RaceCafe..#1...Tipsters Thread.... Share Your Fancies For Fun...Lets See Who The Best Tipsters Here Are.

Race

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  1. surely here is (part of) the problem. An awareness of the probability affecting Saturday races, but good enough for every other day of the week? http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/sport/8699635/Te-Awamutu-club-loses-Saturday-meetings From 5 years ago, but a club on a constrained and reducing budget trying to maintain race condition standards for a few race days each year.
  2. In response to 'small breeders get hammered' above. We all have mixed experiences and along with the smaller number of private breeders has come smaller numbers of studs, and limited options on not only where you can agist mares but also limited options finding those who will prepare horses for sales. And good luck getting price lists out of the farms to help in your decision making process - it just does not happen! A lot of grey service area here. Recently I tried a new trainer - well regarded - who had my horse in their care for 6 months. At the end of that time I had had one phone conversation and some video footage of him galloping - and no idea of his abilities. A major waste of $12k as it turned out - and no apology or explanation - which suggests that that is normal communication for them. I still can't quite get my head around it - a new client that pays bills on time in a narrowing market - and that is what I got for my money. Needless to say I won't be going back for more of that experience! Another recent experience was discovering that a farm where I agist my mares was charging their normal high rates for excellent care and service - but farming the agistment out to someone else down the road for half the price! It was not disclosed and they were pocketing the difference. Definitely the small guy paying for the operation of someone else's dream. Nothing new or surprising in any of this but It is a small industry, and you can see why the small breeders drop out - most people would only need one experience like this to leave. It is quite affirming to read about The Oaks situation and it highlights the challenges for all breeders without a successful stallion on board. I am glad Rick put it out there for us - but it also helps explain why the small guys get fleeced as the first casualty of their financial battles.... It can take a long time to find the relationships you are comfortable with and there is a big village needed to raise your babies in this game! But the underlying excitement and engagement of breeding and racing - and the good folk you do get to meet - is still making the effort worth it for now....
  3. Leave racing clubs all over the place and rural... without the ability to pay for the skilled folk required to look after them. The world is always a changing place and fond memories of the past are great, but failing to replicate them does not make for fond memories in the future... have a look at the average age of our community minded folk who are keeping the current situation alive with their valued voluntary contributions. Where is the understory to come through that canopy? Why not think of rural NZ communities with churches closing, banks gone, post offices gone, police gone, schools closed...you may see this as a bad thing, but it is a reality and racing not being a part of this movement means that the hole gets deeper and deeper each year for the future of racing. This is a technological age and the change in our rural communities has been obvious since 1950's - folk live where there is work and the old club structure with separate ownership and control is not serving the racing world that has to also move and adapt to the current world. It is a Mulberry bush, until people who can make the overhaul required do it. I don't have that ability so for my part, I will start to move my race horsing to Australia, as many others already have... where the rural racing communities are supported by the metropolitan racing that draws big crowds and big community/ marketing support. The costs over there are no longer significantly higher than here - but at least I can get a horse to the races and enjoy watching it in the comfort of my home. Why wouldn't the genuis' move to Wellington when parochial thinking in the provinces is the best you can put forward... Let's hope some of them care about our breeding and racing industry!
  4. There can be more than one criteria involved to judge where racing should be focused. No need to be intentionally obtuse The tens of thousands paid by owners wasted on each abandoned meeting loses owners and horses from the system... plus the bottleneck of young maidens created by lost opportunity compunds the effect in frustrating all involved in racing Less tracks maintained for higher volume racing. It has been a call for decades but the snail pace move in this direction has crippled the game from building on existing ownership or adding new owners that stay around for longer than one expensive and disappointing experience. Another damp and dismal day in racing.
  5. The key line in understanding the abandonment at this time seems to be ‘inconsistencies in track’. There will be parts dry and parts pooling water. After all it was officially rated a Dead6 this morning So we can look to track maintenance being the cause of the abandonment... the weather predicted later today didn’t get a chance. Otherwise meeting would have been abandoned when/ if the predicted rain arrived late this afternoon and when/ if the track became deemed unsafe as a result. There has been a fair bit of this around the country this season. Should there be fewer tracks but better cared for?