Dingle

Yesterday the trots at ascot had a bar and food
The owners just scanned in, no forms to fill out 
People were allowed inside the grandstand, 
Today at gallops forms had to be filled in, names   crossed off list.
No bar, food, no one allowed in grandstand..Had to watch races from outside.
But there was also a farmers market there.. People every where. just scanned in.
Food drinks all available..People mixing. Many had no masks.
Seems different rules for different folk
 

Yesterday the trots at ascot had a bar and food
The owners just scanned in, no forms to fill out 
People were allowed inside the grandstand, 
Today at gallops forms had to be filled in, names   crossed off list.
No bar, food, no one allowed in grandstand..Had to watch races from outside.
But there was also a farmers market there.. People every where. just scanned in.
Food drinks all available..People mixing. Many had no masks.
Seems different rules for different folk
 

Why no stayers race at gore for maidens??
Rang NZTR and just got brushed off.
there excuse was there was one up in canterbury,       an 8hr drive with a maiden.
Dont you travel your horses
There were only 8 stared last time..  etc etc etc
at otago there were 14 nominated for the 1600 maiden
I dont know why we bother
 
 

Why no stayers race at gore for maidens??
Rang NZTR and just got brushed off.
there excuse was there was one up in canterbury,       an 8hr drive with a maiden.
Dont you travel your horses
There were only 8 stared last time..  etc etc etc
at otago there were 14 nominated for the 1600 maiden
I dont know why we bother
 
 

I hear there is a new handicapper coming to NZTR apparently worked in Dubai and Victoria
Not 100% on this tho
Hope he can sort the 65 grades out.
I would like 60 rating races with no horse having won more than two races being able to contest this band and in the 65 rating horses with no more than 3 or 4 wins being able to drop back. It is usually hard to get a start with rating 60 and lower.
Just my tupence worth
 

I hear there is a new handicapper coming to NZTR apparently worked in Dubai and Victoria
Not 100% on this tho
Hope he can sort the 65 grades out.
I would like 60 rating races with no horse having won more than two races being able to contest this band and in the 65 rating horses with no more than 3 or 4 wins being able to drop back. It is usually hard to get a start with rating 60 and lower.
Just my tupence worth
 

I hear there is a new handicapper coming to NZTR apparently worked in Dubai and Victoria
Not 100% on this tho
Hope he can sort the 65 grades out.
I would like 60 rating races with no horse having won more than two races being able to contest this band and in the 65 rating horses with no more than 3 or 4 wins being able to drop back. It is usually hard to get a start with rating 60 and lower.
Just my tupence worth
 

I hear there is a new handicapper coming to NZTR apparently worked in Dubai and Victoria
Not 100% on this tho
Hope he can sort the 65 grades out.
I would like 60 rating races with no horse having won more than two races being able to contest this band and in the 65 rating horses with no more than 3 or 4 wins being able to drop back. It is usually hard to get a start with rating 60 and lower.
Just my tupence worth
 

I hear there is a new handicapper coming to NZTR apparently worked in Dubai and Victoria
Not 100% on this tho
Hope he can sort the 65 grades out.
I would like 60 rating races with no horse having won more than two races being able to contest this band and in the 65 rating horses with no more than 3 or 4 wins being able to drop back. It is usually hard to get a start with rating 60 and lower.
Just my tupence worth
 

I hear there is a new handicapper coming to NZTR apparently worked in Dubai and Victoria
Not 100% on this tho
Hope he can sort the 65 grades out.
I would like 60 rating races with no horse having won more than two races being able to contest this band and in the 65 rating horses with no more than 3 or 4 wins being able to drop back. It is usually hard to get a start with rating 60 and lower.
Just my tupence worth
 

I hear there is a new handicapper coming to NZTR apparently worked in Dubai and Victoria
Not 100% on this tho
Hope he can sort the 65 grades out.
I would like 60 rating races with no horse having won more than two races being able to contest this band and in the 65 rating horses with no more than 3 or 4 wins being able to drop back. It is usually hard to get a start with rating 60 and lower.
Just my tupence worth
 

The whole programming system is a mess.
Had a 65 horse who never got a start at 5 meetings.
Got a maiden stayer who last raced at riverton on 1st jan,
Nothing coming up til ascot, so gave horse a bit of let up only to be told the day before noms that they are including a maiden 1600at wingatui .. Too bloody late to get horse up to racing..
Only one maiden race at gore.
Where oh where do we get a go.
 

The whole programming system is a mess.
Had a 65 horse who never got a start at 5 meetings.
Got a maiden stayer who last raced at riverton on 1st jan,
Nothing coming up til ascot, so gave horse a bit of let up only to be told the day before noms that they are including a maiden 1600at wingatui .. Too bloody late to get horse up to racing..
Only one maiden race at gore.
Where oh where do we get a go.
 

