Forbury Park

[hunterthepunter]

1 hour ago, Happy Sunrise said:

What is your proposal for the future of harness racing tracks in the South Island? NZ?

Depends on what you see harness racing becoming in the future? A Melton / Menangle situation with a majority of meetings at Addington (goodbye Rangiora, Ashburton, Timaru all weather) or the status quo?

The famed advice on these forums when you ask questions is to ring the RIU etc so ring RITA and ask what they have in store for Forbury...who knows...RITA might have a sexy telephone voice lol 

But don't ring as it is a good thing to chat about ?

you will miss the bugle call if Rangiora goes brodie lol

[Brodie]

9 minutes ago, LongOwner said:

Brodie forgot the gst, blacksmith ($165 +gst ) , vet and float etc - $2000 if racing be the minimum .

I was including the gst on the training  and shoeing.

Does anyone know what the daily training rate for the second tier trainers are at the moment?

Doubt trainers can afford to drop their training costs even if they wanted to!

Owners are going to become a rarer breed if the stakes are going to be reduced, which they have already tasted is going to happen.

[Brodie]

11 minutes ago, Happy Sunrise said:

Most of the viewing is past the post which is crap.

 

You prefer betting on high quality and performing horses????

 

Use the tote and she stops singing during the race. Is she a TAB spy keeping an eye on you?

There is plenty of viewing in the current stand before the winning post Happy.

Probably going to be even more soon.

No I don’t like the high quality races, quite the opposite,  but you only need a couple of looser class races to make money.

The singer at a Mot. Is male I thought, unless she is cross dressing and has a male voice?

[Brodie]

8 minutes ago, hunterthepunter said:

you will miss the bugle call if Rangiora goes brodie lol

I believe that most of these courses that can’t make a dollar will go into housing as there is far more money in that than racing, that is why Addington is the best place to be racing.

It is set up with covered stables, locality and most of the food is better than the crap that is dished up at some of these courses.

[hunterthepunter]

2 minutes ago, Brodie said:

There is plenty of viewing in the current stand before the winning post Happy.

Probably going to be even more soon.

No I don’t like the high quality races, quite the opposite,  but you only need a couple of looser class races to make money.

The singer at a Mot. Is male I thought, unless she is cross dressing and has a male voice?

rangatira has he taken up singing?????

[hunterthepunter]

2 minutes ago, Brodie said:

I believe that most of these courses that can’t make a dollar will go into housing as there is far more money in that than racing, that is why Addington is the best place to be racing.

It is set up with covered stables, locality and most of the food is better than the crap that is dished up at some of these courses.

addington food is crap MPI is on to them 350 people got food poising one night

[Happy Sunrise]

28 minutes ago, Brodie said:

The singer at a Mot. Is male I thought, unless she is cross dressing and has a male voice?

Then he is a very attractive female.

[Rangatira]

3 minutes ago, Happy Sunrise said:

Then he is a very attractive female.

thank you

[Ludwig]

29 minutes ago, Brodie said:

I believe that most of these courses that can’t make a dollar will go into housing as there is far more money in that than racing, that is why Addington is the best place to be racing.

It is set up with covered stables, locality and most of the food is better than the crap that is dished up at some of these courses.

I find the attitude in harness as disappointing as the gallops. There we endure the constant"everything has to move to Waikato/Auckland" nonsense. And in harness, it's the same ..let's close everything and move it all to Addington. And , gee it truly pisses me off.

24 minutes ago, hunterthepunter said:

addington food is crap MPI is on to them 350 people got food poising one night

 

[Rusty]

39 minutes ago, Happy Sunrise said:

Is she a TAB spy keeping an eye on you?

Happy you have just reminded me... 

At the gallops meetings around Canterbury and the West Coast, there is a very unusual lady... you may say there are many, many unusual patrons at these venues, but I want to ask about one in particular. 

In the mounting yard she can be seen, eyeing up each and every horse through her binoculars! We are talking about 20-30m away from the horses and she is using bloody binoculars! And then writing notes down for each and every runner after she has viewed them.

She then gaps it from the mounting yard, to the birdcage area and does the same. Looks at each runner through the binos and writes stuff down before getting on her phone, usually via an earphone. 

What the actual F*@%?! 

The lady in question is not part of any officialdom, never goes into any staff only area, and is never talking to anyone else on track. She is also definitely not a stipe, racecourse investigator or part of the JCA. God it sounds like I am stalking her... but honestly, if as a keen racegoer one was to see it play out, you'd be asking the same question. 

