Watching trackside.

[mikeynz]

After about an hour watching trackside I've had enough,anybody watching all day must have something wrong with them,I know we can pick and choose,personally I reckon there is too much racing,harness racing especially Rangiora last sunday,Metro tuesday and friday,Ashburton today,metro again tuesday,if people are turning off harness as another  thread suggested it wouldn't surprise me if they did,this wall to wall racing is a turn off which is what I've just done with tv.

Too much average crap waters down the better product.

Edited May 16, 2021 by mikeynz

[Brodie]

1 hour ago, mikeynz said:

After about an hour watching trackside I've had enough,anybody watching all day must have something wrong with them,I know we can pick and choose,personally I reckon there is too much racing,harness racing especially Rangiora last sunday,Metro tuesday and friday,Ashburton today,metro again tuesday,if people are turning off harness as another  thread suggested it wouldn't surprise me if they did,this wall to wall racing is a turn off which is what I've just done with tv.

Too much average crap waters down the better product.

Personally love the looser racing as a spectacle!

Yes I know some will say that is crazy, but alot of the Premier racing is a turnoff!

I do not watch as much live Racing nowadays and I know many others do not bother either!

The fact that I can not get enough on to make it worthwhile is the main reason though so there is no real point watching without an investment!

[mikeynz]

9 minutes ago, Brodie said:

Personally love the looser racing as a spectacle!

Yes I know some will say that is crazy, but alot of the Premier racing is a turnoff!

I do not watch as much live Racing nowadays and I know many others do not bother either!

The fact that I can not get enough on to make it worthwhile is the main reason though so there is no real point watching without an investment!

These devices we are playing around on can be addictive too,sometimes I want to throw it in the skip.

The premier nights,I do watch for a while are dominated by the majority of winners paying less than 2 dollars,I've noticed that the fixed odds betting on some of the bigger meetings is a larger take than the tote,with the big bet winners winning you wonder if the TAB are actually losing money on the harness,aint that the reason some get restricted?turnover is one thing,income is another,go to the grass track meetings and the tote is the more popular simply because there is more depth in the fields for having a bet that might pay a good price.

[mikeynz]

18 minutes ago, mikeynz said:

These devices we are playing around on can be addictive too,sometimes I want to throw it in the skip.

The premier nights,I do watch for a while are dominated by the majority of winners paying less than 2 dollars,I've noticed that the fixed odds betting on some of the bigger meetings is a larger take than the tote,with the big bet winners winning you wonder if the TAB are actually losing money on the harness,aint that the reason some get restricted?turnover is one thing,income is another,go to the grass track meetings and the tote is the more popular simply because there is more depth in the fields for having a bet that might pay a good price.

That actually has nought to do with trackside either by the way,just making a observation,the thing is though is you can easily change channels or turn tv off,after time I got sick of same old stuff on sky but as your paying I decided to put it on hold,do I miss it,not really,but trackside is just wall to wall,be no different if we get radio back on new senz setup,if you get a proper balance it might attract more racing followers,if you get too much you might lose a lot of the sports listeners then the whole setup goes bally up.

Stuffed if I know anymore.

I've never been a great fan of tv but recently if I am watching it's mostly something else now.

Edited May 16, 2021 by mikeynz

[Rangatira]

1 hour ago, mikeynz said:

I've never been a great fan of tv but recently if I am watching it's mostly something else now.

i am missing catweazle

[Brodie]

49 minutes ago, Rangatira said:

i am missing catweazle

Tiz Magic!

[mikeynz]

 Another explosive day of racing coming up,but don't fret,if you miss it,there's another day coming through again soon.

last night was looking at old videos of some of the top races from the  late seventies,early eighties,its a  far cry from today's feature meetings,times do change,not sure if for the better.

[Gammalite]

4 minutes ago, mikeynz said:

last night was looking at old videos of some of the top races from the  late seventies,early eighties,its a  far cry from today's feature meetings,times do change,not sure if for the better.

The best era EVER Mikey !!!  hope you enjoyed the 83 Interdominion Final at Auckland  lol..  but if you missed that one , you had Armalight and Bonnies Chance winning NZ cups by 7-9 lengths in brilliant fashion, Lord Module winning one as well in 1980ish after giving them 50m start rearing up . trotting ranks had Sir Castleton, Basil Dean, No Response, Scotch Tar and Special Pride winning heaps. I worked a little South Island trotter once called Hano Direct , who won the "Plum" race Interdominion trot Grand_final 1980 at Harold Park. A HUGE win, but not remembered well as she was shipped off to America. The brilliant LOCARNO was 2nd in the pacers final that year as well.

He was a beautiful horse , so hope you saw him in some videos from that era too!!

