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

Counties Abandoned

Recommended Posts

6 minutes ago, gubellini said:

Ted expect more abandonments this winter. A synthetic track in the North should be the number one priority of the lunatics in charge of the asylum!

Totally agree. I came out to NZ for a visit 22 years back and visited my in laws on the Coast. As a racing junkie I persuaded my wife to time visit for Coast circuit. I remember The Big Bopper won Nuggets , I loved Reefton and Omoto .Since settling here I am a regular on the Coast racing and before my kids came along I had a blast with a quarter of a couple of horses a lifelong dream fulfilled. Its heartbreaking to see how racing is going in NZ. I am not sure the ins and out of financing , my gut feeling is too many tracks poorly maintained but I know it's not as easy as welding the axe. When I head back to UK , or my yearly trip to Melbourne I wonder why its got to this state here when tracks in those countries on the improve. The trainers are first class we have quality jockeys and a solid breeding industry . The facilities that's the turf and the stands really are going west.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, gubellini said:

Ted expect more abandonments this winter. A synthetic track in the North should be the number one priority of the lunatics in charge of the asylum!

Got a perfect one ....Ruakaka ..... pay subsidies and increase stakes instead of new track

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, gubellini said:

Ted expect more abandonments this winter. A synthetic track in the North should be the number one priority of the lunatics in charge of the asylum!

A synthetic track? Maybe for training purposes but I think that would otherwise just hasten the death knell of NZ racing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So how would it work, this synthetic track?

All winter racing at just the one venue?

So only one meeting per Saturday?

Or does it only host meetings abandoned elsewhere?

And everybody has to then float to another venue?

If one synthetic track hosts more than its fair share of meetings, even every 2-3 weeks, how do the clubs losing meetings stay afloat financially?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Some really good points there Idol, I know we have had plenty of rain, but Counties did spend a fortune on the drainage on their track and it looks to be back to square one. Sad, and I am not knocking the Counties Club, but it is winter racing and after all the expense they went to you think that there should not be water sitting on the track.

Hopefully the number one venue gets it right with there recent work!

And all the talk of an all weather track, get a decision made, get it underway, otherwise we will be even further behind the eight ball, but we should be used to dithering here in NZ, it has been going on awhile! 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Any effective cost benefit analysis would suggest an AW track is not a feasible option for NZ. The problem begins with where you put it and then how you fund it then who pays for the massive costs to maintain it. I did see somewhere that it would cost close to 700K to maintain each year on top of the original cost at say 10 mio.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Fartoomuch said:

Any effective cost benefit analysis would suggest an AW track is not a feasible option for NZ.

Probably depends what you mean by AWT but don't understand how you come to that conclusion. Please elaborate.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Ruakaka is built on sand... perfect....Woodhill forest same but infrastructure would be necessary?

Much cheaper to turn the irrigation off!

Maybe if the widest track was never irrigated on the outside, that portion of the track could be used over winter.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Chris Wood said:

Some really good points there Idol, I know we have had plenty of rain, but Counties did spend a fortune on the drainage on their track and it looks to be back to square one. Sad, and I am not knocking the Counties Club, but it is winter racing and after all the expense they went to you think that there should not be water sitting on the track.

Hopefully the number one venue gets it right with there recent work!

And all the talk of an all weather track, get a decision made, get it underway, otherwise we will be even further behind the eight ball, but we should be used to dithering here in NZ, it has been going on awhile! 

Could someone please tell me the total water applied to the Counties track in the past year....  Rainfall + Irrigation = ?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, 100 1 said:

Could someone please tell me the total water applied to the Counties track in the past year....  Rainfall + Irrigation = ?

You trying to tell us the irrigation done in the middle of summer has something to do with surface water in the middle of winter :wacko:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, puha said:

Shame it only suits the locals .Shithouse location unfortunately.

As for Ruakaka, sand, yes, but three winter meetings close together and it comes up like a ploughed paddock. Not the plough you work on daily but a ploughed paddock. Sandy base is fine but horses throw up clumps and it needs a long time to get grass re-established. Looks good now but it's had a load of summer rain and no racing. $millions on track alterations were done for and on behalf of basically one trainer and under the premise that they would attract a bunch of trainers and another hundred horses. Never going to happen due to its geographical situation but the plan was well marketed and NZRB swallowed it. The main trainer is now not there, small trainer numbers are dwindling and I will venture to say the number of winners  trained there will be half what they have been which will only result in further horse number reductions.From central Waikato there are Avondale, Pukekohe, Te Awamutu, Matamata, Rotorua all within an hour, then possibly Tauranga and Te teko. Why could this meeting not have been transferred to one of those? Inconvenient maybe but no less inconvenient than for those who want their horse to race. Shite, this is only the 26th May and Puke is the default track for Ellerslie over the winter. I'd estimate there will probably be more than a dozen northern meetings canned between now and September if this is the start of a trend.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Blue, you make some reasonable points.

Are you assuming the numbers in Chris's team will drop significantly because he is on his own?

My gut feel is that he may well maintain the stable strike rate achieved previously, even with a slightly smaller number of runners.

 

I anticipate that within the hour we will witness many many lengths between first and last participants at Trentham. The rain that the Southern North Island has had in recent days suggests they are lucky to be having a meeting at all.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As for Ruakaka, sand, yes, but three winter meetings close together and it comes up like a ploughed paddock. Not the plough you work on daily but a ploughed paddock. Sandy base is fine but horses throw up clumps and it needs a long time to get grass re-established.

 

Wrong...... Ruakaka never gets worse than 1.13 for 1200m  appox 100m faster than bog tracks....amazing

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, The Diceman Cometh said:

Blue, you make some reasonable points.

Are you assuming the numbers in Chris's team will drop significantly because he is on his own?

My gut feel is that he may well maintain the stable strike rate achieved previously, even with a slightly smaller number of runners.

 

 

 

I't's nothing against Chris but he is yet to train in his own right. Donna and Dean were there for many years building up the stable. It takes years of hard graft to build a reputation and some of those years can be pretty lean years.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

29 minutes ago, The Diceman Cometh said:

Do your form lad, before engaging brain.....

 

On Saturday August 30 2014 none of the 1200 races held that day were run in under 1.13.00

The 1400 were around 1.28 and the 1600 was won in 1.40

2014??????????

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.