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

Stark reality of NZ racing

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As if anyone needed reminding of the stark variance between New Zealand and Australian racing.

Today, Saturday, the major racing day of the week (the day I'm not at work), New Zealand's largest city Auckland (pop. 2 million), race meeting at Ellerslie, with a mere 6 races.

We look at Australia this weekend where the headline acts include Chautauqua, Hartnell, Black Heart Bart, Bonneval.

By comparison in New Zealand the NZ Herald's Mike Dillon yesterday reported the headline act as going to be the brave but very limited one-paced Smedley, who promptly took umbrage at any suggestion it would be headlining anything, and scratched itself.

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The race Dillo selected in is The Mitchelson.....it was a decent race in its day...sadly today's event doesn't have a single open class horse in it, yet the bumbling fools in Petone keep telling us they've got this game sorted.

I understand the weather issues and the impact that has on field size, but if other sports can cope ( Eden Park seems fine ), and this problem has been widely discussed here so it's not a new issue, then surely the industry must take some responsibility for what's really a bit of a farce raceday today at Ellerslie.

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And let's not forget to mention the absolutely disgraceful fields at Taranaki. A 4 horse race today featuring grey horses? Well that will produce an avalanche of money through the TAB - not! 

So people won't race on heavy tracks for money yet prepared to use the industry's facilities for a trial?  OK, the answer is simple.  As they have done in Australia, because it appears that  trainers these days can't or don't want to prepare horses for races just by gallops & local jump-outs, they have raised the cost of trialling and increased the Raceday appearance fee/raceday subsidy plus pay back to 8th/10thplace. I think that's something they need to do here to deter people from using industry facilities to trial horses to sell instead of putting them through the industry fund generator, the races. At least that process would generate some revenue for the industry...

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29 minutes ago, GOM said:

Even if the TAB put a free hundy in my account I couldn'y bring myself to have abet today

Why not?  There are a few outstanding bets today.

Outstanding bets have no relation whatsoever to quality of the fields.

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2 hours ago, La Zip said:

And let's not forget to mention the absolutely disgraceful fields at Taranaki. A 4 horse race today featuring grey horses? Well that will produce an avalanche of money through the TAB - not!

...and two of them 8,  the other two 7.

Oh dear.

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2 hours ago, Midget said:

And if you destroy the trials / selling yong horses market you'll be tearing apart the only thing keeping NZ racing solvent.

 

yes Midget - perhaps what is really needed and what the industry is way too scared to implement is a complete root and branch reform of the industry....because what you have indicated is only a bandaid over a festering sore...and you know what happens then....

why do you think the TAB doesn't pay for racing?  Because punters in general will only bet on "what they know"...and as the motto of most trainers for their horses is "here today, gone tomorrow (or until someone offers me $XXXXXX) ....punters won't put a load of their genuinely earned dosh on the line.....when the pool of horses is constantly changing and ever diminishing.....

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I note that the stake for the Mitchelson Cup today is $35,000. In 1997 Chibuli and Mark Sweeney won the race. The stake was $30,000. It is a total disgrace that this time honoured race is not worth at least $50,000. This race has been staged since 1919- nearly 100 years.

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7 hours ago, Koriokaramea said:

As if anyone needed reminding of the stark variance between New Zealand and Australian racing.

Today, Saturday, the major racing day of the week (the day I'm not at work), New Zealand's largest city Auckland (pop. 2 million), race meeting at Ellerslie, with a mere 6 races.

We look at Australia this weekend where the headline acts include Chautauqua, Hartnell, Black Heart Bart, Bonneval.

By comparison in New Zealand the NZ Herald's Mike Dillon yesterday reported the headline act as going to be the brave but very limited one-paced Smedley, who promptly took umbrage at any suggestion it would be headlining anything, and scratched itself.

And Mongolian Legend went out in sympathy K......;)

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I saw Bright Chief win the Mitchelson Cup from the Hill Enclosure.  It was worth about $4000 in those days.  I was earning $17.50 per week and a jug (small ones compared to pubs) cost 40 cents.  The Hill rather than the Lawn as the $1 entry fee to The Lawn was too much for me.  1967!  The year I came within four marks of New Zealand's top student in stage one Accounting.

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Tauhei Notts great memories! The 1967 Mitchelson Cup was worth $5,000 including a $100 Trophy. Other winners that day included Miss Lynette, Elabama and Barellan. No such horses of such calibre went around at Ellerslie on Saturday! Nigel Landers sent me a text on Saturday night from Thailand were he now resides. He could not believe that only six horses ran in the Mitchelson Cup! He can't believe the state of NZ Racing!

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Maybe one day someone in a position of power will wake up and admit our wet track racing is a dreadful betting medium, and do something about it! 

I could not bring myself to invest $1 on Saturday, or Sunday. Without robust turnover we can never grow stakes.

A Strathayr and a couple of all-weathers would be a good start.

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