 

[mikeynz]

19 minutes ago, Gammalite said:

The best era EVER Mikey !!!  hope you enjoyed the 83 Interdominion Final at Auckland  lol..  but if you missed that one , you had Armalight and Bonnies Chance winning NZ cups by 7-9 lengths in brilliant fashion, Lord Module winning one as well in 1980ish after giving them 50m start rearing up . trotting ranks had Sir Castleton, Basil Dean, No Response, Scotch Tar and Special Pride winning heaps. I worked a little South Island trotter once called Hano Direct , who won the "Plum" race Interdominion trot Grand_final 1980 at Harold Park. A HUGE win, but not remembered well as she was shipped off to America. The brilliant LOCARNO was 2nd in the pacers final that year as well.

He was a beautiful horse , so hope you saw him in some videos from that era too!!

 

I did see one race at Timaru,it may have been a mile that Locarno bursting down the outside to run Scotch Tar down,he was some horse too,remember he was a trotter,

The large presence of horses from Southland,Sapling,Trevira,Robalan,Young Quinn,Hi Foyle,Trusty Scott,Bonnies Chance, and even Matai Dreamer,they don't seem to exist there anymore

Interdominions use to capture the countries interest,sure the good ones today are good,maybe even better than some of the past but there seems less competition at the top.

Alexandra Park is nothing like it was,Forbury disappearing completely,a fair chunk of meetings these days are ho hum affairs.

Same with the rugby,some of those classic Npc/shield matches,not the same today,once packed stadiums,now basically empty.

Tv is good but as we get over saturated with racing and rugby on it the appetite to go out of our way for such things wanes, a lot of it as per the topic at the top suggest we can only handle so much.

[Gammalite]

30 minutes ago, mikeynz said:

I did see one race at Timaru,it may have been a mile that Locarno bursting down the outside to run Scotch Tar down,he was some horse too,remember he was a trotter,

The large presence of horses from Southland,Sapling,Trevira,Robalan,Young Quinn,Hi Foyle,Trusty Scott,Bonnies Chance, and even Matai Dreamer,they don't seem to exist there anymore

Interdominions use to capture the countries interest,sure the good ones today are good,maybe even better than some of the past but there seems less competition at the top.

Alexandra Park is nothing like it was,Forbury disappearing completely,a fair chunk of meetings these days are ho hum affairs.

Same with the rugby,some of those classic Npc/shield matches,not the same today,once packed stadiums,now basically empty.

Tv is good but as we get over saturated with racing and rugby on it the appetite to go out of our way for such things wanes, a lot of it as per the topic at the top suggest we can only handle so much.

Perfectly put Mikie. the saturation has killed it all somewhat. we have 24 hour a day free to air racing coverage Oz , so the novelty wears off . harness not included in that unfortunately.

Some great Southland horses there ! special to me , Sapling my first ever on-the-course Auckland Cup Locarno won the NZ messenger, hey is Young Quinn from Southland? Charlie Hunter had him at Cambridge?

Interdominion is the BEST!  Aus v Nz . doesn't get any better. But is suffering from exactly what you said ..... "Seems Less Competition at the Top" . Allstars cleaning up at the last one , kicking Oz butt clean out of Auckland 2019. and the NZ CUP and Auckland Cups (the other big 2 NZ races) both won by Allstars the last 6-7 years. no competition getting 'boring' as Brodie says unfortunately. I'm in total awe of the achievements (don't forget Nat had BLACKS A FAKE win 4 Interdominion finals , and 2 seconds from 6 attempts) awesome , all at different places ! awesome. 

I gave up watching the ALLBLACKS kick the Wallaby butt in Bledisloe Cup many years ago now (but used to be a fantastic moment of the year like the Mel Cup racing) but got 'boring' from domination. so guess that is what Brodie and others say with Allstars/ now Cullens. they might be right unfortunately.......... 

 

[mikeynz]

1 hour ago, Gammalite said:

Perfectly put Mikie. the saturation has killed it all somewhat. we have 24 hour a day free to air racing coverage Oz , so the novelty wears off . harness not included in that unfortunately.

Some great Southland horses there ! special to me , Sapling my first ever on-the-course Auckland Cup Locarno won the NZ messenger, hey is Young Quinn from Southland? Charlie Hunter had him at Cambridge?

Interdominion is the BEST!  Aus v Nz . doesn't get any better. But is suffering from exactly what you said ..... "Seems Less Competition at the Top" . Allstars cleaning up at the last one , kicking Oz butt clean out of Auckland 2019. and the NZ CUP and Auckland Cups (the other big 2 NZ races) both won by Allstars the last 6-7 years. no competition getting 'boring' as Brodie says unfortunately. I'm in total awe of the achievements (don't forget Nat had BLACKS A FAKE win 4 Interdominion finals , and 2 seconds from 6 attempts) awesome , all at different places ! awesome. 

I gave up watching the ALLBLACKS kick the Wallaby butt in Bledisloe Cup many years ago now (but used to be a fantastic moment of the year like the Mel Cup racing) but got 'boring' from domination. so guess that is what Brodie and others say with Allstars/ now Cullens. they might be right unfortunately.......... 

