Are there any positives for the industry?

[Huey]

• Abandonment after Abandonment 
• Rising fuel costs
• Feed prices on the increase
• Owners/trainers/breeders beginning to leave the sport in droves or going across the Tasman
• Stuffed tracks
•  Incompetence in Racing Administration
• Staff shortages
• Jockey shortages
• Abysmal Programming
• non existent and irrelevant handicapping
• an ill thought out calendar
• Crazy Covid mandates in the sport
• A venue plan that is achieving exactly the opposite of what it was supposed to
• Declining foal crop
• A new licensing process that looks set to do more harm than good
• Another TAB CEO from the corporate world with no wagering experience
• Greater involvement of sports in the TAB

These are just a few, but apart from Dave E. saying this is the best crop of yearlings he has ever seen are there any other positives in the industry anyone can think of?

 

 

[nomates]

I have a small share in 1 horse left and that is only because i wouldn't get one in Australia whilst i couldn't travel, that's about to change so any more will be in Aus .

For me there are no positives in racing a horse here, I'm not looking to win a fortune more for fun, but geez the standard of race riding here just drains me and i am sick and tired of watching horses get slaughtered by brain dead riding, no fun in that at all. 

For me things are past the point of no return, cannot see any bright spots on the horizon. 

Looking forward to someone providing some. 

[Freda]

17 minutes ago, nomates said:

I have a small share in 1 horse left and that is only because i wouldn't get one in Australia whilst i couldn't travel, that's about to change so any more will be in Aus .

For me there are no positives in racing a horse here, I'm not looking to win a fortune more for fun, but geez the standard of race riding here just drains me and i am sick and tired of watching horses get slaughtered by brain dead riding, no fun in that at all. 

For me things are past the point of no return, cannot see any bright spots on the horizon. 

Looking forward to someone providing some. 

Maybe we are a bunch of negative old farts.....we'll be told that anyway.   But, in addition to the above, the fun has gone.  Yes, I still have great owners/ friends,  and the lovely horses that I work with are still the source of much pleasure, but overall, the camaraderie is missing.  The hard cases who used to have us in fits have passed on, the helping hand extended,  missing, the genuine delight in the success of a battler against the odds, absent.

[curious]

42 minutes ago, Freda said:

Maybe we are a bunch of negative old farts.....we'll be told that anyway.   But, in addition to the above, the fun has gone.  Yes, I still have great owners/ friends,  and the lovely horses that I work with are still the source of much pleasure, but overall, the camaraderie is missing.  The hard cases who used to have us in fits have passed on, the helping hand extended,  missing, the genuine delight in the success of a battler against the odds, absent.

I'm wondering if we can somehow bring back the joy and somehow ignore or overcome what the idiots are doing and not doing to make that so challenging and difficult.

[nomates]

6 minutes ago, curious said:

I'm wondering if we can somehow bring back the joy and somehow ignore or overcome what the idiots are doing and not doing to make that so challenging and difficult.

I don't know if i have enough years left waiting for someone to find a remedy to overcoming the their idiocy. 

But good luck trying. 

[nomates]

54 minutes ago, Freda said:

Maybe we are a bunch of negative old farts.....we'll be told that anyway.   But, in addition to the above, the fun has gone.  Yes, I still have great owners/ friends,  and the lovely horses that I work with are still the source of much pleasure, but overall, the camaraderie is missing.  The hard cases who used to have us in fits have passed on, the helping hand extended,  missing, the genuine delight in the success of a battler against the odds, absent.

Proud to call myself a negative old fart, it means i was lucky enough to see the great times and gave me something to judge today's standards by .

And they have been found wanting. 

[nomates]

1 hour ago, Freda said:

The hard cases who used to have us in fits have passed on, the helping hand extended,  missing, the genuine delight in the success of a battler against the odds, absent.

