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One every two weeks now! New Plymouth Meeting Abandoned after Race 1 - 05 Feb 2022.


Chief Stipe

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21 minutes ago, nomates said:

Yesterday's Cup being run on Friday at Palmy, excellent, the 3yo fillies race going to be run on the 18th back at NP , not perfect but I can live with it, but the 2yo black type race gets moved to TeRapa next Saturday, 6 of the 10 horses came from the north so have they said they wouldn't come back on the 18th , who knows,  but that is now 2 black type 2yo races moved out of the CD .

Mark my words, this will become more regular as northerners say they want these races closer to home, citing can't trust the races will run, less travel etc,etc .

 

Perhaps they rang all the Trainers involved and the CD ones said they'd rather run on a wet track at Te Rapa rather than a swamp at Awapuni.  Plus there may have been indications that being a week later more Northern 2yr olds would have been ready to nominate.

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31 minutes ago, Chimbu said:

For those not reading the thread in full the highlighted text quoted by Curious was the stated view of Albert Bosma. The words certainly aren't mine. I don't share his view! 

it seems like they did everything right in terms of irrigation through the week. "

Yeahh sorry. Didn't mean to make it sound like it was attributed to you. Bosma obviously doesn't have a clue.

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20 minutes ago, Joe Bloggs said:

The ole Foxvegas, Godzone.....

Might have been a good spot to move the Wairarapa meeting to though we are experiencing extraordinarily high water table levels lately as we do every 5 years or so and that means drainage is not what it commonly is.

Edited by curious
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LEVANTE%20-%20WRC%2015-1-2022%20RACE%20I
Last start Gr.1 Telegraph (1200m) winner Levante (pictured inner) completed a pleasing exhibition gallop at Tauranga on Sunday before the meeting was  Photo: Race Images – Peter Rubery

Spate of abandonments curtail weekend racing

NZ Racing Desk
6 February 2022

Inclement weather across the country has forced the abandonment of two further racemeetings with both the Tauranga meeting on Sunday and the Tauherenikau meeting scheduled for Monday called off without a race being run.

The cancellations follow the abandonment of racing at New Plymouth on Saturday following the conclusion of race one that saw jockey Bridget Grylls take a tumble from her mount Madam Sass due to a slippery patch on the point of the home bend, caused by persistent rain throughout the morning.

Thankfully both horse and rider were unharmed in the incident.

Following an exhibition gallop by the Jamie Richards-trained Quattro Quinta and last start Gr.1 Telegraph (1200m) winner Levante, raceday officials at Tauranga spoke with riders Joe Kamaruddin and Ryan Elliot regarding the effect that light misty rain had had on the racing surface.

Both riders expressed safety concerns about a patch of ground nearing the 1000m mark with the firm nature of the ground underneath the surface a potential safety hazard.

A delegation of senior riders and officials inspected the track and the decision was taken to abandon prior to Race 1 due to an inconsistent racing surface.

Similar inspections took place on Sunday morning at Tauherenikau after heavy rain in the previous 24-hour period and a similar forecast for Monday causing grave concerns for the meeting.

The track received approximately 50mm of rain through to Sunday morning with more significant rain to come. With some surface water on the track and inconsistencies with the surface, the decision was made, in the interests of safety, that the meeting would not go ahead.

New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing announced that a new race-meeting has been scheduled for Hawke’s Bay on Thursday February 10 with nominations for this meeting to close at noon tomorrow (Monday). The programme will be similar to that at Tauherenikau however with the rail out the 1000m races will now be 1200m while the 2050m races become 2100m.

A maiden 3YO 1400m has been added to the programme after the loss of the Tauranga meeting, whilst the Listed Wairarapa Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1600m) will become the feature event on the day.

They also announced that the R74 1600m, Maiden 1600m and R65 2100m from today’s Tauranga meeting have had their scratchings re-instated and will be raced at Ruakaka on Wednesday.

Co-trainer Ken Kelso, who prepares Levante with wife Bev, was delighted they could complete the exhibition gallop at Tauranga as it was touch and go as whether permission would be granted.

