The END of Northland Racing

[Thomass]

Shirley, how can they recover from the potential of Ellerslie racing every other week and the AW at Cambridge....

There can be no justification for trainers to tell owners it's the only decent surface in winter now...

Besides Muzza Baker simply hates driving past HQ and driving on clogged roads to have a Surf after eating the turfon a bad day...

Maybe another 20 years when a possible horse population meets a massive population increase through pandemic refugees?  That's the only way they can recover looking into a crystal ball.

[Huey]

Some are too stupid to see it,there wont be racing in 75% of the places there are now in 3-5 years,wont make it any better though,sit back & watch.

[Freda]

2 minutes ago, Huey said:

Some are too stupid to see it,there wont be racing in 75% of the places there are now in 3-5 years,wont make it any better though,sit back & watch.

Just sad.

[Joe Bloggs]

And, Bernie Tawdry will be back in Oz dining out on the salary package he was paid during his time in NZ galloping his horses everyday..........you reap what you sow, could have been a bumper crop, instead look at what you've got, a record of poor performers that managed to hide within an industry that self destructed while the cartel watched on, living off investments earned from the non taxable sales to Asia, the GST rebates, favourable bloodstock write-offs, provided by their embedded delegate WP.........etc, etc. As Freda said, just sad, but could have been so very different, #titanicwahineRITA

 

[Huey]

1 hour ago, Joe Bloggs said:

And, Bernie Tawdry will be back in Oz dining out on the salary package he was paid during his time in NZ galloping his horses everyday..........you reap what you sow, could have been a bumper crop, instead look at what you've got, a record of poor performers that managed to hide within an industry that self destructed while the cartel watched on, living off investments earned from the non taxable sales to Asia, the GST rebates, favourable bloodstock write-offs, provided by their embedded delegate WP.........etc, etc. As Freda said, just sad, but could have been so very different, #titanicwahineRITA

 

I'm stunned so many in the industry believe BS is fixing it. Well perhaps not stunned after years in this industry perhaps I meant numbed.

[Reefton]

1 hour ago, Huey said:

Some are too stupid to see it,there wont be racing in 75% of the places there are now in 3-5 years,wont make it any better though,sit back & watch.

Hope you are wrong but strongly suspect you might be right Huey.  Our club for one has been told it is finito in two or three years and really I want out now so am not too worried.

However ........

I've been buggering about in this game for probably 45 years and from day one everyone has reckoned it is buggered.  And guess what?  It is still here and still surviving (if not well).  So lets be positive and hope against hope that we can carry on.  I know I am as negative as anyone here when I want to be but if we all have our bottom lip dragging on the ground it doesn't create a great impression.

There is still the Reefton Jockey Club raceday January 7th to look forward too after all!

 

 

 

[Reefton]

1 hour ago, Joe Bloggs said:

And, Bernie Tawdry will be back in Oz dining out on the salary package he was paid during his time in NZ galloping his horses everyday..........you reap what you sow, could have been a bumper crop, instead look at what you've got, a record of poor performers that managed to hide within an industry that self destructed while the cartel watched on, living off investments earned from the non taxable sales to Asia, the GST rebates, favourable bloodstock write-offs, provided by their embedded delegate WP.........etc, etc. As Freda said, just sad, but could have been so very different, #titanicwahineRITA

 

Not sure there are too many non taxable sales to Asia are there - if there are they will be by private individuals who cannot get a deduction for the expenses of the horses they race breed or buy.  Trainers, studs and professional horse traders would have to pay tax on sale prices.  And I think the favourable tax treatment is no more favourable here than in Aussie or more particularly in Ireland - my understanding is that stud fees in Ireland are non taxable.  Imagine owning Galileo, Fastnet Rock, Camelot and all the rest and not paying a cent in tax on their earnings!  If our tax rules were as favourable as Aussie's I am sure Coolmore and Darley would have set up their Australasian Breeding farms here instead.

For all that I sympathise on the general gist of what you are saying.