It was half the reason I went to the track in the mornings, Kevin Elliott, Erroll Skelton , Dave Enright, Jack Scott, always brought humor and sanity to any conversation. And not to forget David Howarth when he lost his lollies and you could hear his yelling and ranting from any end of the tie-ups . Actually DE wasn't that far behind DH when something upset him. 

I do so miss those mornings. 

[curious]

16 minutes ago, nomates said:

It was half the reason I went to the track in the mornings, Kevin Elliott, Erroll Skelton , Dave Enright, Jack Scott, always brought humor and sanity to any conversation. And not to forget David Howarth when he lost his lollies and you could hear his yelling and ranting from any end of the tie-ups . Actually DE wasn't that far behind DH when something upset him. 

I do so miss those mornings. 

Have to say I miss that and those guys and those mornings too. Not sure I want to go back there though. Maybe for a visit. Not quite the same now with DH's antics absent.

[Chimbu]

 

19 minutes ago, nomates said:

It was half the reason I went to the track in the mornings, Kevin Elliott, Erroll Skelton , Dave Enright, Jack Scott, always brought humor and sanity to any conversation. And not to forget David Howarth when he lost his lollies and you could hear his yelling and ranting from any end of the tie-ups . Actually DE wasn't that far behind DH when something upset him. 

I do so miss those mornings. 

You could hear both DH & DE from the trainer's hut, too :-). As you say they were great times at the Levin track

[curious]

6 minutes ago, Chimbu said:

 

You could hear both DH & DE from the trainer's hut, too :-). As you say they were great times at the Levin track

Did Enright ever train at Levin?

[Chimbu]

9 minutes ago, curious said:

Did Enright ever train at Levin?

I not sure if he officially trained at the track but he was often there. Kevin Elliot, EB, DH & Jack Scott all trained out of Levin (before DH & JH went to Foxton). Haigh's & Grant Searle also had a decent sized teams back then.

[nomates]

21 minutes ago, curious said:

Have to say I miss that and those guys and those mornings too. Not sure I want to go back there though. Maybe for a visit. Not quite the same now with DH's antics absent.

DH is still doing 4 or 5 , but he has definitely mellowed, saying that i haven't had anything to do with him for 4 years .

[Doomed]

1 hour ago, Freda said:

Maybe we are a bunch of negative old farts.....we'll be told that anyway.   But, in addition to the above, the fun has gone.  Yes, I still have great owners/ friends,  and the lovely horses that I work with are still the source of much pleasure, but overall, the camaraderie is missing.  The hard cases who used to have us in fits have passed on, the helping hand extended,  missing, the genuine delight in the success of a battler against the odds, absent.

So many of the problems start from the top with professional directors who have no interest in racing, have never set foot in a TAB, never owned a horse. Their only reason for being there is to meet a gender quota and provide jobs for the politicians mates, and take a generous fee. As long as that continues we will never get anywhere.

[nomates]

16 minutes ago, curious said:

Did Enright ever train at Levin?

Don't believe he ever did , he was a great man if you wanted a concoction made up, had recipes for everything, and always happy to help out. 

[nomates]

8 minutes ago, Chimbu said:

I not sure if he officially trained at the track but he was often there. Kevin Elliot, EB, DH & Jack Scott all trained out of Levin (before DH & JH went to Foxton). Haigh's & Grant Searle also had a decent sized teams back then.

There was a party when DH moved to Foxton , when there was talk of him coming back a certain gap man said he would quit if he did , I can't recall anybody happy at the prospect , at that time i had never met him and thought he can't be that bad , I was to find out he was .

[holy ravioli]

4 hours ago, Huey said:

• Abandonment after Abandonment 
• Rising fuel costs
• Feed prices on the increase
• Owners/trainers/breeders beginning to leave the sport in droves or going across the Tasman
• Stuffed tracks
•  Incompetence in Racing Administration
• Staff shortages
• Jockey shortages
• Abysmal Programming
• non existent and irrelevant handicapping
• an ill thought out calendar
• Crazy Covid mandates in the sport
• A venue plan that is achieving exactly the opposite of what it was supposed to
• Declining foal crop
• A new licensing process that looks set to do more harm than good
• Another TAB CEO from the corporate world with no wagering experience
• Greater involvement of sports in the TAB

These are just a few, but apart from Dave E. saying this is the best crop of yearlings he has ever seen are there any other positives in the industry anyone can think of?

