top North Island Stables in what should be Peak season ??  lazy , laaazy. 

and Ray Green (with the young Delaney co-trainer  )has 5 runners . so they are actually doing something and training and racing some. Only ONE of the top 10 stables working hard and get one some runners ? well done Ray and staff.🏆

we have about 10 trainers in Brisbane with horses capable of winning Metro Saturday nights (fast enough like Alexandra Park) and they turn out 1/2 dozen horses each , week in , week out all through the year. Why can't NZ trainers do that anymore ? lazy ?  

HRNZ put races on and no one turns up anymore .   no wonder there's nothing to punt on and you're all crying .

Lazy trainers. Not working enough horses anymore?. there's the reason old mates 🤣😎 Dr Chin is 80 years old and is still towing his 2 horses in to race Friday night ( he's not lazy that's for sure lol .bless him 🤣🏆😋)

Maybe your on to something gamma.

those blokes are all so wealthy ,they don't need to race at the regular auckland or cambridge meetings anymore.

i only looked at the one stable,the b purdon/ phelan stable and they had 2 horses race at hawera on both days and those 4 starts were more starters than they had at all the auckland and cambridge meetings combined for the month of january.

barry and scott are probably just about to step into the spa in the penthouse suite at the darling at the star, gold coast resort.

probably meeting up with dean later to discuss how to win those big stake group 1  2 year old races.Win a couple more of those and that way they may be able to take not 1,but 2 months off.

michael house,the lazy bugga,should have sent his team up to auckland to help out with the numbers.

actually michael house probably has more starters at a 2 day manawatu meeting than  all those blokes combined do for some months,if you take out the green/delaney stable.

but there is a serious point that is tied up with what you say.

the type of horses HRNZ are prioritising are trained by trainers who are udr focused and not hrnz are not prioritising the trainers whose horses have a high number of starts per year..

In fact,if you  combined total number of starters of your favorite 3 trainers,purdon/phelan,m purdon/n purdon and  a herlihy,you would see last year m house provided individually about 270 more starts last year, than your favorite 3 combined.

You would wonder if one day it will dawn on hrnz ,that when they talk about increasing the average number of starts per horse, per year,that a significant factor in that is who the trainers of those horses are.In other words having policies that prioritise the horses trained by the trainers who don't start their horses often,at the expense of those that do,is blatantly obviously counter productive to  their stated goal of more starts per horse per season.

i'm absolutely certain that flies over the heads of the smart people at hrnz.Too  logical for them to work it out.

Edited yesterday at 03:38 AM by the galah

[Gammalite]

2 hours ago, the galah said:

HRNZ are prioritising are trained by trainers who are udr focused and not hrnz are not prioritising the trainers whose horses have a high number of starts per year..

In fact,if you  combined total number of starters of your favorite 3 trainers,purdon/phelan,m purdon/n purdon and  a herlihy,you would see last year m house provided individually about 270 more starts last year, than your favorite 3 combined.

that is because the House team support Manawatu. he has heaps of starters there ,to 1/ be able to Win races 2/ Get horses to win races for owners that otherwise would not get a win.  can't wish them enough winners.

I think that Manawatu should have a meeting every week. Doody and Chilcott and Dickson and Abernathy's could all get winners every week then . Just too hard to win at Auckland. those top 10 barns are world class. They're ALL my favourites mate.  I am in awe of some of their results over extended periods of time (esp Mark and Barry ) winning the very best like Derbies, Interdominions and Miracle Miles against everyone.  

But they have tapered off a bit with age , as we were discussing . Natalie is gone too. and Mark relocated and semi retired . The Champ still can come to Queensland and clean us up though . Bought RUBIRA over in the winter and won the QLD Derby here . won 3 out of 4 actually, even with him putting an average driver on. and OscarB ran 3rd in the Interdominion trot final for him. Even while he's near retired he can still show em' how to do it. and the Aussies are VERY hard to beat these days too. Super competitive. amazing results from Stewart and Grimson and McMullen  barns too. I've never seen such Grand horses winning. it's almost euphoric . 

[the galah]

getting back to craig rail.

taylor strong has reported craig rail will sign off as a southern caller after the gore gallops on sunday.

"i will go back to see my mum and dad,north of melbourne and then decide what i will do'.."i love the job and have come in contact with a lot of lovely people"

i looked at some old articles on rail,he started off race calling in queensland and lived there most of his life until harness racing victoria emplyed him full time to call just the victorian harness meetings ,which he did for 15 years.Apparently he had to travel long distances to call the victorian trots,but said he loved his job there.

sounds like he may have moved here as southland seems to have been where his wife was from.

His wife,tracey ,passed away in may 2023.She was a highly regarded member of the southland greyhound club and worked in the kennels and as a judge.I think her brothers were greyhound trainers in invercargill,

anyways,it must be hard for anyone losing a job that they are still good at.Being a race caller,its not as if you can go down the road and apply for another job race calling.The life of a commentator can be full of highs,but obviously its a very competitive job and you can be tossed to the side when you become surplus to requirements.

Why hasn't HRNZ acknowledged his contribution?.

Surely they should have..Rail ,as are all commentators ,are high profile people within the industry.

theres a bloke who has dedicated his life to harness racing and hrnz hasn't even thanked him for his service to the industry as yet. 

i wonder whats next for Rail.Obviously he doesn't sound like he knows what nor where he will choose to live yet.thats life,who really knows whats around the corner.

Edited 4 hours ago by the galah

[Brodie]

They named a race after Craig lol

There are others who are doing great things for harness and are unpaid financially, but he is very lucky, they named several races for his efforts!

 

[the galah]

40 minutes ago, Brodie said:

They named a race after Craig lol

There are others who are doing great things for harness and are unpaid financially, but he is very lucky, they named several races for his efforts!

 

The invercargill club would  named the race,not hrnz. I think lots of clubs name races acknowledging peoples contributions. But yeah,many don't get the recognition they deserve.

Edited 1 hour ago by the galah