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

Just not quite right.

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We never seem to get things quite right in NZ. Disappointing to see 13 scratched balloted horses at Wingatui today, and several other maidens were eliminated altogether. At the same time tighter class races go around with tiny fields everywhere, often for big money. We will never get decent fields for tighter class races if they can't even get a start in a maiden race. On the positive side, great to see Wingatui running a 2yo race today. And they even got seven acceptors. Just a pity the next race just for 2yos in Otago and Southland isn't until March. Strange really that there used to be a feauture 2yo race at Wingatui on Boxing Day and yet now at a time when syndicates are more common and people want quick returns that sort of race has been scrapped.

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I've never understood this, if trainers put their horses in somewhere and want to run and are balloted out (and ther eis enough for an 8 horse field) why don't they just have another maiden race?

If they want to race at a particular venue let them race. I know they are doing their best to protect the field sizes at some of the bigger favoured venues over the xmas period and beyond but it is this established bias that is slowly but surely ruining racing in this country and trigger for the mess it finds itself in.

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1 hour ago, Huey said:

I've never understood this, if trainers put their horses in somewhere and want to run and are balloted out (and ther eis enough for an 8 horse field) why don't they just have another maiden race?

If they want to race at a particular venue let them race. I know they are doing their best to protect the field sizes at some of the bigger favoured venues over the xmas period and beyond but it is this established bias that is slowly but surely ruining racing in this country and trigger for the mess it finds itself in.

I might not have the nuts and bolts exactly right..but...stakes are bulk funded by NZTR ,  so to run another race when funding has been allocated for,  say, eight races, then requires approval and a loosening of the purse strings by NZTR.

Many times races are 'split' and an extra one or, sometimes two,  are run.  But I don't think it is as simple as 'why don't they have another race..'  

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7 minutes ago, Pam Robson said:

I might not have the nuts and bolts exactly right..but...stakes are bulk funded by NZTR ,  so to run another race when funding has been allocated for,  say, eight races, then requires approval and a loosening of the purse strings by NZTR.

Many times races are 'split' and an extra one or, sometimes two,  are run.  But I don't think it is as simple as 'why don't they have another race..'  

Don't they have a pool of abandoned races stakes?

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Another random thing that has occured to me is how indebted the industry is to some of the smaller trainers; the sort of people many would like to get rid of so we only had big trainers and a few big tracks with all of the resources. Today at Invercargill Charles and Corbett provide two of the eight runners in the $35,000 open race; 25% of the starters. They have travelled all the way from Timaru, are both racing well out of their class, and have saved the club from the embarassment of only having six going around in their feature race. I hope they show their appreciation to C &C for their invaluable contribution to the meeting.

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1 hour ago, We're Doomed said:

Another random thing that has occured to me is how indebted the industry is to some of the smaller trainers; the sort of people many would like to get rid of so we only had big trainers and a few big tracks with all of the resources. Today at Invercargill Charles and Corbett provide two of the eight runners in the $35,000 open race; 25% of the starters. They have travelled all the way from Timaru, are both racing well out of their class, and have saved the club from the embarassment of only having six going around in their feature race. I hope they show their appreciation to C &C for their invaluable contribution to the meeting.

Good points....and while we're on that thread think on the fact that they raced some yesterday at Wingatui,  slept in their truck and drove to Invercargill today.

Consider also those riders/trainers racing at Gore [ Tapanui ]  Christmas Eve,  and either go home for Christmas day with families and back again for racing Boxing Day,  or save the travel and  miss spending time with children etc in this festive time.

Not much fun for those involved.

I recall Pitty telling me that he sent certain NZTR personnel a map of the south island once - he should do it again.

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3 hours ago, poundforpound said:

Spare a thought for the fat useless bastards ( and that useless Strickland ) who think they’re doing a good job gallivanting all over the world, at the sharp end of the plane, visiting exotic places like Hong Kong, so they can tell the world what a great job they’re doing, and how lucky all the trainers and jockeys in NZ are.

They're the real troopers of this industry !!

I have certainly been remiss in not acknowledging their sacrifices and selfless contribution. The quiet achievers. Because, to be honest, they don't blow their own trumpets about the hardships they endure in HK.

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20 hours ago, We're Doomed said:

Another random thing that has occured to me is how indebted the industry is to some of the smaller trainers; the sort of people many would like to get rid of so we only had big trainers and a few big tracks with all of the resources. Today at Invercargill Charles and Corbett provide two of the eight runners in the $35,000 open race; 25% of the starters. They have travelled all the way from Timaru, are both racing well out of their class, and have saved the club from the embarassment of only having six going around in their feature race. I hope they show their appreciation to C &C for their invaluable contribution to the meeting.

A desperate ploy to prop up races - how long can this last?

Quaddie - wait for it - got to 7k, and this on a Saturday.

How can SI racing survive?

Should have gone to Spec Savers.

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46 minutes ago, Diver Dan said:

A desperate ploy to prop up races - how long can this last?

Quaddie - wait for it - got to 7k, and this on a Saturday.

How can SI racing survive?

Should have gone to Spec Savers.

Dan, Auckland today starts with only five going around for $35,000, only seven go around in the $50,000 3yo race, the fourth race has more than half the field scratched, the 2yo was abandoned altogether. The SI doesn't do too bad in that context.

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41 minutes ago, We're Doomed said:

Dan, Auckland today starts with only five going around for $35,000, only seven go around in the $50,000 3yo race, the fourth race has more than half the field scratched, the 2yo was abandoned altogether. The SI doesn't do too bad in that context.

