Grand National week

[Doomed]

13 minutes ago, aquaman said:

Was Tito the jock for Little Brown Jug?, and also Godarvari, excuse spelling. Agree with Doomed about Kevin Morton, also a favourite of mine as is Chris.

Yes, they were probably his two most famous mounts, and also Magellan.

[Ronaldo]

He was probably only jockey I've heard booed all way back from coming in, was Avondale Guinneas and he came 5 th ? on Little Brown Jug.   We all backed Owens which won at about $ 37 from memory.    He got unnerved by stewards taking him aside befor the race and laying down expectations for his first Northern ride, he sort of froze and never moved a muscle until all over.   Think David Peake replaced him for the ride in Derby, be about 1979 ? 

[Doomed]

4 hours ago, Ronaldo said:

He was probably only jockey I've heard booed all way back from coming in, was Avondale Guinneas and he came 5 th ? on Little Brown Jug.   We all backed Owens which won at about $ 37 from memory.    He got unnerved by stewards taking him aside befor the race and laying down expectations for his first Northern ride, he sort of froze and never moved a muscle until all over.   Think David Peake replaced him for the ride in Derby, be about 1979 ? 

Yes, I can recall David Peake replacing him and didn't do well either.

[Freda]

On 15/07/2022 at 9:15 PM, Doomed said:

I really wanted to "like" that twice, but one can't do that.

I was there when Diamond Pal won the Winter Cup, and I'm sure those who were there that day remember it well.

If you were to ask me now, and offer me big money, I wouldn't be able to name a single Winter Cup winner over the last ten years.

It really has all gone so wrong. You do wonder where it went so wrong. You can't really say it was inevitable because racing in Australia is booming. Why are we so different?

I've been mulling this over since I read it.       There are as many reasons for the decline [ and remedies to revitalise things ]  as there are opinions on here and elsewhere..but after much thought, I reckon one very potent influence is the business model of Aus TAB's and corporates, against the monopoly of our TAB.

Monopolies anywhere tend to be anti-competitive and can lead to complacency, poor business practice and - at worst - corruption.

Heaps of other matters that could be discussed, but - IMO - the monopoly structure has, over time, allowed a series of average - or downright incompetent - Boards/Ceo's that would, in a competitive structure, been down the road in a trice.

NZTR, now, that's another matter.  I haven't given that august body so much thought.

[Chief Stipe]

21 minutes ago, Freda said:

NZTR, now, that's another matter.  I haven't given that august body so much thought

Shouldn't you?  Aside from the Canterbury Jockey Club management, NZTR have the most direct impact on your horse training efforts.

I would have thought that both organisations would be in your thoughts daily and you would be trying to coalesce support amongst your fellow stakeholders to elicit real change.

Have you been given access to the new services offered by the NZTR new $2.4m+ computer system yet?

[Freda]

5 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

Shouldn't you?  Aside from the Canterbury Jockey Club management, NZTR have the most direct impact on your horse training efforts.I would have thought that both organisations would be in your thoughts daily and you would be trying to coalesce support amongst your fellow stakeholders to elicit real change.

Given that I am not only secretary [ for myself ] but chief cook, programme planner, mucker-out, strapper, staff manager [ psychiatrist ] there is only so much that my brain can cope with.  I do my best, but superwoman, I ain't.  And beating my head against a brick wall getting agreement from a majority -hell, one or two - is just more than I can manage.   Thanks for the vote of confidence in my influence, however.

Have you been given access to the new services offered by the NZTR new $2.4m+ computer system

Haven't seen anything different so far.

 

[Doomed]

14 minutes ago, Freda said:

I've been mulling this over since I read it.       There are as many reasons for the decline [ and remedies to revitalise things ]  as there are opinions on here and elsewhere..but after much thought, I reckon one very potent influence is the business model of Aus TAB's and corporates, against the monopoly of our TAB.

Monopolies anywhere tend to be anti-competitive and can lead to complacency, poor business practice and - at worst - corruption.

Heaps of other matters that could be discussed, but - IMO - the monopoly structure has, over time, allowed a series of average - or downright incompetent - Boards/Ceo's that would, in a competitive structure, been down the road in a trice.

NZTR, now, that's another matter.  I haven't given that august body so much thought.

The TAB of course has always been a monopoly organisation in NZ, but it did used to be quite efficient, and innovative. The big change is that the TAB used to be a purely service organisation, and largely used to do what they were told. NZTR was also largely a service organisation. Interestingly, there used to be an organisation called something like racehorse owners and trainers assoc, with very good leadership, that used to have input to decisions, they seem to have disappeared.

Things started to go badly wrong when the breeders gained control of the Racing Board (or one of its many names) and it was merged with the TAB. Suddenly you had the tail wagging the dog. You then had board members and CEOs with unprecedented power and underwhelming competence trying to run an industry that was way beyond their level of skill.

Ever since the Racing Industry has been run by Boards and CEOs with no interest in Racing it has gone down hill rapidly. Which is hardly surprising really. These days the most important criteria to get on any Racing Board is to meet the gender ratio, be of the right political persuasion, and ideally have absolutely no knowledge of racing. 

I think the damage has largely been done and it is probably irreparable. How do you get rid of dozens of people who suddenly find themselves on the pigs back? If people think it is hard to get rid of Foster they should take a close look at the Racing Industry.

[Chief Stipe]

1 hour ago, Doomed said:

Ever since the Racing Industry has been run by Boards and CEOs with no interest in Racing it has gone down hill rapidly.

I don't that has been the real problem.  The issue has been the appointment of management with no skill or experience in wagering.  Couple that with a lack of accountability and remuneration based on performance has lead to underwhelming results.  Punters don't care as there are more competitive products on offer.  Those that should care Trainers, Jockey's, Owners and other employees have never put aside their own self interest and worked together to make management accountable.

From what I've seen and experienced most Trainers just meekly pitch up week after week and accept racing their horses on shyte tracks.  They then moan and complain when Jockey's withdraw their labour because of the state of the track.