 

The All Blacks,we gloat about how good they are but we must put things into perspective as a rule Australia dont really play rugby as a rule,,yet over the years what Aussie has done in rugby is no mean achievement,2 World cups.

Rugby in N Z is looking for new ways to promote itself,when they had the npc at its peak it was the best product you could have,look at it now.it was probably as appealing to the public as the nrl is,remember lots of kiwis live in oz super rugby doesn't push all the buttons,some places you try to get involved might watch the ABs but overall dont have a rugby culture

And yes Young Quinn was from Southland,and Henry Skinner who drove Sapling was a southerner,probably the best driver to come out of the south.

Edited May 18, 2021 by mikeynz

[Brodie]

Yes the racing was more varied and had big following in the 70’s to 90’s!

Watching the tighter class racing much better than today as there was bot the domination by the same stables there is today!

There were far more trainers with horses involved and ownership was far more spread than it is today!

Why were there more owners than there is today having horses race?

Simple, training costs were so much more reasonable and stake money was so much better as a comparison!

Nowadays you will struggle to cover anywhere near your costs from racing a horse in general!

How times have changed!

[mikeynz]

2 minutes ago, Brodie said:

Yes the racing was more varied and had big following in the 70’s to 90’s!

Watching the tighter class racing much better than today as there was bot the domination by the same stables there is today!

There were far more trainers with horses involved and ownership was far more spread than it is today!

Why were there more owners than there is today having horses race?

Simple, training costs were so much more reasonable and stake money was so much better as a comparison!

Nowadays you will struggle to cover anywhere near your costs from racing a horse in general!

How times have changed!

I've said before that despite lots of advances in many aspects of our lives are we better off as a whole,I say probably not.

[Gammalite]

15 minutes ago, mikeynz said:

And yes Young Quinn was from Southland,and Henry Skinner who drove Sapling was a southerner,probably the best driver to come out of the south.

Here's your boy ! after another day at the the 'office' . Southland conditions a bit harsher than Queensland is what springs to mind?. lol. glad I drove in Queensland mainly lol......

And Queensland had 41.000 at the super rugby final the other day. my son went along. after years at the bottom the Reds are firing again ??? the Auckland Blues waaaaay to good for the Rebels last Sat 50-3 hahaha . Kiwis are still STRONG in rugby ok. !!

[mikeynz]

2 hours ago, Gammalite said:

Perfectly put Mikie. the saturation has killed it all somewhat. we have 24 hour a day free to air racing coverage Oz , so the novelty wears off . harness not included in that unfortunately.

Some great Southland horses there ! special to me , Sapling my first ever on-the-course Auckland Cup Locarno won the NZ messenger, hey is Young Quinn from Southland? Charlie Hunter had him at Cambridge?

Interdominion is the BEST!  Aus v Nz . doesn't get any better. But is suffering from exactly what you said ..... "Seems Less Competition at the Top" . Allstars cleaning up at the last one , kicking Oz butt clean out of Auckland 2019. and the NZ CUP and Auckland Cups (the other big 2 NZ races) both won by Allstars the last 6-7 years. no competition getting 'boring' as Brodie says unfortunately. I'm in total awe of the achievements (don't forget Nat had BLACKS A FAKE win 4 Interdominion finals , and 2 seconds from 6 attempts) awesome , all at different places ! awesome. 

I gave up watching the ALLBLACKS kick the Wallaby butt in Bledisloe Cup many years ago now (but used to be a fantastic moment of the year like the Mel Cup racing) but got 'boring' from domination. so guess that is what Brodie and others say with Allstars/ now Cullens. they might be right unfortunately.......... 

 

All stars dominating,maybe Mark Purdon even got sick of it,kinda done all he could do,might be enjoying the break.

[Gammalite]

4 minutes ago, mikeynz said:

All stars dominating,maybe Mark Purdon even got sick of it,kinda done all he could do,might be enjoying the break.

He was suspended from driving the other night at Addington. still owns a chunk of the feature race winner AKUTA though, which was a 200k race (100k to winner) so will be smiling today somewhere !!! good on him. deserves it. 

[Brodie]

1 hour ago, Gammalite said:

He was suspended from driving the other night at Addington. still owns a chunk of the feature race winner AKUTA though, which was a 200k race (100k to winner) so will be smiling today somewhere !!! good on him. deserves it. 

Yeah, good on Mark, he should put his feet up and give it away and stick to ownership!

[mikeynz]

21 hours ago, Gammalite said:

Here's your boy ! after another day at the the 'office' . Southland conditions a bit harsher than Queensland is what springs to mind?. lol. glad I drove in Queensland mainly lol......

And Queensland had 41.000 at the super rugby final the other day. my son went along. after years at the bottom the Reds are firing again ??? the Auckland Blues waaaaay to good for the Rebels last Sat 50-3 hahaha . Kiwis are still STRONG in rugby ok. !!

Second in interdom final twice.

2nd in the NZ cup,had a go at probably every big race around,so close yet so far.