Huey

Both NZTR and NZRB need new blood in both organisations, they have very little idea about the punt, ownership breeding or racing for that matter its a sad state of affairs.

Hard to disagree with him, they need to do something soon and that ain't selling up racecourses , but as they say you'll get very little useful out of NZTR.

Ouch that doesn't sound good , whats going on there?

So what , aren't we trying to make the NZ product better? Most of my punting is on the o'seas product as well but doesn't mean I'm dumping the NZ product I still want to see it get better and that'll only happen if there is a sounder base to it.

So this would be a 10 horse field if we cut the number of races down to 500? Without all those other races where do all the other horses come from to go through the grades to make this a 10 horse field? Support the base and it will flow towards the top, the bottom are the ones that make 7 horse field 8 or 9 horse fields,keep races open cause they chuck a horse in, grab another horse at the sales and race it, breed a mare they raced, the top hasn't happen without the bottom thats your starting point. They tried to start at the top years ago with $1m races , $2m derbys it didn't work, the multiplier effect will only occur in racing if you feed the bottom to begin with. The above field is just a prime example of where NZracing has gotten but forgetting the bottom and its restrictive elitist policies. Why on earth was that meeting at Ellerslie yesterday, was it just so some 2yo could qualify for the Karaka million ?

I understand that, but there should be no shame in attempting to serve the $ e/w punter or attempt to keep them or their enthusiasm in the game, do we want this sport to just be an elitist model like it is in Europe, I have shares in 2 horses and in the wider scheme of things I'm a nothing in this sport but my contribution combined with the 100s of others like me makes for a significant impact on the sport as I punt, breed,race,buy form guides,go to the races etc etc there are many like me and a lot might well be $ e/w punters who have been very loyal to this sport and they shouldn't be ignored.

I see what your saying but why alienate yet another area of NZ racing by doing it, they have already been knocked in the teeth losing Freeview,losing phone bet, taking all the local racing coverage out of the local rags etc etc etc and now we want to kick them in the teeth for being $ e/w punters ? What you need to realise is that a lot of these $ e/w punters punt on a daily basis or a few times a week and there are many of them that might turnover $100-$500 a week so why would we want to alienate them? We need them and many more imo!

Are you proposing a significant change in the funding policy? Cause I can't see many clubs being able to afford to pay appearance fees, I believe the stakes distribution should be altered and in particular free racing return even if it meant in a redistribution of the stakes on offer. Look at Nowra races in Aus tomorrow , half to the winner then everyone receives something down to 10th.

How are those 500 races going to generate enough revenue to run the sport? I thought the tracks were farked , the country tracks weren't needed , no one is breeding but now I'm learning we are racing donkeys? I suppose you've got a couple of Open Handicappers in the back garden?

Yeah cause concentrating on the top in NZ has worked out sooooo well , thats why we are leading the world in stakes and starters etc ... oh no wait a minute

What a super days racing this meeting has become, a real must watch looking forward to it ,how about Champagne Boom in the Classic.

They obviously never consulted the average punter as to what made them tick, it used to be a simple website to navigate and find info in fact one of the best but my initial thoughts on it have proven incorrect its an incoherent mess on the racing side.

I note this horse was required to trial after not getting to the start at Awapuni last week, do the stipes do this type of thing in private or should it appear on his race record? Just thought that might be the case as there were trials at Cambridge during the week. I wanted to have a little sneaky on him at 35s but was unsure if he'd start. UGO FOSCOLO (S Rusof) – Late scratching at 1.22 pm after failing to parade to the start, the stable representative was advised that the gelding must now trial to the satisfaction of a stipendiary steward prior to racing again

What your saying makes sense and appears a good idea, the problem being it won't happen because it involves the established/favoured venue (Awapuni) giving up something to produce something better, those that run the industry won't let that happen as they have this little imaginary world in their minds where the established infrastructure is better than anything else because the stand has nice tables and chairs in it. If it was the other way round , i.e. like the M report the bigger venues swallowing the smaller venues then its a great idea and it has to happen cause it will save NZ racing.

Are you suggesting as an industry we are better off with the closure of those tracks? The only part of the industry that has benefited with the closure of those tracks is Awapuni and they haven't gone on to pass on those benefits to the industry. I'm all for the closures of tracks if that is a choice the club makes itself or happens through lack of use or enthusiasm etc but forced closures is just a joke and only benefits a micro part of the industry i.e. another course. Read the article above and the opinions and thoughts of those quoted in the article are those the types of people you want to be handing millions of dollars to so that they can supposedly remedy the industry of some of its woes? You'd be better off supporting the clubs to stay operational and enthusiastic than supporting these types of people who think racing is a factory and can be treated as such. The biggest myth in NZ racing at the moment is too many tracks, when the real issue should be the over use of several tracks and the criminal under use of other tracks. Don't be fooled by all this garbage about better stand facilities when the real issue is better tracks for the product to race on, sport is TV driven nowadays.