southland harness racing

[the galah]

As i was watching the winton meeting yesterday i thought how it had declined participation and competitiveness wise.

It got me thinking why is that?

It was only 20 years ago that harness racing in southland had enough experienced and talented trainers and drivers to run meetings with full fields,and without the need for any of the drivers to come from canterbury as happens now days.

And the most obvious observation in my opinion was how there seems so little participation from the current generation of members of families steeped in tradition and success in the sport.

20 years back on southland racetracks you had people of all ages competing,but they were dominated to some extent by men in the 20-40 age bracket. It was common to see multiple brothers and sometimes sisters from families like the Hunter,Norman,Barron,Shirley,Swain, and Skinners.Then you had the father and sons like the milne,beck,hamilton,baynes,Lee,scobie,Bond,Gray and Buchanan. Then there were the likes of Brown,Adams,Mclellan,Paisley,mclachlan all with good sized teams.

Often the daughters of trainers were married to the sons of trainers. 

And these were hard working folk. I remember i worked for a trainer who thought nothing of overseeing the training of 40 horses then when the horses were finished for the day,it wasn't unusual for him to go and do something like crutching 200 lambs after tea.

But it seems,with the odd exception that their sons and daughters have not followed in their parents footsteps as they had.

Why is that? What does that say about the future? 

Its also extremely noticeable if you drive around parts of Southland now,gone are the sheep and the standardbred broodmare or two in the paddocks. Now its all just cows. Is it all too costly to buy land and the returns no longer justify such a career?

Just an observation,and while the sport will continue to be a source of entertainment and fun,its obvious we have been lucky to have experienced the best days already.

Edited February 3, 2022 by the galah

[Doomed]

The brighter ones with other options have probably just seen that there isn't the money in it anymore, and people don't see the point of working long hours every week and travelling for miles to race horses.

And something I think is very important is the lack of atmosphere on race-days. With crowds disappearing anyhow and covid accentuating that, people must think why the hell am I bothering, this is bloody boring. Years ago it must have been exciting to travel a horse up to Addington to race in front of the big crowd, but now there is no one there so it must be pretty soul destroying.

[mikeynz]

Wyndham, Forbury 10 days ago, Ascot Park last Saturday, Winton, yesty, Wyndham Sunday and some pretty average fields as a rule, Southland in its own way is starting to become as boring as Alexandra Park, more racing don't seem to produce more top liners and Southland has produced more than it's fair share of them, seems today it's just a few drivers winning most races, spouse they are doing ok as in making a living, if some of the old timers came back today they would be green with envy with the number of days of racing the present lot have, yet would probably be dissapointed with the lack of good ones coming out of Southland.

In some ways it's going a wee bit like the rugby in Southland, a shadow of itself, sign of the times I guess.

[the galah]

Sport in general seems to be on the decline .

Also Southland as a rule always had the old school,integrity is paramount attitude on the racing and personal side of things..Off the track they appeared to frown upon some out of the region trainers who would turn up and engage in extra marital relations. I have no idea what its like these days,but 20 years ago they seemed happy making a reasonable living and doing something they enjoyed. It wasn't all about the money.Young people now days seem driven by different goals and aspirations. I personally don't think the current generation is as happy as previous ones despite having all the up to date technology.

As far as those still competing. I see T Larsen hasn't even got a drive tomorrow.Seems to drive ok,but small fields also mean less driving opportunities.

[Chief Stipe]

2 minutes ago, the galah said:

Sport in general seems to be on the decline .

I realise this could be construed as a habit.....BUT I disagree.  Sport isn't declining - just the models of engagement are changing and it is more competitive.  Globally investment in sport and its economic activity is growing faster than Global GDP.

It is just New Zealand that is falling behind.

[Chief Stipe]

6 minutes ago, the galah said:

It wasn't all about the money.

Perhaps not....but they sure as hell were competitive and were skilled at setting up the horse for the big punt (something you seem to be adverse to).  It wasn't all for love!  But the hobby was less expensive then for an owner and the odd punting coup and the home town cred from having a winning horse meant the losses were small.  Hell we can't even go pat a horse now at the races unlike when I was a kid.  Not even the Clerk of the Course grey one!

[Brodie]

Trackside has potentially had a negative effect on harness racing!

The fact is that why would you really bother going to the track and taking others including your kids with you now?

There really is absolutely no atmosphere anymore and you can watch the races in the comfort of your lounge and the food cost is so much less!

You have the same BS re the AML that needs getting rid of!

Unfortunately there are major headwinds at play for racing in NZ that are going to be very hard to reverse.

Yes you can say that things are going ok and we can do this and that as talk is easy, but it is the action that is what is going to determine whether harness racing can survive around NZ!

From my own standpoint, I still love the sport and hope that it can survive and thrive!

Personally speaking from my position as a punter it is totally broken and unless attitudes to punters change then the industry is going to decline as they are not doing anything constructive to retain or introduce new people to spend money!!!!!!

As to achieving to introduce nee owners to the sport, I believe it is going to be almost impossible as the current generation have got far more important issues ahead of them.

The country has gone from having relatively low level of debt to now being heavily indebted by a so called government that has totally over reacted to a mild virus.

This action by a totally incompetent bunch of non business Socialists has now left the coming generations debt that will take a lot of pain to recover from.

This constant BS from the government and paid off media has people believing that this Covid19 has been worth blowing trns kf billions of dollars that the country of 5 million could afford.

Heads should roll and those of you that voted Labour back in last election, must realise that what you did is the reason that the country is still in a real mess.

 

 

[Forbury]

It's all we have to bet on today as Hawera has been abandoned 

[mikeynz]

Sad as it is Wyndham fields are below average, becoming more and more the norm now.

[Ludwig]

1 hour ago, mikeynz said:

Sad as it is Wyndham fields are below average, becoming more and more the norm now.

I don't think we should grizzle too much about the Wyndham fields. It's the second Southland meeting in four days, and the better grade of horses can't run every week.

This is Southland racing, a mixture of hobby trainers and more established trainers, and a real mix of horses  . I am more than happy that the meeting is going ahead. It's a good heartland meeting