Tauhei Notts

Nikki, The Racing Board, or whatever it is called this week, has proven itself to be totally and completely broken. What can I do to help you clean up and restart this dysfunctional outfit?

I have read Ken Rutherford's article several times now. I think the most pertinent point is that "when he commenced setting fixed odds in 2001 it was run by passionate people in it more for the love of the game than the money." Then over the next 19 years the TAB has morphed into a huge bureaucratic empire run by highly educated people there for the money, not for the love of the game. I have seen it so many times in so many areas. ENTHUSIASM. It is very difficult to build it up. It is a piece of piss to destroy it. And the ever burgeoning bureaucracy destroyed it. This cancer has grown on the TAB body ever so slowly over the past 19 years and I fear it is a terminal illness. The incremental growth of that cancer has been so slow and so prolonged that people like me did not step up and say, twelve years ago;' "Put a stop to this idiocy right bloody now, you imbeciles."

Congratulations to Cambridge Stud on their openness. No name suppression. Just basic facts put out in the open. That is the sort of honesty that I have huge respect for. I wish them the very best of luck in this serious matter.

Poundforpound mentioned administrative expenses above. One thing he did not mention was expenditure on public relations. Can anybody imagine what a PR consultant would be charging for what P for P does for himself, at his own cost, in such a brilliant manner. The way he wipes those Labour politicians away is a sight to behold. And similarly with those who have the temerity to call themselves journalists. I love it.

I would be 100% in favour of this on one condition and that is that mug taxpayers like me are not paying a penny for it. But when dealing with a reptilian politician with a huge abundance of rat cunning I can get no such assurance.

Further to Leggy's post, I had seen the figures where the off course thoroughbred betting per head in the Nelson area plummeted when the Nelson Jockey Club went into recess. I hope, probably in vain, that RITA have considered those statistics before making their decision. Harness and Dog betting remained unchanged. They never ever had dogs and the harness racing continues.

RITA has obviously inherited a gigantic stuff up. I wish them the best of luck sorting it out. I regret that I have no answers which is a pity as the outlook is bleak, in the extreme, for our industry funded by those people.

It would appear that the Karaka Millions night is being moved one week earlier to 23rd January 2021. I imagine the Karaka sales will be held a week earlier, but I have seen nothing in the news about this. If anybody knows, please tell us.

Please give us the name of the executive recruitment firm that appointed this muppet to such a seemingly responsible position. When he was CEO at NZRB he thought Te Rapa was a museum with a spelling mistake. Yeah, that's right. More "R's" than class.

I have given this topic some considerable thought and spoken to a wide range of people. Some are mad keen punters. Others are irregular attendees of the races. Like, my brother-in-law has a share (about 2.5%) in a runner so I will go and have fifty each way. Hopefully I will have lots of drinking money for the rest of the day. "Where do I place the bet?" "On your phone, numb skull." came the reply. "But correct weight will have been declared long before I work out how to bet on my phone" RITA have proven that they have little knowledge of what drives their market. This is shameful.

Please tell me if it is true. I had heard that Wairoa had a higher on course turnover than did Ellerslie on Avondale Cup day. Close Wairoa?

Puha raised a point about fifty minutes ago. The highly paid ever so brilliant people at the Racing Board commissioned a market research outfit at big cost to, well, do what market researchers usually do; research the market. I said big cost because I know how much those people charge. So the highly paid ever so brilliant people, using their collective wisdom to the max hired market researchers who did not even know what a trifecta is. They may have a good knowledge of differential calculus or the declension of Latin verbs or even a fluency in Swahili, but, for God's sake, they are researching the market for punters. It is that sort of thing that helps us realise why the Racing Board went broke.

Nerula puts is beautifully. You have that $3000 in your pocket and feel real good. You don't think about the $12000 that the sixth share in the horse has cost you so far. You have those thirty Lord Rutherfords and you want to get a share in another horse. It is illogical, but that's the way us horse owners think. Whoever came up with this idea has absolutely no idea of how racehorse owners think. And that is the sort of person that is running our show. Mind boggling.

James Mackinnon of the Auckland Trotting Club put it correctly. The on course terminals do not cost RITA a cent. The operators' wages etc costs and terminal hire are paid for by the Clubs. Dean McKenzie's latest outburst brings to mind what Groucho said of Harpo in a Marx brothers' film; "Harpo is the brains of our outfit. Now you know what kind of an outfit we've got."

Wobbly's sentence sums up my troubled thinking. That sentence deserves repeating. "Where's all this leading and how did he sell it to Grant Robertson and the lefties so easily."