The start of aw racing

[Pitman]

If the first meeting on the AWT had comparative turn overs to similar meetings on turf, do you think it possible that pools may grow as punters get information and grow in confidence about form stacking up. I am sure there will be some horses that improve their form on AWT, it has happened in other jurisdictions so I am optimistic it will here.

[nomates]

17 minutes ago, Pitman said:

If the first meeting on the AWT had comparative turn overs to similar meetings on turf, do you think it possible that pools may grow as punters get information and grow in confidence about form stacking up. I am sure there will be some horses that improve their form on AWT, it has happened in other jurisdictions so I am optimistic it will here.

I would be thinking the novelty factor alone would have got people betting . Appears not .

Information , what's that , there used to be information available , the TAB has done all it can to negate getting information to punters , so not sure that is relevent .

[Freda]

8 hours ago, nomates said:

The pools were no larger than any other midweek meeting , just another MEH ! Wednsday Autumn raceday . I hope their just not relying on this being a game changer , because it simply isn't going to be , no matter how much people hype it up . 

I really want something or someone to turn NZ racing around , not the great as it used to be , just turn the flow and maybe start improving , but it aint this .

They can hype it up as much as they want and talk about being positive but the reality is being realistic will get us further .

Yep, agree totally. 

Nothing wrong with it by all appearances,  the consistency ( if maintained ) will have a steady pool of horses taking full advantage of the conditions and the proposed regular racing.

But it will be a shame if those genuine wet trackers are now not catered for, elsewhere.   That may not be the case in the Waikato but will certainly be the case down here, with permits/racedays shifted to justify the AWT....and the likes of Timaru with its gd 2 track for today are rubbed out as a matter of policy.

The provision of superior training facilities is a plus for those able to utilise them but that was not the reason for nicking 20 mill from the public purse.  If turnovers, and ultimately revenue,  is improved, then we might have a show of moving forward- if not squandered or mismanaged.   

But wagering statistics don't show any significant difference elsewhere.  

[Chief Stipe]

One of our posters goes on about positividdy - did anyone notice how the negative news regarding Sharrock's horses hit the media on the same day as the "historic moment in Cambridge and NZ Racing"?

 

[Huey]

11 hours ago, Freda said:

Yep, agree totally. 

Nothing wrong with it by all appearances,  the consistency ( if maintained ) will have a steady pool of horses taking full advantage of the conditions and the proposed regular racing.

But it will be a shame if those genuine wet trackers are now not catered for, elsewhere.   That may not be the case in the Waikato but will certainly be the case down here, with permits/racedays shifted to justify the AWT....and the likes of Timaru with its gd 2 track for today are rubbed out as a matter of policy.

The provision of superior training facilities is a plus for those able to utilise them but that was not the reason for nicking 20 mill from the public purse.  If turnovers, and ultimately revenue,  is improved, then we might have a show of moving forward- if not squandered or mismanaged.   

But wagering statistics don't show any significant difference elsewhere.  

The worst part here will be they will do anything and everything to justify producing those AWT tracks, they gave themselves a huge pat on the back yesterday off the back of holding one race meeting. To me (and also some of the unfounded propaganda) this shows how desperate they are for these to prove their worth, one only had to listen to the gushing praise of Rodley , trainers and jockeys almost rehearsed at times.

I just can't get my head around them if the Australians don't rate them, as someone else pointed out on the other site NSW don't have one , thats rather telling imo.

Despite what anyone says the punters have got to love them surely, that is for them to work out, despite what anyone else thinks of them.

But here is hoping something works in the industry for the people that will be putting the show on (hopefully) in years to come, cause not much appears to be.

[Chief Stipe]

7 minutes ago, Huey said:

I just can't get my head around them if the Australians don't rate them, as someone else pointed out on the other site NSW don't have one , thats rather telling imo.

Victoria has said no more than two for the State.  Meanwhile they continue to invest in and upgrade turf tracks.

Strategically I think that is smart thinking especially to counter the end racing mob.  What better advertisement for racing than having a horse galloping on a natural sustainable surface as opposed to a synthetic dirt one!

[nomates]

What if you have a horse that actually grows a leg on the A/W's , and there will be some , they can only race there in the lower grades and only for 10k , where do they go after they make rating 74 and over , back to grass racing on heavy tracks till they get their rating back down , then possibly 1 win and back to grass , it has a limited shelf life for racehorses that actually like the surface . Will a horse such as this be kept going by it's owner then .

