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That's an incredibly good point. Over here, membership at one track in one of the racecourse owning groups as ARC or Jockey Club Racecourses, gets you entry to any meeting at the others in the group. The initial outlay might be pricey - say $800 - 1000 but it soon pays for itself if you're not forking out $40 for each meeting - the whole thing pays for itself after 20-25 meetings. ARC for example includes Brighton, Lingfield, Fontwell, Southwell, Wolverhampton, Doncaster and Newcastle so that's three all-weather venues so the total number of meetings covered would be in the hundreds. For NZ, you could have a "National" membership as well as cheaper "North" and "South" memberships perhaps. The membership could include harness races and perhaps even greyhounds. You might want to exclude the really big days with the Group 1 events or discount the admission by 50-75% for membership holders. You could link membership of the New Zealand Racing Club to other promotions and products including on-track food and drink and perhaps other merchandise.

TM, maybe this is lost on you but racing survives on punting t/o, like the other 5000 whom didn’t attend this meeting I spent far less than if I had of attended, my guess is the vast majority of that 5000 spend zero. Racing is a sunset activity and your comments suggest it’s all too hard to be nimble & the interest isn’t there anyway to bother trying. & to your point on membership, the club system in NZ is a crook of shit and one of the driving reasons racing is near deceased. Membership should be universal in NZ & it should be to NZ Racing not a club, it should allow you access to all venues & privileges. Radical re-thinking on this & many other matters are needed in 2022.

The real problem is not one of handicapping, although that now needs to be recalibrated. It's one of running out of horse power. We have a black type race pattern which is meant to maintain a certain standard of racing in our black type races. Over the past 10 years, the international pattern committee has been trying to standardise the certification of the standard of these races by stating that we needed to have a certain number of horses racing against each other in these races for them to maintain their status. For example, a group one race needs to have either 5 horses racing against each other with a rating of 112 or greater or that the first 4 home have ratings of greater than 114 (don't quote me on these ratings because I'm on holiday). If this doesn't happen over a three year period, then the rating of the race can change after a warning and review. The problem in NZ is that we have only 12 horses rated over 100!!! This is because we aren't breeding from superior genetics, the best of our horses are exported (unfortunately we're not breeding many 115+ horses anyway) and we don't have the numbers of mares being bred anymore. So when it comes to having open class handicaps, we simply don't have the horse numbers, in particular those that could internationally be classed as 90-100 rated horses. These 90-100 rated (and even less) are now racing in the NZ black type races because they can, there's slightly more money in them, and being rated 90, these handicappers are now competitive in these black type races. So as that is happening, and we don't have the numbers, the open handicap runners become 80-90 rated horses racing against each other. And to put this all into perspective, one needs to consider the reason for the racing structure in the first instance. The black type pattern was to determine the best of any generation of horse and then to test the efficacy of the classic generation (3 yrs old) against the older generation. So the structure used to be that the 2 yr old championships determined the best of them but also who the best might be in the following year. The classic generation (3 yr olds) then confirmed the finding of the previous years predictions, and then tested their prowess against the older tried horses that did battle against each other. This was to determine the credentials for stud duties. This has been seriously pulled off track because of the media races and the bureaucrats (who know nothing about racing) who have decided to change the pattern, and in doing so, have diluted the ability to determine who is the best. Handicaps were created for those who couldn't normally compete in the black type races, and for those who enjoyed the concept of betting. In the southern hemisphere, we couldn't afford the top class stallions and broodmares so we were into handicapping races. That is why many of our group one races are handicaps and not set weights. We just didn't have the right number of group one type horses to race against each other in set weight group one races. That meant that the type of stallion and mare that was imported into the southern hemisphere were a larger more robust type of horses because in the old days the expression was "they needed to be able to carry a bit of weight". This has obviously changed by the way the international market has embraced Australian racing in particular. So the challenge now relates to increasing horse numbers and the quality of that horse. Not rocket science but necessary if we want to stay relevant. On current standings, 73% of all the NZ black type races are at risk of destabilisation and down grading. No-one is really talking about this in desperate terms.

