We're Doomed

I thought it might be time to throw out an actual Racing subject for a change, with all of the other subjects being debated at the moment. Is it time just to pull the pin on jumps racing in the SI? I note Wingatui this week has 6 hurdlers going around in an open $20,000 race, despite mustering just one hurdle win among the whole field. And the Chasers have a field of just 5, also going around for $20,000 in an open class race, despite just two steeple wins amongst the whole field. So it can't really be argued that the money isn't there. $40,000 for 11 fairly ordinary types is surely not sustainable, and the money could be put to better use elsewhere: 2yos and 3yos perhaps. There aren't many trainers involved, so really would anyone notice if jumps racing stopped in the South after this Grand National meeting? There used to be a time when all winter meetings had to programme a jumps race, but now we have got used to whole programmes purely for flat horses in the winter months. There are enough flat horses in the South to sustain the current number of meetings without the jumpers. The CJC, as the lead club in the South, has lost all interest, except for the National Week novelty. There appears to be no desire or enthusiasm to try and make jumping work. I suspect the powers that be have actually tried to run it down to the point where they can say: "that's it, there is no interest, jumps racing is finished." Well, we have now reached that point. Would anyone really notice, or care, if it stopped?

It almost makes me feel quite righteous. If it wasn't for the gay bit I might have thought he was directing his condemnation at me. But I am pleased to say, I took no offence.

I just watched the replay of that monte; looked quite entertaining, I'm sure the oncourse punters loved it.

From my experience you can use your NZ TAB account when you are in the UK, but not in France or Australia. It is all to do with those countries blocking overseas betting agencies that they don't have an arrangement with.

The problem the nats have at the moment is that they are spending too much effort trying to placate their die-hard supporters who will vote for them regardless, hence this bizarre idea of possibly bringing this total outsider in who is supposedly better than anyone they totally have in-house. No idea how they think this will help them win the next election, unless they give someone on their list the boot.

Clever name, good luck.

Staying races in the UK don't usually get that big a fields. At Ascot on Saturday night the 2,400m race has 9 starters and the 4,350m race has 13 starters. Are you seriously suggesting a straight 2,000m race at Otaki on any given Saturday would attract 24+ starters?

I don't even know how to find the results of such bets as I never take them. Sounds like anyone who backed those four jockeys got most of their money back. Surely they didn't all pay the same divi? They should have all paid 25% of the respective odds they were at. In any dead heat situation your return is always halved, or in this case quartered with four dead heating. I take it you backed one of the four? What odds were they at, what return did you get, and what return did you expect?

Can you just explain to me what is the advantage of a 2,000m straight race? To me it sounds a bit like the old days when fog meant only the last couple of hundred metres was visible.

Pretty hard to dispute any of that really. Berri's idea of 2,000m straight races is just unworkable.

Sort of tenuously related to this subject, I have been looking at the trainers premiership a bit recently and I have been a bit stunned by how few winners some well known trainers have trained for the season and how little money their horses have earned. I know stakes are low, but obviously some trainers aren't even winning many $10,000 races. Based on the fees mentioned above, the ratio between total training fees received by some stables and total stakes earned must be quite revealing.

Two questions. What is that strange looking Monte thing at Alex park this weekend, and why does alex park run 11 races when five of them have 7 starters or less? Serious questions. I ask because the gallops like to run only 7 races even when it means balloting and eliminating dozens of horses each week.

You can hardly blame him. Must be bloody expensive flying in and out of Dunedin all the time, and he gets to call some pretty ordinary stuff most the time.

It is amazing how the SI was ever lucky enough to attract someone like Mark. I suppose we could always try to lure that lad back from HK, who has done quite well for someone who wasn't good enough for us previously.

As far as I understand it, these lower grade industry days were intended to provide opportunities for lower rated horses, such as maidens and 65s; lesser performing horses with higher ratings who may have reached their mark; also a way of getting horses through the grades to compete at Saturday meetings; and to generate some form for better grades of races. Currently there is a massive shortage of open class horses, particularly stayers. In the SI there are heaps of staying types in the maiden and 65 classes, not so many once you get beyond that. At Timaru this week there are no staying races; the longest maiden race is over 1,200m; the longest rating 65 open to both sexes is over 1,200m; we have a maiden nominated for the rating 72 1,600m just to get a start. The way things stand at the moment 26 horses could be balloted and eliminated, and conservatively another 70 odd maidens and 65s will stay at home altogether because there is no race for them. Not all stayers can drop back from 2,100m to 1,200m like Dr Watson and think nothing of it. And don't even get me started on the dearth of races for 2yos in Canterbury. So I really can't see that these industry days are achieving their intended role at all. And I cannot see the logic behind these 7 race programmes. There is no problem filling a $10,000 maiden 1,600m anywhere in the country; the problem is getting 8 starters for a $35,000 open race anywhere in the country. If I recall correctly the open has already been abandoned at Awapuni. My feeling is either close racing down altogether if it is too hard, or try to do it properly.