Going by.the names of the sponsors I'd say the retirement villages vans will be working overtime today.

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4 hours ago, We're Doomed said:

Dan, Auckland today starts with only five going around for $35,000, only seven go around in the $50,000 3yo race, the fourth race has more than half the field scratched, the 2yo was abandoned altogether. The SI doesn't do too bad in that context.

WD - I agree with you in regards to the small field sizes but my point was more to do with the turnover.

7K for a SATURDAY Quaddie is a disgrace - punters have voted with their wallets - it's seriously terminal.

Today won't be great and for a Sunday Ellerslie should still reach past 20k - the first Quaddie of course less.

It would be an interesting exercise to see how much the NI racing supports the SI(in terms of betting turnover) - if those figures are actually ever done.

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5 hours ago, We're Doomed said:

Dan, Auckland today starts with only five going around for $35,000, only seven go around in the $50,000 3yo race, the fourth race has more than half the field scratched, the 2yo was abandoned altogether. The SI doesn't do too bad in that context.

Hard to fathom WD. That 4th race had 20 runners initially and 11 scratch. Expensive exercise to keep doing that.

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3 hours ago, Diver Dan said:

WD - I agree with you in regards to the small field sizes but my point was more to do with the turnover.

7K for a SATURDAY Quaddie is a disgrace - punters have voted with their wallets - it's seriously terminal.

Today won't be great and for a Sunday Ellerslie should still reach past 20k - the first Quaddie of course less.

It would be an interesting exercise to see how much the NI racing supports the SI(in terms of betting turnover) - if those figures are actually ever done.

NZ racing would be pretty boring without the SI Dan. Yesterday's feature at Awapuni was won by a SI trained horse and NZ's top jockey travelled up from the SI to add a touch of class to TeRapa yesterday. And it wouldn't surprise me if the biggest on course crowd in the last couple of weeks was at Cromwell. Certainly the biggest on course crowd so far this season was at Riccarton.

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4 minutes ago, Diver Dan said:

If you're middle aged and from the SI you might get a few likes - but in most cases turnover doesn't suggest that.

Surely Dan, a lot of the turnover these days comes from off shore so the NI is hardly self supporting either.

I suppose middle aged and from the SI is less offensive than some other generalisations.

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15 hours ago, We're Doomed said:

NZ racing would be pretty boring without the SI Dan. Yesterday's feature at Awapuni was won by a SI trained horse and NZ's top jockey travelled up from the SI to add a touch of class to TeRapa yesterday. And it wouldn't surprise me if the biggest on course crowd in the last couple of weeks was at Cromwell. Certainly the biggest on course crowd so far this season was at Riccarton.

Massive crowd at Ascot Park on Saturday. 6-7 thousand patrons in hundreds of Marqees in convivial and well behaved mood. Well organised and slick compared to the organisational disaster of Otago racing club at Cromwell.Probably twice as big a turnout as Cromwell so obviously a hard working committee as fields were absent of any class.

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8 minutes ago, patrick said:

massive crowd at Ascot Park on Saturday. 6-7 thousand patrons in hundreds of Marqees in convivial and well behaved mood. Well organised and slick compared to the organisational disaster of Otago racing club at Cromwell.Probably twice as big a turnout as Cromwell so obviously a hard working committee as fields were absent of any class.

Good to hear as Te Rapa was an absolute disaster,

Not even a massive crowd or much different to other years but nearly impossible to first of all get a drink, massive wait on any ordered food, luch coming out after 3pm in many of the functions on course, alcohol ran out and then they served warm beer, tap beer was out of action from the start.

Massively disappointing, Te Rapa..they just cant get it right

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3 hours ago, BruceL said:

Good to hear as Te Rapa was an absolute disaster,

Not even a massive crowd or much different to other years but nearly impossible to first of all get a drink, massive wait on any ordered food, luch coming out after 3pm in many of the functions on course, alcohol ran out and then they served warm beer, tap beer was out of action from the start.

Massively disappointing, Te Rapa..they just cant get it right

Poor old Hamilton, they can't get many things right. Sounds just like the cricket.

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15 hours ago, We're Doomed said:

Surely Dan, a lot of the turnover these days comes from off shore so the NI is hardly self supporting either.

I suppose middle aged and from the SI is less offensive than some other generalisations.

WD, I don't think your assumption regarding much of the t/o is coming from offshore sources is actually correct (but please correct me if I'm wrong).  I check several times a day the pools for NZ racing on NSW, Qld, SA & ACT TABs....they hold very little money. As I've always maintained, this offshore issue, being a main part of the race fields legislation, is a little misleading.  NZ racing holds little appeal to the average Oz punter and the pools on the various Australian TABs reflect this.

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5 hours ago, BruceL said:

Good to hear as Te Rapa was an absolute disaster,

Not even a massive crowd or much different to other years but nearly impossible to first of all get a drink, massive wait on any ordered food, luch coming out after 3pm in many of the functions on course, alcohol ran out and then they served warm beer, tap beer was out of action from the start.

Massively disappointing, Te Rapa..they just cant get it right

Get on to Rutherford Bruce, and ask him what the hell is going on. How difficult can it be at this time of the year...??

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15 minutes ago, Ohokaman said:

Get on to Rutherford Bruce, and ask him what the hell is going on. How difficult can it be at this time of the year...??

Agree O'man--aren't Rutherford and KFE supposed to be a couple of the "heavy-hitters" of racing admin? Ken maybe pre-occupied with booking rides and commentating cricket.

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