Me fav Temporale, is takin on Bolt For Brilliance tonight in the trot and geez I'm torn, I love em both, but I wish they could draw this and guys did yuh see True Fantasy, she cruised it, if only our local LadyOfTheLight could've been a few possies closer in the runnin..... Oh an Happy New Year guys may 22 be a ripper for Harness yusssss!!!! Cheers Iraklis

Oh come on Nellie any horse who has to start off back marks all the time and still gets the job done, or runs 2nd, aint always gettin it easy in his races....was bloody good race Tempey parked out the whole way, and still fought Bolt in the run home, it was a mighty run from him 9yrs young tiz Tempey with the heart of Phar Lap, Bolt is a big bold young gun about to come into his own, and was always gunna be hard to hold out, don't he look great in full flight mode, love him..... Cheers Iraklis PS. does anyone know what happened with Bettor Twist?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmOLtTGvsbM All I wanna do when I wake up in the morning is check the form, Joanna, Joanna Never thought that a horse like you could lead and lose for me, Joanna All I wanna do in the middle of the evening is shut my eyes, Joanna, Joanna Didn't know a horse could sit outside you and still win Not quite a week, since you started fave Joanna, yeah You just lost, now I have to say Can you go all the way? Can you go all the way? Joanna, yeah Can you go all the way? Can you go all the way? Joanna, yeah I can see my face still staring in disbelief at the sectionals, Joanna, Joanna Didn't know a 54 last half could ever be too slow Joanna All I wanna say is tonight is the one to win, Joanna, Joanna Never though that backing you could ever hurt so bad Not quite a week, since you started fave Joanna, yeah She just lost, now I have to say Can you go all the way? Can you go all the way? Joanna, yeah Can you go all the way? Can you go all the way? Joanna, yeah

Once you changed the brilliant TOTO song 'Rosanna' to Joanna you were bound to get thumped by the stable=mate LADIES IN RED in the fillies final at Melton. Maybe you should listen to Chris De Burgh instead. (Lady in Red) here's how Joanna would of viewed her 'stable-mate ' tonight with the chorus...... "Ladies In Red is racing with me, cheek to cheek There's nobody here , to stop the ladies victory.... It's where she wants to be. But i can hardly go... with this beauty by my side I'll never forget the way she beat me tonight .........

Bolt For Brilliance, well done Tony H 3600 wins. WOW!!! True Fantasy lived up to expectations after battling with Laver last start, bolted in tonight. She's the next Amazing Dream, I give you the tip. Dalgety filly Remember Me also impressive. She's out of Adore Me who was NZs best ever mare in my humble opinion, mate. She won it all on the track and is leaving winning foals too. Your old mate Bad to the Bone went his usual honest race. I can't wait for Omakau, January 2. Laver will smash them as he is just as lethal over 2000m. Gerard will lead and use catch me if you can tactics again, last half in 54, I give you the tip. Thanks for coming. Go Laver!!!

Was an interesting race. Anditover made a flyer and the pace was on all the way. Temporale was stuck wide instead of getting an easy lead. BFB had cover and with his great sprint, the race went his way.

Did you actually see the first day drive. Obviously not The only idiot on here is you. You should get a job as a stipe

Do we think because many are enjoying what this covid experience has brought to their previously mundane lives - "Karens" it is prolonging/delaying any concern about an exit strategy? They are all proudly chipping in and doing their bit to to save the country? Can anyone figure out how the boosters are going to help against Omicron when they were apparently purchased before Omicron was a "thing"? Nobody is interested in joining any dots. The vaccines aren't doing shit despite our being constantly told they reduce severity of outcome - how can they prove that through any data source - you don't know what you can't know? The vulnerable (old, obese, diabetic, meth users etc) are really suffering, and the rest are catching a virus, recovering, moving on, regardless of vaxxed or not. Vaxxed vs unvaxxed is quite possibly a difference without a distinction. Another point of relevant interest is that they are still very coy on any talk of remedies - it has to be tied in with the Phizer deals and the Emergency Use Approval conditions in the USA. If you thought the previous National government became arrogant, entitled and deserved to be taken down a peg, they had nothing on this bunch. The most dangerous aspect of all this for us "joe nobodys" on the street, is that they (politicians) have found out the potential power in the ability to pass legislation under emergency conditions provisions. Prepare for more "emergencies" in our lives, probably climate emergencies. It is simply raping and pillaging of the taxpayers, using the media as propaganda tools and the police as their physical enforcement mob. Rant over.