 

 

your list has been consistent for decades...now.

[Huey]

1 hour ago, holy ravioli said:

your list has been consistent for decades...now.

Feels like its getting to the bottom of the barrel.

[nomates]

I am yet to see a positive put up, scary. 

[Huey]

1 hour ago, nomates said:

I am yet to see a positive put up, scary. 

Yes , I'm trying to find one, its a real challenge.

[Huey]

14 hours ago, Freda said:

Maybe we are a bunch of negative old farts.....we'll be told that anyway.   But, in addition to the above, the fun has gone.  Yes, I still have great owners/ friends,  and the lovely horses that I work with are still the source of much pleasure, but overall, the camaraderie is missing.  The hard cases who used to have us in fits have passed on, the helping hand extended,  missing, the genuine delight in the success of a battler against the odds, absent.

That's a perfect way of putting it and I've heard a number reason along those lines recently. 

I feel the only way to put the fun back in it is for their to be a revolution, but in NZracing that will never happen.

[nomates]

19 minutes ago, Huey said:

Yes , I'm trying to find one, its a real challenge.

I've tried to not be negative and find one thing that i could say, " this is something that will be good for the industry going forward " , nada , which doesn't bode well for the future. 

Big job for the whoever replaces Saundry , not only trying to get things going forward but having to undoe all Saundry's mess. 

[Huey]

1 hour ago, nomates said:

I've tried to not be negative and find one thing that i could say, " this is something that will be good for the industry going forward " , nada , which doesn't bode well for the future. 

Big job for the whoever replaces Saundry , not only trying to get things going forward but having to undoe all Saundry's mess. 

So true, can't see someone being given the job if they weren't going to follow along the same lines as BS mess. Some of this lot think they are doing a great job.

[Chief Stipe]

Pointing out where the propaganda spouted from the likes of NZTR and TAB NZ is blatantly wrong shouldn't be construed as negative.  I prefer the term realistic.

Otherwise you end up joining the drummers like @JJ Flash singing in front of Nero has he plays his fiddle.  How long will the BGP phenomena last?

I think what is missing is leadership amongst the mass of stakeholders that are being ground slowly into the dirt.  What is required is a co-ordinated effort of positive action putting aside self interest and focusing on one issue/constraint at a time until it is fixed.

The first issue is - a to fix the tracks NOT close them.

The second is to fix the handicapping system the forces good average wager earning horses out of the game.

Forget about whips.

Forget about bigger parties at key days - the crowds will come when you fix the grass roots - pun intended and the excitement comes back into racing.

[Chief Stipe]

You only have to look at the so called champion of positividdy and what that has done to the country.  Such is the danger of believing the propaganda.

[Huey]

3 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

Pointing out where the propaganda spouted from the likes of NZTR and TAB NZ is blatantly wrong shouldn't be construed as negative.  I prefer the term realistic.

Otherwise you end up joining the drummers like @JJ Flash singing in front of Nero has he plays his fiddle.  How long will the BGP phenomena last?

I think what is missing is leadership amongst the mass of stakeholders that are being ground slowly into the dirt.  What is required is a co-ordinated effort of positive action putting aside self interest and focusing on one issue/constraint at a time until it is fixed.

The first issue is - a to fix the tracks NOT close them.

The second is to fix the handicapping system the forces good average wager earning horses out of the game.

Forget about whips.

Forget about bigger parties at key days - the crowds will come when you fix the grass roots - pun intended and the excitement comes back into racing.

BGP looking more and more like a once a year race day phenomena, not unexpected in my view having met a number of them.

Your other observations are so very correct, however the need for a united front within racing to see those observations happen is in my view the very reason they won't happen and the industry is doomed.