Timaru at Washdyke

[Mark D]

Good fields, good crowd, track in great nick - better close that down.

[Ludwig]

Good racing and atmosphere. At a track they want to close. Go figure.

[Shad]

No luck at the trots but did get park ranger at 75s fixed huge turnaround in form.

[barryb]

Shame it  favs leaders, it’s N Zs most boring track after Ruakaka

[Mark D]

So is it the same for Kurow? Heard the tailend of Davey Mac saying it would be crazy to do away with it.  Yip that's NZTR's modus operandi Davey.  Amazing track for once a year.

[Kopia]

Heres a serious question for RITA and peters.....please tell us how much it costs the NZ Racing Industry when a club like Kurow, or any of the others under the hammer, race? In dollar terms. Given that these clubs own their own properties, have unpaid Committees who do all of the work, and if they have to fund any work it comes out of THEIR income. 

So lets hear it. You guys want to close them down. Why. How much would NZTR actually save? As opposed to making money off these clubs when they have great days as Kurow is apparently having.  I bet nobody in authority will answer. Because the answer is it does not cost NZTR a bloody cent. The riu and jca would be working anyway as would the starting teams and other officials. Any cost for these people would surely come out of the profit NZTR make from a raceday which they don't pay for. Stakemoney likewise, actually that would be a cost whoever raced today.

[the galah]

Isn't washdyke  on leased land. So no assets to sell there.

[Ludwig]

3 hours ago, Mark D said:

So is it the same for Kurow? Heard the tailend of Davey Mac saying it would be crazy to do away with it.  Yip that's NZTR's modus operandi Davey.  Amazing track for once a year.

And well done to Freda for her horse's great run today. 

[curious]

4 hours ago, Kopia said:

Heres a serious question for RITA and peters.....please tell us how much it costs the NZ Racing Industry when a club like Kurow, or any of the others under the hammer, race? In dollar terms. Given that these clubs own their own properties, have unpaid Committees who do all of the work, and if they have to fund any work it comes out of THEIR income. 

So lets hear it. You guys want to close them down. Why. How much would NZTR actually save? As opposed to making money off these clubs when they have great days as Kurow is apparently having.  I bet nobody in authority will answer. Because the answer is it does not cost NZTR a bloody cent. The riu and jca would be working anyway as would the starting teams and other officials. Any cost for these people would surely come out of the profit NZTR make from a raceday which they don't pay for. Stakemoney likewise, actually that would be a cost whoever raced today.

The problem is that NZTR doesn't make a cent out of Kurow or any other thoroughbred race meeting anymore. I remember Greg Purcell pointing out the first time I met him that the most successful meetings thoroughbred racing runs are the ones they don't have. All the money they operate on and distribute to clubs toward stakes and costs for racemeetings are now earned from overseas and sports racing revenue and now RITA are borrowing to provide even that.  Integrity costs come from pokies. 12 years or so ago, they pretty much payed their own way.

Unless they get a more self-sufficient business model in place then soon it won't really matter how many people some clubs get on course, how good their tracks are, or all the volunteer contributions or whether new people are attracted to the game. There just won't be one.

Edited December 30, 2019 by curious

[Shad]

Was todays kurow meeting their last hurrah at home.

 

[Pitman]

No, at least four more years, I think

[Freda]

3 hours ago, curious said:

The problem is that NZTR doesn't make a cent out of Kurow or any other thoroughbred race meeting anymore. I remember Greg Purcell pointing out the first time I met him that the most successful meetings thoroughbred racing runs are the ones they don't have. All the money they operate on and distribute to clubs toward stakes and costs for racemeetings are now earned from overseas and sports racing revenue and now RITA are borrowing to provide even that.  Integrity costs come from pokies. 12 years or so ago, they pretty much payed their own way.

Unless they get a more self-sufficient business model in place then soon it won't really matter how many people some clubs get on course, how good their tracks are, or all the volunteer contributions or whether new people are attracted to the game. There just won't be one.

And that's it in a nutshell.