Hey Memphis, I've got a similar pile of old systems from Practical Punting Monthly - probably the best one was something that picked up on 4 & 5yo geldings hitting their top at their third start back from a spell - didn't pick a lot of runners, but they were always a chance - good punting in 2022!

Stewards: BETTOR TWIST - slow to begin. Lost ground during the middle stages and trailed the field. When questioned regarding the performance Co-Trainer/Driver M Purdon stated that the filly had raced lethargically throughout and could offer no explanation for the disappointing run. A post race veterinary examination revealed no abnormality. Stewards will follow up with connections in the coming days. Not her night mate. I don't know if she has had a standing start before, probably not. She'll keep...

Eljay mate I do even if you don't, and I'm sure there are others out there who do too.....that run wasn't her (BettorTwist) champion mare like her gotta be summit not right Cheers Iraklis

From the 1st race today there will be a bit under 12 hrs before Taupo moves to Orange, what a complete f--k up to have Taupo racing today under Red (& minimal crowd) when tomorrow they could be running with no crowd restrictions. Taupo gets a massive crowd of race goers every year, NZTR have known for 3 weeks now, surely they could have swapped the dates with Hastings which can run with a full crowd today. Dumb just dumb.

Great comments Stodge, I fear a bridge too far for our lot. Excellent advice tho

Hi Cat.I have a pile of systems I cut out of the Winning Post in Sydney about ten years ago.They are similar in style to what you are doing.I kept them with the idea of applying them and seeing what panned out.I did it for about 8 weeks during the spring carnival and results were nothing startling..At that stage I was going poorly on the punt(as you will remember from our team in the comp.)so I gave up for a couple of months.Ive got a heap more of them and will get round to testing them all out.Maybe one will be a winner and I'll live happily ever after.Good punting to you in2022.

I have a less systematic system than that. Bet mostly E/W. Aiming for value, looking for under rated runners stepping up in grade. I like the 3rd/4th line of betting horses most. Keen on good jocks also horses for courses - some nags just do or do not like certain tracks. I think Te Rapa is pronounced with this, as is Ellerslie. Also like the underrated Southern or Central form at Trentham later in January. Tomorrow I think in the Railway Packing Rockstar is a chance at $15s. Not as good as the top two for sure but capable of stealing it with a cheap mid section. Also Cha Siu Bao in Rich Hill mile, good course stats and worth some place money at least, paying $80 on fixed win. Happy punting.

I witnessed a few races at Westport back in 2014, if anyone interested checking the replays of the Westport cup on first day and main race on the second day caltex handicap followed by reefton cup, and all corresponding stipes reports, interesting watch and read as I remember,

Kilcoyne, I go to the races and have been for 4o years with a mate who always has 600 in the kick. Standard bet 2 hundy a win. Often will not have a bet all day, and at one cup week of 5 days racing had only 2 bets the whole week. Both won. Can truly say the only punter I know who has made money over the years. And he has made bucketloads. Has a few simple rules ..... never back favs, steer clear of heavy tracks and bet only in open class races so he restricts himself too.. and only bets when on course. Exceptionally disciplined punter

That is one of the best things I have seen you write Berri. It really does sum up the situation very well. I can see why you don't get far with NZTR.

The two American shuttle stallions had full books every year and Overshare and this year the new boy Dirty Works had very large books.Sadly Spendthrifts owner and founder died this year so it seems that is the reason for its closure.A beautiful property with new facilities great staff and excellent to deal with.I have supported them in the past 3 years so know first hand.

And what about wanker Hipkins when asked about punishment he should get he said something like he has had a good punishment from the public already...WTF he needs to be charged like the kid in Oz...throw the book at him how the f... he even got in is another thing..poor NZ families can not even get relatives in...its a joke...and to break the rules is an even bigger one...and the other BIG question is how did he get to Waiheke??? But I bet that never gets answered.

blemin donkey!!

Seymour and Ohakaman!! LOL blemin Donkeys!!

Anyone care - go Arna!!

I'm allowed to poke my nose in. You do it often enough. Still trying to figure out if this a site for disgruntled punters to bitch about losing their money when they make idiotic bets. $2000 to win????? Mug punter then. Better to spread the $2k over a 10 race card than lose it all on one horse