Doomed Posted December 13, 2021 Author Share Posted December 13, 2021 11 minutes ago, nomates said: Going on those numbers they could realistically split 2 of the maiden races as well , reasonably expect 12 horse fields for all 6 races if split . Don't worry the CD is treated much the same . As for the 2yo's at Pukekohe that comes back to a colossal Feck up in the programming , 6 weeks out from the Karaka Million and they have had very few 2yo races in comparison to recent seasons , and the ones they have had not all horses that got stake money are registered for the race . So they have created a squeeze for horses to qualify , and this race wasn't even programmed up until last week . So where is the planning and pathways . In the CD , they took the Wakefield to Te Rapa , so they have a 2yo race at Awapuni on Saturday , and as far as i can see only 1 1000mtr race at Tauherenikau programmed before the KM , not exactly conducive to preparing a horse for the race if you have a serious intent to try and get one there . Try and get a SI horse to the Karaka, or to the Derby or Oaks for that matter. Ironically running 10th in the Wakefield just about guarantees you a start in the Karaka this year and last year. And as to Ashburton, my bad maths. They start 14 so there are already 11 missing a start if they don't split it. And I did notice all the maidens that will miss a start as well, but thought I had better not push it. And I should probably be charging NZTR a decent consultancy fee for this, but what the hell, the reason you don't have many horses in rating 74s and open races is because they can't get out of maidens and 65s. We almost need tiered racing. Now there's an idea. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doomed Posted December 13, 2021 Author Share Posted December 13, 2021 37 minutes ago, Reefton said: Lack of enthusiasm among the committee maybe? I don't 100% remember - it just ebbed away. It was/is a 1200m track so was smaller than both Hokitika and Kumara. That's another important thing about South Island and NZ Racing - it is the Committees that facilitate the racing. The product may come from the stakeholders but most of those track closures were a result of the committees losing the inclination to carry on. We ourselves were perilously close to the same fate five or so years back. So on that basis can we assume Riccarton has a super enthusiastic committee? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefton Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 7 minutes ago, Doomed said: Try and get a SI horse to the Karaka, or to the Derby or Oaks for that matter. Ironically running 10th in the Wakefield just about guarantees you a start in the Karaka this year and last year. And as to Ashburton, my bad maths. They start 14 so there are already 11 missing a start if they don't split it. And I did notice all the maidens that will miss a start as well, but thought I had better not push it. And I should probably be charging NZTR a decent consultancy fee for this, but what the hell, the reason you don't have many horses in rating 74s and open races is because they can't get out of maidens and 65s. We almost need tiered racing. Now there's an idea. They have two 1200m maidens(one for 2&3yo fillies) with almost 50% double nominated so not too much of an issue there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefton Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 6 minutes ago, Doomed said: So on that basis can we assume Riccarton has a super enthusiastic committee? No but I am pretty sure they get an awful lot of concessions from NZTR(well that's the talk) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomates Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 5 minutes ago, Doomed said: Try and get a SI horse to the Karaka, Pitmans done it a couple of times , and have to say as a rule 2yo's have a few opportunities at Riccarton leading up to the cup meeting and the Welcome Stakes , that's why Te Akau usually send some babies down . And i think the Tylers had one in the last couple of years , some can correct me if i'm wrong . As for splitting the fields at Ashburton , if they don't it's because they will say there will be an opportunity at Gore on Sunday , this is them micro managing people's and trainers horses , something they have no idea about . I was told once when i queried why they weren't splitting a race , they said well if you don't get a run there is another opportunity at Ellerslie on the weekend , i the succinctly explained i was in Levin and would be happy to if they would subsidise the transport cost , eh no . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bloggs Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 Back in the day over here we had , maiden, improvers 1 and 2, progressive, intermediate, and encourage. Then Welters, flying welters, flying hcp's and then open, WFA. Then we went to maiden, class 1, class 2 up to class 6.......then open company, WTF happened? it all worked terrific, it was easy peasy, you would ring up the handicapper if you had a blue, he would generally have his say [we'd win] but it was honkey dorey.......along comes the new gen, gen X I suspect and cocked it all up......the benchmark disease spread quicker than a Covid variant and NZ caught the thing, change for the better? Those of you old enough to remember Shelley Burford, Triton, New Moon, Mix, Blue Moon, Cantostan, Copper Belt and so many more they all went through their grades and graduated into open co on the minimum.........Then, all was well with the world......IMO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curious Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 (edited) 55 minutes ago, Reefton said: Do you remember that whopping great Tent Mobil put up there(which was at the time of the helicopters ferrying people in and out). Love Kumara or hate Kumara that was a piss up and a half! Trouble with them(still) is there is massive enthusiasm for organising the piss up and little for maintaining the racing surface. To be