 

[Huey]

10 minutes ago, Reefton said:

Hope you are wrong but strongly suspect you might be right Huey.  Our club for one has been told it is finito in two or three years and really I want out now so am not too worried.

However ........

I've been buggering about in this game for probably 45 years and from day one everyone has reckoned it is buggered.  And guess what?  It is still here and still surviving (if not well).  So lets be positive and hope against hope that we can carry on.  I know I am as negative as anyone here when I want to be but if we all have our bottom lip dragging on the ground it doesn't create a great impression.

There is still the Reefton Jockey Club raceday January 7th to look forward too after all!

 

 

 

Yes one must try to be, but I've never seen the sport heading in the direction it is now. It used to be a sport that involved everyone including communities etc however now its heading in the complete opposite direction. 

I've only 2 more to go and I'm pulling the plug also , I fear many may feel the same way.

[nomates]

1 hour ago, Joe Bloggs said:

And, Bernie Tawdry will be back in Oz dining out on the salary package he was paid during his time in NZ galloping his horses everyday..........you reap what you sow, could have been a bumper crop, instead look at what you've got, a record of poor performers that managed to hide within an industry that self destructed while the cartel watched on, living off investments earned from the non taxable sales to Asia, the GST rebates, favourable bloodstock write-offs, provided by their embedded delegate WP.........etc, etc. As Freda said, just sad, but could have been so very different, #titanicwahineRITA

 

Anything that is saleable will be available for sale if it performs , and who can blame people , it's a tough game winning 100k here , after training and associated costs you not putting that much in your pocket . The biggest problem if you have got a nice horse that can win good money you go thru the grades so quick and then if you win 1 open your towards the top of the ratings , and genuine horses get punished for consistency by being kept at the top of the ratings . 

If you are not a commercial seller you keep all of the sale , it's a no brainer . 

I sold a late 2yo for 100k , bought as weanling for $1400 , sold 20 months later , costs to get to that stage , 17k . Bosh , money for jam . He was a nice horse , i think he would have won that much but would have cost another 50k getting there .

No brainer . Can't blame anyone for doing it .

[nomates]

49 minutes ago, Huey said:

I'm stunned so many in the industry believe BS is fixing it.

That's the bit i just don't get , it's like he's walking around with his bits out , but no one notices .

I don't know why i worry so much about it anymore , got no more horses , bar 5% in a 2yo with some friends . 

I'm even starting to struggle spending my Saturdays watching the races , it's just i've spent near 50 years of my life  in and around this game and i'm just seeing it implode .

Freda's right just sad , i go further and say Fucking sad .

[Joe Bloggs]

6 minutes ago, nomates said:

Anything that is saleable will be available for sale if it performs , and who can blame people , it's a tough game winning 100k here , after training and associated costs you not putting that much in your pocket . The biggest problem if you have got a nice horse that can win good money you go thru the grades so quick and then if you win 1 open your towards the top of the ratings , and genuine horses get punished for consistency by being kept at the top of the ratings . 

If you are not a commercial seller you keep all of the sale , it's a no brainer . 

I sold a late 2yo for 100k , bought as weanling for $1400 , sold 20 months later , costs to get to that stage , 17k . Bosh , money for jam . He was a nice horse , i think he would have won that much but would have cost another 50k getting there .

No brainer . Can't blame anyone for doing it .