Thoughts anyone? Apart from mind my own business haha

[Happy Sunrise]

2 minutes ago, Rusty said:

Happy you have just reminded me... 

At the gallops meetings around Canterbury and the West Coast, there is a very unusual lady... you may say there are many, many unusual patrons at these venues, but I want to ask about one in particular. 

In the mounting yard she can be seen, eyeing up each and every horse through her binoculars! We are talking about 20-30m away from the horses and she is using bloody binoculars! And then writing notes down for each and every runner after she has viewed them.

She then gaps it from the mounting yard, to the birdcage area and does the same. Looks at each runner through the binos and writes stuff down before getting on her phone, usually via an earphone. 

What the actual F*@%?! 

The lady in question is not part of any officialdom, never goes into any staff only area, and is never talking to anyone else on track. She is also definitely not a stipe, racecourse investigator or part of the JCA. God it sounds like I am stalking her... but honestly, if as a keen racegoer one was to see it play out, you'd be asking the same question. 

Thoughts anyone? Apart from mind my own business haha

You really do need to keep better control of your better half, Rusty.

Edited April 29, 2020 by Happy Sunrise

[Happy Sunrise]

9 minutes ago, Rusty said:

Happy you have just reminded me... 

At the gallops meetings around Canterbury and the West Coast, there is a very unusual lady... you may say there are many, many unusual patrons at these venues, but I want to ask about one in particular. 

In the mounting yard she can be seen, eyeing up each and every horse through her binoculars! We are talking about 20-30m away from the horses and she is using bloody binoculars! And then writing notes down for each and every runner after she has viewed them.

She then gaps it from the mounting yard, to the birdcage area and does the same. Looks at each runner through the binos and writes stuff down before getting on her phone, usually via an earphone. 

What the actual F*@%?! 

The lady in question is not part of any officialdom, never goes into any staff only area, and is never talking to anyone else on track. She is also definitely not a stipe, racecourse investigator or part of the JCA. God it sounds like I am stalking her... but honestly, if as a keen racegoer one was to see it play out, you'd be asking the same question. 

Thoughts anyone? Apart from mind my own business haha

And stay away from the gallops, what the hell is wrong with you.

 

[Rusty]

She would be about 35yrs old this lady....and word has it (from a a pretty good source) that she is working for a big punter down in the Otago region. 

What would she be looking for? The glint in a horse's eye? 

[Rangatira]

1 minute ago, Rusty said:

What would she be looking for? The glint in a horse's eye? 

a wink and a nod

[the galah]

43 minutes ago, Brodie said:

$2k per month would be about right I would say when a horse is racing.

some would be over that.

you have the basic training plus gst, then shoeing, vets, transport to trials and races and other incidentals to do the horses welfare and you would easily get to $2k unless it was being trained by a very cheap trainer.

Trainer at $50 per day is nearly $1800 per month alone.

shoeing prob close to $200 Per set by now wouldn’t they be?

vets would be anything say $200 at least while racing

transport is not exactly cheap 

plus other bits and pieces so in any reasonable stable would be well in excess of $2k!!

 

2k  per month is way out of reach for anyone but the rich. $50 per day plus other expenses. I guess the big trainers can charge that  as they have the owners with the cash,but if the average trainer charged that then i think they would not last too long as they  would have no owners.

$200 per moth on vets. Why do people spend so much on them.Can't they get them to perform without a vet?

47 minutes ago, LongOwner said:

Brodie forgot the gst, blacksmith ($165 +gst ) , vet and float etc - $2000 if racing be the minimum .

I know its a highly skilled job and hard work,but a good farrier could shoe 6 or 7 a day easy couldn't they. It may not be easy shoeing an inexperienced horse and it can be risky,but with shoes costing about$20 to $30 a set, that means they would be making about $800 per day profit before tax and expenses. . Maybe they can charge that if farriers are in short supply.

[Rangatira]

1 hour ago, Brodie said:

Lol na, couldn’t get anything on and the racing wasn’t that exciting.

Had trouble picking up the horses 

surely a coincidence 

the guy that chained himself to the equinox restaurant, bar and tab is no longer there

[the galah]

4 hours ago, Ludwig said:

I suppose that's the gist of the thread. I think we all agree that the facilities are stuffed, and need millions to fix

 .Do we wait for everything to fall over, or make some decisions now.?