“When we got there, they were inspecting the track and while I thought it looked alright, I did think they would definitely be cutting into it pretty quickly,” he said.

“We spoke with the stewards and asked if they ran the first race and then abandoned the meeting, would we be allowed to gallop after that.

“That wasn’t an option so we agreed to go before the first and I am pleased we did as it would have meant missing a crucial gallop in the mare’s preparation for this coming Saturday.

“I do feel for the owners and trainers who had horses engaged at the meeting as it is an expensive exercise where no one comes out on the winning side when a meeting is called off like this.”

Levante is set to contest the Gr.1 BCD Group Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa on Saturday with Kelso delighted with how she has recovered from her Telegraph victory.

“She got around as good as gold and looks very bright,” he said.

“We know that a gallop like today is very different to a race as the riders are holding their heads and keeping them out of trouble, so we were thankful we could get her out there for a good hit-out.

“I think we clocked her coming her last 1000m in a tick over a minute, the 800m in just over 46seconds and the last 600m in around 34 seconds, so it was very good work.

“She will head into Saturday in good shape and without the worry of having missed a crucial gallop that could have been the case today.” – NZ Racing Desk

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24 minutes ago, Huey said:

I don't think you can blame the weather when you choose to send horses around, certainly when called off like Tauherenikau you'd have to say its weather based.

We can't control the weather but the Taranaki situation was man made, the amount of rain that fell through the day would have canned the meeting anyway but there had been enough prior to r1 to have soaked in .

The issue for me is the small amounts they were putting on daily, for one it has been so hot half would have evaporated before it had a chance to do anything , all they were creating was a crust on top and a skating rink an inch below. 

Plus they knew the forecast, they should have soaked it the week or so before and supplemented that until a couple of days before racing, all they created was a hard pan .

And whilst the professor will tell us the structure is fecked, which is true, enough water put on for a period will get down deep enough which would have allowed the early rain to run through .

Also concussion for the horses is not created on the top 1 or 2 inches , which none of them seem to understand, it is when there is give in the soil to a decent depth, say 12 inches .

It is a debate I have had with a couple of course caretakers, and even after having track issues would believe they were still doing it right. 

As we can see nothing changes, even when they say they are taking lessons from their mistakes, nothing seems to change, so what hope. 

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14 minutes ago, Huey said:

True, in Taranaki case that was their 2nd abandonment in 2-3 months.

The track is stuffed and has been for years.  The inside is often very rough and you will see them running off the rail more than you would expect.  They haven't invested anything into renovating the track.  Why would you when you don't own it and the threat of closure is hanging over you.  The only reason I can see for Taranaki to be a favoured racecourse is it is closer to the Waikato than the centre of the CD.

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14 minutes ago, nomates said:

And whilst the professor will tell us the structure is fecked, which is true, enough water put on for a period will get down deep enough which would have allowed the early rain to run through .

In theory that is correct but the problem when the soil structure is stuffed is you have to keep pouring it on because you have no buffer.  The soil won't retain a buffer of moisture and so you have to keep pumping it on which would give you a S7 which is unacceptable.  You can't fine tune it without having the buffer provided by a good soil structure.  What's more you know how much irrigation is need to adjust the track to a defined point.  With our tracks it is hit and miss.

The other issue is you can't get a consistent gradient through depth - e.g. you might have a S7 at the surface due to the irrigation but 8 inches deeper only achieved a D4.

Can you imagine the uproar when it has been fine all week and they pitch up to find that it is a D6 or worse and the excuse is "oh we were expecting rain".  

 

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As NM says is there any point racing outside of the Northern region ?

Meeting News

Taranaki Features Re-Scheduled

 

The three black-type races that were unable to be run at Taranaki yesterday have been re-scheduled as follows:

  • Taranaki Cup (Group 3 $85,000) – This will replace the Open Hcp at Awapuni on Friday 11 February. Conditions will remain the same as at Taranaki with the exception that it will now be run over 2000m.
  • 2YO (Group 3 $80,000) – This has been added to the Waikato RC programme to be held at Te Rapa on Saturday 12 February.
  • 3YOF (Listed Race $60,000) – This race will be run at Taranaki on Friday 18 February
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