I don't 'blame' them either NM, but they shouldn't have to, thats what I'm eluding to. I'm very biased you see, I was training up in KL back in the early 80's, albeit under another blokes name, a leading trainer that was unofficially retired so to speak....KSL......I sent a number of horses up there when the circuit was in op, SNG,KL,Penang, Ipoh........the treatment of the horses was abysmal, the majority were fed to the lions in the zoo once they couldn't run fast enough, it made me sick, I swore then, never ever again would I send one to ASIA.........HK now has a repat clause, but for years they didn't, so many greedy and or needy people knowingly sent their horses to a horrible end, knowing full well what awaited them......in general it hasn't changed up in SIN and especially Malaysia, whilst I don't blame people for selling NM, I worry about the future of the KIWI studbook, and Oz too, but not on the same scale as NZ......it's been demeaned by greed, filthy dirty lucre and so many of the new breed of bloodstock agent is right in on it.......they don't give a cuss where the horses end up, would you like to know one of yours ended up in China, many went up to Mongolia, a few Kiwi's went up there to help promote the joint, it sickens me........the thoroughbred is the victim of so many cruel, greedy and right proper arseholes that fill them with cobalt at toxic levels, synthetic EPO, and so many other illicit and illegal substances, but I'm fighting a losing battle and acknowledge I'm a voice in the wilderness........there are many owners and trainers with ethics, but too few breeders NM......as Ned Kelly said to the the hangman....''such is life''.

[nomates]

I know where you're coming from , after my last one , who was like a mate he was so cool , raised him from a weanling , sold as a late 2yo after a trial win , i was in tears putting him on the float , i was glad it was 5am and dark . Swore i would never send another up there , just a shit life never mind the end , but needs must at the time , and plenty are still in that situation . 

 But it's like most things in life for those of us that are starting or are getting older , things are a changing . Christ i've lost my racehorses , English football and the cricket have gone to Spark and our internet isn't good enough for me to watch , so that's gone , can you imagine , now i've got to have whole conversations with the MRS .

[curious]

Might be nice if NZTR could impose a condition on all overseas sales that such transactions must contain some sort of guarantee that they will result in the horses being subject to the same duty of care for retiring and rehoming that they would be subject to should they stay in NZ. Otherwise selling overseas becomes tantamount to evasion of the NZ rules.

Edited December 14, 2020 by curious

[Joe Bloggs]

3 hours ago, nomates said:

I know where you're coming from , after my last one , who was like a mate he was so cool , raised him from a weanling , sold as a late 2yo after a trial win , i was in tears putting him on the float , i was glad it was 5am and dark . Swore i would never send another up there , just a shit life never mind the end , but needs must at the time , and plenty are still in that situation . 

 But it's like most things in life for those of us that are starting or are getting older , things are a changing . Christ i've lost my racehorses , English football and the cricket have gone to Spark and our internet isn't good enough for me to watch , so that's gone , can you imagine , now i've got to have whole conversations with the MRS .

Great post, honest..heart on sleeve, good onya......I think you might be a little young to remember George Walton? he came from down your way, I rode work for him at Canterbury in SYD back in 72/3 just can't recall, but he was on his way to the USA with one.....he told me, ''always love your horses, even when you pat them good bye'' he was hard bugger, but he had that softness that stands a gentleman apart, as did Angus Armanasco, another hard man with a soft heart, he wouldn't sell me a horse I approached him for, the horse was only average and would have won plenty up in KL, but Gus was adamant,,,,,I asked him a few years later why he wouldn't let him go......''it was his eyes'' he said,'' he wouldn't have forgiven me''.....I never forgot that, .....special......

[nomates]

Well actually i do believe i met Mr Walton , not positive but i think he retired back to Otaki , if not it was a different gentleman . Can't remember exactly why but i was with someone who went to visit him for something , '82 i think , but anyway he was a nice man , i think he was living next door to Anton Koolmans stud Gressier lodge . Foggy old memory tho .

[Joe Bloggs]

Hell hasn't Anton kicked a goal or two, and the young bloke Ollie, if they'd stayed, doubt they would have kicked those goals.....

[Joe Bloggs]

Then again, it's all down to selling to Asia, and what that brings......good and bad.

[nomates]

54 minutes ago, Joe Bloggs said:

Hell hasn't Anton kicked a goal or two, and the young bloke Ollie, if they'd stayed, doubt they would have kicked those goals.....

My first ever job was at Gressier , difficult man to work for . Had a good eye for a yearling from all accounts , his record since moving to Aus suggest so .