The whole programming system is a mess.
Had a 65 horse who never got a start at 5 meetings.
Got a maiden stayer who last raced at riverton on 1st jan,
Nothing coming up til ascot, so gave horse a bit of let up only to be told the day before noms that they are including a maiden 1600at wingatui .. Too bloody late to get horse up to racing..
Only one maiden race at gore.
Where oh where do we get a go.
 

The whole programming system is a mess.
Had a 65 horse who never got a start at 5 meetings.
Got a maiden stayer who last raced at riverton on 1st jan,
Nothing coming up til ascot, so gave horse a bit of let up only to be told the day before noms that they are including a maiden 1600at wingatui .. Too bloody late to get horse up to racing..
Only one maiden race at gore.
Where oh where do we get a go.
 

When are these damned annoying open entry races going to finish...  I am totally over them..
Have a one win horse who has been balloted 5 times now
He is a 55 rating but if he got a start at last meeing he would have been up against rating 93 horse.  
This is not on
There were 21 noms  .. enough for 9, 65 and over and 12 below 65..but no they ballot us out of it..
Stuff racing

When are these damned annoying open entry races going to finish...  I am totally over them..
Have a one win horse who has been balloted 5 times now
He is a 55 rating but if he got a start at last meeing he would have been up against rating 93 horse.  
This is not on
There were 21 noms  .. enough for 9, 65 and over and 12 below 65..but no they ballot us out of it..
Stuff racing

When are these damned annoying open entry races going to finish...  I am totally over them..
Have a one win horse who has been balloted 5 times now
He is a 55 rating but if he got a start at last meeing he would have been up against rating 93 horse.  
This is not on
There were 21 noms  .. enough for 9, 65 and over and 12 below 65..but no they ballot us out of it..
Stuff racing

When are these damned annoying open entry races going to finish...  I am totally over them..
Have a one win horse who has been balloted 5 times now
He is a 55 rating but if he got a start at last meeing he would have been up against rating 93 horse.  
This is not on
There were 21 noms  .. enough for 9, 65 and over and 12 below 65..but no they ballot us out of it..
Stuff racing

Here is in part Mr Saundry;s reply to an email I sent him.
"Thank you for your email and apologies for the slight delay in replying.

 

I appreciate and acknowledge your strong desire for racing to continue at Winton. However, NZTR's decision that Winton not race at its racecourse from the 2019/20 season onwards is final. We have been in communication with Howard Clarke recently regarding our decision and the principal reasons behind it.

 

I note your comments regarding the track at Ascot Park. We have been in communication with Southland RC regarding the remediation work it is planning to undertake on its course proper to improve the performance of its track. We need Ascot Park to provide the best racing surface, and racing, that it can in view of Invercargill’s population base. We are therefore working closely with the Club on its plans for improving its track.  We have also raised with Southland RC the possibility of a date swap with Winton to enable Winton to make the best, in the long term, of its new role as a tenant club.

 

I can assure you that Winton is not being “picked on” and that in our view there are very good grounds for the decision we have made regarding its track.  Our main focus in developing the draft NZTR Venue Plan was on identifying the venues that, in our view, would best help us deliver on our vision for the future of thoroughbred racing, which includes developing, on a regional basis, an optimal network of fit-for-purpose racing venues.

 

As I said at our meeting with the Club in June, we are, as an industry, managing decline. Unless we make significant changes, that decline will continue and we will not have the future we all want for the industry. As hard as it might be, this means some clubs will need to race at new venues if they want to continue racing.  A key factor in this regard is the need to drive greater wagering on our racing, both domestically and internationally, as (like it or not) wagering drives the industry and provides us with stakes money and the funds required to upgrade tracks and supporting infrastructure.  We need punters (both domestic and international) to bet more on NZ racing in order to generate the returns that our owners and other industry participants need in order to remain in the industry. The clear evidence is that punters want consistency of tracks and racing in order to bet more. Accordingly, we need to ensure that we are putting on the best racing we can, and that we race more often at venues that punters know and understand, in order to attract greater wagering on our racing.

 

Another key consideration for us in developing the draft NZTR Venue Plan was the limited amount of funds available to the industry for upgrading venues to meet increasing Health & Safety requirements (including animal welfare) and providing venues of the quality generally expected by industry participants, including owners. For example, all venues will need to install plastic running rails. For a venue like Winton, the cost of installing a plastic running is likely to be in the vicinity of $60,000 at least. From an industry perspective, there is little economic sense in meeting the cost of installing plastic running rails at all of our current venues. Clubs across the country have not had funding increases from NZTR for a number of years and many of them are struggling to carry out necessary maintenance work on their tracks and supporting infrastructure, let alone carry out improvements or redevelopments. As a result, we will need to spread the funds available to the industry for upgrading venues over a smaller number of venues in order to achieve the necessary improvements.