After all, Oamaru would look good with the lights...and I would have just a few hundred metres to walk to the track.

No gallopers at oamaru so how many harness trainers still use the track. Probably single figures. Oamaru is held in a racecourse reserve title is it not? and is leased to oamaru harness. As far as the Oamaru jockey club goes weren't they having money trouble not that long ago and 5 or 6 years ago were propped up by dodgy deal that saw them sell the chute to gallops south who used pokie money to buy it off them.  Who did gallops south sell the chute back to on the quiet,and are they still  using that to help the local potato grower out? Did the harness club buy that or not as they will never use it?Do they have a caretaker down there nowadays or is it all voluntary.Is that part of the reason the winter meeting of the gallops was called off due to the inconsistent nature of the track after  rain?     

In other words oamaru has just as many issues as anyone else..

4 hours ago, Happy Sunrise said:

It would cost millions. Everything is dilapidated, including the stands, one of which you can't enter. Maybe they should model themselves on Waimate and their look (how about pick Waimate's facilities up and transport to Dunedin and close Waimate ?)

 

Who owns the land?

Waimate?  They went and spent a lot of money and effort rebuilding their facilities after the storm a couple of years ago,but the waimate track is one thats targeted for closing. Wasn't last year the waimate jockey clubs final meeting on their home track.

Waimate is also reserve land designated for local community usage so its not able to be sold as its not owned by the racing clubs.

Timaru is in a similar position and if and when it closes the racing industry will get nothing out of it. At least they have more trainers use that track,although there numbers may be dwindling.

The only clubs with any assets in that area seems to be Kurow. The jockey club in their last annual report stated they had assets of $461,504.00 which includes the track which they own,with $105,000 cash just sitting in the bank. Despite that they seem to be a target for closure. Of all the tracks they may be the one that is in the best position to warrant carrying on.

Edited April 29, 2020 by the galah

[Ludwig]

We really are a pack of miserable doom and gloom merchants.just close it all down and head to the pub.

[Happy Sunrise]

1 hour ago, Rusty said:

In the mounting yard she can be seen, eyeing up each and every horse through her binoculars! We are talking about 20-30m away from the horses and she is using bloody binoculars! And then writing notes down for each and every runner after she has viewed them.

She then gaps it from the mounting yard, to the birdcage area and does the same. Looks at each runner through the binos and writes stuff down before getting on her phone, usually via an earphone. 

Certainly reads like she works for the RIU.

[the galah]

7 minutes ago, Ludwig said:

We really are a pack of miserable doom and gloom merchants.just close it all down and head to the pub.

Just stating the facts. Why would the industry want to invest money into oamaru given it is hardly used as a training track and any money invested would be into an asset they don't own.  Forbury would probably make more sense.

As to timaru. Didn't i read an article on stuff where it said because of the racing calender being changed due to the virus there would be 9 or tens less galloping and trotting meetings over the next 4 months there. Don't racing clubs pay a fee to the trusts that run these tracks. I once was told it was something like $10,000 each meeting. Now i don't know how accurate that figure was but how are those that run a track like timaru going to be able to maintain it without that income?

[Ludwig]

I'm also trying to work out what the gallops track at Kurow has got to do with a thread on harness at Forbury Park???

[Rusty]

2 minutes ago, Happy Sunrise said:

Certainly reads like she works for the RIU.

Does aye, and that's what I suspected, but definitely not part of the RIU. 

[Happy Sunrise]

33 minutes ago, the galah said:

Waimate?  They went and spent a lot of money and effort rebuilding their facilities after the storm a couple of years ago,but the waimate track is one thats targeted for closing.

I was thinking the new type of building they have at Waimate would serve as a design for Forbury. Knock the stand down that is before the winning post and have a simple design of a one floor rectangular shaped building along the striaight with cover at the front of it for bars and food with betting available.

I think I am stuck in the 70s or 80s. Dreams are free.

Something like this black structure. Simple but could house a few people watching at Forbury.

[Happy Sunrise]

7 minutes ago, Ludwig said:

I'm also trying to work out what the gallops track at Kurow has got to do with a thread on harness at Forbury Park???

One is viable and liquid and one is sinking like St Clair.

[Brodie]

1 hour ago, Happy Sunrise said:

Then he is a very attractive female.

Happy, must’ve been a change since I was last there.

Used to be a man singing country and western type stuff, but was extremely loud and should’ve been down near the straight further than next to the birdcage, if they wanted him!