fair it is built on a swamp so it is a hard job. Yeahh the races were abandoned. The party was going strong when we headed home and reportedly rocked on well into the night. Might just as well have run the races in Canterbury. Don't think anyone would have noticed. Edited December 13, 2021 by curious 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curious Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 1 hour ago, Reefton said: To be fair I am only reporting hearsay. I have nothing whatsoever to do with the Kumara Racing Club and never set foot on their course for one year to the next but I got rung about three or so weeks ago by someone in the know wanted to know what I knew about moves by two Riccarton Trainers to have the January meeting transferred to the Riccarton AWT. Jeff McLaughlin(Secretary) assured me that NZTR had said all three days on the Coast were to be run here. I don't care really except that of course Canterbury trainers are unlikely to bother traveling all the way to the Coast if they have a meeting on their doorstep and that would adversely affect our meeting three days before. There is talk about the Kumara Track(again I have never been on it since the last meeting) and in my experience when it comes to talk about the Kumara track where there is smoke there is fire. Ironically two years ago when they cancelled one of the guys who was supposed to be getting this meeting transferred was all for defending the Kumara track and saying there was nothing wrong a day before the pin was pulled. Why not just reschedule ALL the coast meetings to the Riccarton AWT? That would suit me. I can fly down and back same day. It would also save a hell of a lot of petrol, beer and wear and tear on Parthur's Arse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefton Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 13 minutes ago, curious said: Yeahh the races were abandoned. The party was going strong when we headed home and reportedly rocked on well into the night. Might just as well have run the races in Canterbury. Don't think anyone would have noticed. They've had a charmed run with the Cops too. Compared to Cup day and Riccarton or that Cromwell day just passed the security is non existent but the pissed(and young pissed) patrons are abundant. The day there is a car smash or something with one of them trolleyed will be the end of the Kumara tolerance. To be fair breath testing is fairly strenuous for all that How they are still permitted to let people bring their own booze in... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefton Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 1 minute ago, curious said: Why not just reschedule ALL the coast meetings to the Riccarton AWT? That would suit me. I can fly down and back same day. It would also save a hell of a lot of petrol, beer and wear and tear on Parthur's Arse. Save me a lot of wasted time as well. I could finally forget the game once and for all 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curious Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Reefton said: Save me a lot of wasted time as well. I could finally forget the game once and for all Lets make that a rx in your paper then. Edited December 13, 2021 by curious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bloggs Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 11 minutes ago, curious said: Why not just reschedule ALL the coast meetings to the Riccarton AWT? That would suit me. I can fly down and back same day. It would also save a hell of a lot of petrol, beer and wear and tear on Parthur's Arse. I think you've excessively imbibed Curious, ''yes ocifer I've had a drink''. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curious Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 1 minute ago, Joe Bloggs said: I think you've excessively imbibed Curious, ''yes ocifer I've had a drink''. Yes. She told me to breathe out and I breathed in. Reckoned that wouldn't work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curious Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 Recognising the fact that twilight meetings impact participants, specifically trainers with staff and horses having to travel back from meetings which finish after 7pm, NZTR has attempted to keep these meetings close to key training centres where possible. For the purposes of this trial there are no twilight meetings in the South Island. Just our from NZTR. Why not trial that at Riccarton too? That's close to a key training centre isn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefton Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 27 minutes ago, curious said: Lets make that a rx in your paper then. rather just not bother. Better thing to waste time on like water skiing and drinking brown ale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bloggs Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 12 minutes ago, Reefton said: rather just not bother. Better thing to waste time on like water skiing and drinking brown ale Do you struggle doing both at the same time? 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Stipe Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 Shouldn't the new Chief Operating Officer be sorting the race scheduling out? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shad Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 4 hours ago, Doomed said: Could someone remind me why they stopped racing at Westport? It was probably the biggest galloping track on the Coast. Stopped some time in the 80s from memory. I think Nelson stopped at a similar time. In my opinion the main reason racing stopped in Westport, was the lack of the interest from some of the locals,was always good racing there, a safe track on a sandy base, can't remember any bad falls in my time, they never seemed to get a big crowd, and tried many different dates, I think the last straw was the cancellation of the last couple of races, as a Senior rider was concerned about the track, a useful horse called mutual belle then came out and done an exhibition gallop, going around with no issues,, this may have been a year or to before the club closed,most of the community were supportive of the harness racing, but not the gallops, maybe the extra hour travel from reefton or greymouth may have made a difference to trainers attending, can recall a grey horse winning a maiden there very impressively, modena, went on to be a very good performer, against some good opposition, very sad the club folded in 1996, with a horse called elad nova winning the last Westport cup, the harness racing has huge support over there, and I think the main reason for that is the holiday season dates, as they do struggle turnover wise there in the March meeting, I alway considered that Westport track to be one of the better ones on the coast, some may disagree. Nelson another galloping club lost along the way. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Stipe Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 31 minutes ago, Shad said: In my opinion the main reason racing stopped in Westport, was the lack of the interest from some of the locals,was always good racing there, a safe track on a sandy base, can't remember any bad falls in my time, they never seemed to get a big crowd, and tried many different dates, I think the last straw was the cancellation of the last couple of races, as a Senior rider was concerned about the track, a useful horse called mutual belle then came out and done an exhibition gallop, going around with no issues,, this may have been a year or to before the club closed,most of the community were supportive of the harness racing, but not the gallops, maybe the extra hour travel from reefton or greymouth may have made a difference to trainers attending, can recall a grey horse winning a maiden there very impressively, modena, went on to be a very good performer, against some good opposition, very sad the club folded in 1996, with a horse called elad nova winning the last Westport cup, the harness racing has huge support over there, and I think the main reason for that is the holiday season dates, as they do struggle turnover wise there in the March meeting, I alway considered that Westport track to be one of the better ones on the coast, some may disagree. Nelson another galloping club lost along the way. Harness racing in Westport had a strong local training contingent. In my opinion this is a key to the continued survival of any Club be it gallops or harness. In Westport there was the Craddocks, Keithy Powell, Reedy(?), and others that don't readily come to mind. Eventually as trainers either move on or pass away so does a club. Although the Westport Trotting Club is still functional. https://m.facebook.com/Westporttrottingclub/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doomed Posted December 13, 2021 Author Share Posted December 13, 2021 3 hours ago, curious said: Why not just reschedule ALL the coast meetings to the Riccarton AWT? That would suit me. I can fly down and back same day. It would also save a hell of a lot of petrol, beer and wear and tear on Parthur's Arse. The Coast tracks all have public grandstands, which is one of the advantages they have over Riccarton. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doomed Posted December 13, 2021 Author Share Posted December 13, 2021 2 hours ago, curious said: Recognising the fact that twilight meetings impact participants, specifically trainers with staff and horses having to travel back from meetings which finish after 7pm, NZTR has attempted to keep these meetings close to key training centres where possible. For the purposes of this trial there are no twilight meetings in the South Island. Just our from NZTR. Why not trial that at Riccarton too? That's close to a key training centre isn't it? Rather defeats the whole point that the longest twilights at this time of year are in the deep south. That Riverton New Years meeting could easily finish about 10pm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Stipe Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 5 minutes ago, Doomed said: Rather defeats the whole point that the longest twilights at this time of year are in the deep south. That Riverton New Years meeting could easily finish about 10pm. Imagine the picturesque imagery of horses galloping into the sunset! But what are they actually "trialling"? Aren't the key metrics what returns the best wagering revenue and what Trainers and Owners want? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huey Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 49 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said: Imagine the picturesque imagery of horses galloping into the sunset! But what are they actually "trialling"? Aren't the key metrics what returns the best wagering revenue and what Trainers and Owners want? You'd think so, but probably not with this lot. More likely volume of alchohol sales, number tables/tents sold etc. All stuff that's relatively easy to control and consistent in demand. The wagering I'd be surprised if they even thought about it, take the AWT for example why hasn't the apparent success of that racing been conveyed to the industry? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bloggs Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 49 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said: Imagine the picturesque imagery of horses galloping into the sunset! But what are they actually "trialling"? Aren't the key metrics what returns the best wagering revenue and what Trainers and Owners want? Imagine the picturesque imagery of horses galloping into the sunset! Oh hallelujah ......if only they carried Saundry and a few of his mates from Petone as jockeys.........I'd pay a kings ransom to see that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefton Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 3 hours ago, Joe Bloggs said: Do you struggle doing both at the same time? In sequence I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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