 

In the case of Winton, there are a number of venues within reasonably close proximity of each other, with Wyndham already having made the decision voluntarily to race at Gore. Given horse and population numbers, we are of the view that we cannot support racing at all of those venues in the future, bearing in mind the cost required to upgrade them all.  Unfortunately from Winton’s perspective, we came to the view that, in all the circumstances, we could no longer support it racing at Winton.

 

We acknowledge that there will not necessarily be an automatic and identifiable amount saved for the industry as a result of this decision. However, it will mean that funds that would otherwise have had to spent at Winton on upgrading facilities can be spent on another venue that has more racing.

 

Overall, the more we can centralise while still ensuring (to the extent we can) that New Zealanders still have reasonable access to racing, the better off the industry will be financially and the more money there will be for owners and other participants.

 

I note your comments about the loss of sponsors and committee members if Winton does not race at its home track but there a number of examples of clubs who have benefitted greatly from centralisation, and have retained sponsors and community support despite racing at another venue."
 
Up grading Ascot is a complete waste of industry funds and their own funds for that matter.
They have already sold off, for retirement village, a huge parcel of land. The rest of the place should be sold as well.. 
There is a golf course closed down near the beach. What a wonderful place to build a track. Ruakaka of the south.   There is an equestrian facility also down that way  and the more it rains the better it seems to be. A natural all weather surface.
Probably too late to purchase it now. Bugger

Yes I believe it is the first forced to change race meeting.
It would have been embarrassing for nztr , but should have been the correct decision to race at Winton.  Certainly wouldnt have embarrassed Winton.
Gore was/has a reprieve I believe  for a couple years at least. 
The one thing Winton has over Gore is the amount of starting distances..
Invercargill people have no interest in going to the races at their home track unless it is the Xmas booze up. Otherwise I doubt they even know that races are on.
At the last Wairio meeting at Ascot I saw one person in the stand and that happened to be my nephew who only came to see my horse.

Winton jockey club were forced to race at Ascot Park..
The ascot track is not up to racing at this time of year, in fact not at any particular time of year.
Recent rain just proved that .
Now they are forced to race at Gore.  Nothing against Gore but they have just raced last weekend and have another meeting at the end of the month.
Pushing too much racing on one track ..
What was/is wrong with Winton running its own meeting at home on a suitable track?
Winton would have the best draining soil in Southland.  The track and facilities are in great order.
I cant see why the powers that be cant get their heads out of the sand and admit they have got it wrong.
The blind leading the blind

The weather Gods are not playing the ball with regards to the amount of rain fallen in the south lately.
Am not sure Ascot park will be a goer based on past wet seasons. Their track has been bottomless in the past.
The trouble is, noms and withdrawals for Ascot and Timaru are both on the same days, for Friday ,Ascot and Sunday Timaru
So what is one to do ??? Nom for both meetings and have quite a few scratchings at one or both places or take a punt that Ascot wont go ahead and nom for Timaru only?
I guess its nice to have choices...The next meeting without traveling 7hours or so, is not until the 7th Aug at Wingatui.
Whoever decided that Ascot was a safe bet in July must be from Aussie.
If anyone in Invercargill could make a call early would be great but I dont hold out for that happening.. Just know that what you got right now isnt going to change much in a week.

The weather Gods are not playing the ball with regards to the amount of rain fallen in the south lately.
Am not sure Ascot park will be a goer based on past wet seasons. Their track has been bottomless in the past.
The trouble is, noms and withdrawals for Ascot and Timaru are both on the same days, for Friday ,Ascot and Sunday Timaru
So what is one to do ??? Nom for both meetings and have quite a few scratchings at one or both places or take a punt that Ascot wont go ahead and nom for Timaru only?
I guess its nice to have choices...The next meeting without traveling 7hours or so, is not until the 7th Aug at Wingatui.
Whoever decided that Ascot was a safe bet in July must be from Aussie.
If anyone in Invercargill could make a call early would be great but I dont hold out for that happening.. Just know that what you got right now isnt going to change much in a week.

Yes Invercargill is NZTR's "No 1 " faciliyt down south because that is where the population is..Bollocks. Inverargill people like most people dont go to the races. And yes nomates, Oamaru is the place to hold a meeting or two in winter down south. More likely to hold a meeting there than the deep south.
Pam if you could find a track rider to steer the nags around they would have to run highweight ++++. Track riders very light down south but not light in body lol