My money is that in the next 2/3 seasons some Saturday racedays will take place on these tracks , they wont be able to help themselves .

[Chief Stipe]

3 minutes ago, nomates said:

My money is that in the next 2/3 seasons some Saturday racedays will take place on these tracks , they wont be able to help themselves .

Unless Riccarton does something to fix their turf track they'll have no choice.  

[nomates]

30 minutes ago, Huey said:

Despite what anyone says the punters have got to love them surely, that is for them to work out, despite what anyone else thinks of them.

 

And this is what should be the measure of whether they are a success or not , if turnover doesn't improve massively , which in turn grows large revenue returns for the industry , then they have just become rich boys toys .

They will say that it is better than watching horses slog thru tracks like Rotorua , but if they are not making any more money for the industry they are just shinny objects used to impress .

[nomates]

1 minute ago, Chief Stipe said:

Unless Riccarton does something to fix their turf track they'll have no choice.  

For get Riccarton , Awapuni is a bigger shithole in winter , in fact any number of tracks are in just as bad a state .

[Chief Stipe]

2 minutes ago, nomates said:

They will say that it is better than watching horses slog thru tracks like Rotorua , but if they are not making any more money for the industry they are just shinny objects used to impress .

With a higher cost structure as well I.e. even if they return the same amount of revenue as the meeting at Rotorua all they have done is reduce any profit margin by a considerable amount.

[nomates]

1 minute ago, Chief Stipe said:

With a higher cost structure as well I.e. even if they return the same amount of revenue as the meeting at Rotorua all they have done is reduce any profit margin by a considerable amount.

Wouldn't a business plan have told us that ? I wonder where i can find one ?

[Huey]

7 minutes ago, nomates said:

And this is what should be the measure of whether they are a success or not , if turnover doesn't improve massively , which in turn grows large revenue returns for the industry , then they have just become rich boys toys .

They will say that it is better than watching horses slog thru tracks like Rotorua , but if they are not making any more money for the industry they are just shinny objects used to impress .

I got the impression yesterday , that they really don't care if they work or not from a punting or financially successful perspective, they intend on selling up the family jewels to do whatever it is they deem to be the right thing no matter what. 

How long until people are really bored of watching the stuff?

[Chief Stipe]

If you had a horse that can run good sectionals and likes a good surface why would you race them on a midweek AWT in winter?

Is the plan for some Trainers to get some wins and form quickly in the winter and then give the horses a spell for Spring racing?

I dont know (maybe Pitty can tell us) but is it possible to give a horse three preps in one season?  From my experience 10 to 12 starts a season was the limit.

[Huey]

1 minute ago, Chief Stipe said:

If you had a horse that can run good sectionals and likes a good surface why would you race them on a midweek AWT in winter?

Is the plan for some Trainers to get some wins and form quickly in the winter and then give the horses a spell for Spring racing?

I dont know (maybe Pitty can tell us) but is it possible to give a horse three preps in one season?  From my experience 10 to 12 starts a season was the limit.

Was thinking along the same lines yesterday, its clear the quality animals in Aus don't go to these tracks to race on.

[Chief Stipe]

1 minute ago, Huey said:

How long until people are really bored of watching the stuff?

I already am having seen the Korean and USA dross dished up each day.  Up 3 times a week in NZ isn't going to improve my excitement.  Add to that the crap premier surfaces......

I actually like betting on soft to heavy grass tracks. Speed maps and data base statistics go out the window which suits me.

[Chief Stipe]

2 minutes ago, Huey said:

Was thinking along the same lines yesterday, its clear the quality animals in Aus don't go to these tracks to race on.

That's evident in the UK as well but that is influenced by the fact that the money races are run on Turf.

Who knows perhaps the plan is to run the NZ Guineas on the AWT and we have a NZ Triple Crown.

[nomates]

6 minutes ago, Huey said:

I got the impression yesterday , that they really don't care if they work or not from a punting or financially successful perspective, they intend on selling up the family jewels to do whatever it is they deem to be the right thing no matter what. 

How long until people are really bored of watching the stuff?

So for an industry in the state we are in why would we do anything substantial that wasn't going to improve our returns , all we should be worrying about is increasing revenue to increase returns .