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Yep if you spend anytime in a betting shop in england you will see as many virtual races as real ones. Plus machines offering roulette etc etc ...

Leggy, under the new Racing Act, only the three codes can allocate Race Dates and these must then be confirmed by the new board

You keep telling yourself that Barry, maybe u could take your concept of 1 lane racing to the Victorians and they could sort that for you. Perceived bias, tempo, tactics but supports 1 lane racing on the outside fence FFS there is no hope. 

Thanks,  Stodge,  that has been my thought too, when similar has been mooted before.  NZTR could/would penalise heavily any licensed personnel,  and could also place a ban on horses competing at such fixtures.  It couldn't work under our current structure.

Are New Zealand First strong in Taranaki?   Peters promised action when he scrambled back in 3 years ago and the present mess took 3 years for him to "deliver".     Are the cuts srategically political.      What he doesn't seem to appreciate these cuts will affect a wider area than just the local communities, e.g. transport providers, loss of interest etc.     The elections are not far off, 3 months, and all racing followers from all codes need to boycott NZ First - make it political.     Of course once Winston gets wind of such a move he will announce to the industry that some action was necessary but his intentions will be to re-visit the problem.    That will likely take another 3 years by which time many of these clubs will have either disbanded or gone belly up.     He may well have caused irrepairable damage but he shouldn't be given further licence to complete the chaos he has already caused.     So many believed him last elections, don't be fooled again - afterall he is just a politician and only worried about number one. 

Over here it's called "flapping" and it happens a lot in the greyhound community. There have been flapping horse race meetings and as you say any licensed professional found to have involvement would be looking at a lengthy ban if caught. It would matter if the Stratford breakaway started a tidal wave of clubs breaking from the current system and setting up effectively an independent horse racing body.At some point, NZTR would have to come to terms with the rebels and the central question would be the one I've often raised on here and other NZ racing forums - "who owns the product?" In the UK, the arrangement basically is the racecourses get income from the crowds (in normal times) and from "selling" the races to the media through the agreements they have with the two specialist racing channels and the off-course bookmakers.The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) sets the framework of the fixture list so x meetings on a Monday, y meetings on Tuesday etc and the courses fill in the gaps. Meetings over and above the "requirement" have to be self-funded. As I see it, Stratford couldn't "sell" its racing to the TAB under the current arrangement.  That then begs the more difficult question as to the demand for the product. In the UK, we can get British (obviously), Irish, French and South African races in the day and the evening is made up of domestic sport in the summer and American action all the year round. Hong Kong racing is early for the betting shops even though many of these now open at 8am (and two Irish dog tracks start meetings at 8.10 during the week for the early business). Aussie racing is shown through the night on one of the specialist channels and you can play the exchanges at all hours. The time difference makes the showing of NZ racing in UK shops difficult but there are other markets in the Middle East and Japan which may be amenable to taking coverage and that'show you sell the product. I mean, you could start a meeting at 9am in the winter on an artificial surface and it would be an 8pm the previous summer evening in the UK and 7pm in Europe. That's how NZTR has to be thinking - selling the NZ product in an already crowded global racing marketplace. 

Good to hear , blimey I would have happily paid 5 bucks but 3 is better .I must have a racebook/racecard  when on course  so good on them doing a good one .IMHO anything above the basic is the cream on top .

Rubbish. If they don't hold a betting licence they can set their own date and hold a race meeting under their own rules if they are not a registered club under the Racing Act can't they? What's to stop them? And if an overseas operator wants to contract with the club to take bets on those events, what's to stop that? I think you are the one dreaming.

There is no way they would be able to hold a meeting unless they come back into the fold. No date would be allocated to them and no betting facilities would be made available to them. Talk of bringing in an overseas betting agency could not happen. The TAB has a monopoly on betting on horse racing betting in New Zealand. Stratford are dreaming if they can run a racemeeting on their course under the current arrangements

5 Bucks !!!!! Saturday's book was only $3 bucks  !...free to Members ! Fantastic it was too......attendees on the day go to see the 'live racing' so don't want to be at Ellerslie and see a field from Gawler , America or even Caulfield ,when they turn a page! Great to have the meetings at back of book [no America] with the Aussie racing showing quite a few facts,figures and colours. The Riccarton races had that plus a comment on most horses. As to the main purpose of the book Ellerslie ,it had a map of course facilities , plus all food options ,plus a guide to betting ,how to do it plus cost and percentages. It had a list of Jockeys and their mounts ,ditto trainers. It had a summary of all fields at front of book with pool options to bet into it. It had a speed map for 7 races. And it had picks , as well as comments on all horses ..and stats for last 3 starts including trials.! Anyone who took note of picks ,consulted with MGuerins editorial in Herald and Teds tips on BGP ,would have done very well.....as many did ! I've read hundreds of complaints in recent years re the track ,the coffee ,the choice of beer , the choice of champagne ,the loud music ,the commentator , too crowded, too empty ,too many young ones , too many old buggers,the suits ,the white coats , the JCA , the jockeys , the security , the marketing , the signage,the ticket sellers, the SST etc etc, But this is a first.......the race book ! I doubt if there is a better one anywhere !

Last sentence in this post is the most sensible thing you’ve ever posted!  

Could they run Quarter Horse races as these would likely not be run under NZTR jurisdiction?

Riccarton trainer Andrew Carston has had a good run with former North Island horses and that continued on his home track on Saturday when Hunua Hank took out his 1600m contest. The former Nigel Tiley-trained gelding was having just his second start for Carston and he believes the son of Pentire has a bright future […]View the full article

Leading international bloodstock agent Paul Moroney has struck gold once again. Moroney pioneered sourcing German bloodlines for New Zealand clients back in the 1980’s and more than 30 years later his judgment of the European stock is still paying off. “I think I was one of the first to buy German bloodlines into New Zealand,” […]View the full article

Lets say Stratford decided to run a racemeeting I daresay if requirements such as safety were met then they could. However then NZTR would ban any horse or jockey from participating at NZTR sanctioned meetings. Then it becomes a legal question is the ban equitable and fair.  If Stratford decided to have betting the question would be how to get around the Racing Act and Gambling Act. Perhaps have an overseas agency provide betting to overseas customers only. If Stratford did somehow find a way the local support would be mammoth. Like shoving it up the status quo.

So do I.... if it's run at Club level and we sack all the suits that got us into this mess! 👍

Good on them  Contrary to popular belief I see a very bright future for racing and sport in general in the coming years.

Shoot out to see who has the last word haha

I have some sympathy for them. Good luck I say. And as they say, Taranaki will need somewhere to go if their council kicks them out; probably a better track as well.

So even Alan Jones is saying his experts are telling him Covid no worse than seasonal flu. Truth beginning to drip out. I await for the Alan Jones bagging from the conspiracy theorists,