We're Doomed

I have been to most racecourses in NZ, including almost 20 that have subsequently closed down. Amazingly one of the few tracks I have never visited is Te Rapa. As I am passing through Hamilton on Saturday, I am finally going to be able to knock Te Rapa off the bucket list. I just hope there will be a spare seat in the grandstand.

I had no knowledge of those proposals for next season. I can see I am going to get even more despondent.

By my very quick, back of an envelope, calculation it would cost somewhere between $2.5m and $3m to boost minimum stakes to $20,000 all year round, with open races at low key meetings running for $25,000. This could very easily be funded by reallocating the $1m of extra bonuses attached to the slot race, the $1m of extra industry contribution to the two sweepstakes and the $0.5m Legarto bonus. If any extra is needed, the stake for the Orchestral benefit race could be halved, providing another $0.5m. If they need a little bit more, $250,000 could be knocked off each of the Derby and Oaks. And if they still find themselves a few dollars short some of the races with the tacked on superfluous $50,000, such as the 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas and the Dyke and several others could all have their stakes rounded off. I imagine the races I have mentioned above would all attract exactly the same fields and do the same turnovers as they do currently. You can't tell me a $550,000 1,000 Guineas attracts a vastly superior field to a $500,000 1,000 Guineas. This has nothing to do with a shortage of money, as we are all aware, it is totally to do with an obsessive ideological approach to allocating said money. The management of racing has been captured by a fanatical little clique just at a time when there is some funding available. Sadly that funding is all being wasted with no benefit to the wider industry.

Basically, the industry is now a total mess. The Trainers, and Owners and Trainers, have got to stand up for themselves and put some pressure on NZTR. If they don't stand up for themselves everyone will think everything is going smoothly and NZTR will carry on down their current route. Perhaps most trainers do think everything is going smoothly. Certainly those around the Waikato do, but I am surprised that SI trainers seem content to carry on as they are. Standing up for themselves need not cost a lot of money. The first thing they need to do is to bring it to the attention of the media that the industry is unravelling, if indeed most trainers think it is. Obviously there is no racing media anymore, but there is plenty of other media wanting something interesting to write about.

How incredibly sad. I have just seen this. I saw the headline and thought they had announced a lift to the $17,000 races. Instead just pissing some more money away into races that don't need it and will create zero extra turnover. A $120,000 race as a lead up to a $110,000 race. How stupid does that look? And Ballsey has stamped his name all over it. Just towing the party line. Yet another halfwit in charge.

Also, for some reason they refuse to hold 2yo and 3yo races on the AWTs so SI trainers never get these options whereas virtually every NI feature meeting has a 2yo or 3yo race, usually both.

Where else would they go? Put them out until the spring? Tough luck if you have a horse who likes a wet track. Bizarre when you think about it. A $200,000 jumps race, while at the same time discouraging wet track flat horses. Strange old world. Six horses, including a maiden in the $40,000 open mile. Last week full fields in Southland for $17,000. It just seems like something isn't quite right.

Almost certain to be better than the awapuni trials that have been cancelled through lack of entries.

What they fail to realise is that the major benefits of a big stake come from the extra attention and better fields in various lead up races. We see that every year with the many lead up races to the Melbourne Cup, even races with guaranteed entry to the Melbourne and Caulfield Cups being held at this time of year. In the SI the southern trainers thing at Riccarton and the ODT mile at Wingatui both have heaps of lead up races. Even the slot thing in Auckland gets massive hype every time a 3yo wins a maiden race at Taupo. The Grand National has no southern lead up races, so there is zero benefit to any other southern clubs or even the CJC from the lead up races. Some might argue that the 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas attract mostly NI horses, but many of those horses come through the old John Grigg and the old Nth Canty mile. And SI jockeys even get rides on the Northerners in those lead up races, notably Sam Wynne this season. No SI jockeys get mounts in either the National itself or any of the lead up races.

As I have said before, the AWTs have their place. They provide a tier of racing and betting product to keep things ticking over during a challenging time of the year. Where NZ differs to the UK is that we do have grass tracks that can provide reasonable racing during the winter months. Where NZTR has been very disingenuous is that they have used the AWTs as an excuse to close down competing winter tracks. This is particularly obvious in Canterbury and the wider SI, but also noticeable in the NI. NZTR refuse to accept that AWT racing is a separate tier of racing that should run in parallel to conventional racing. They really have been arrogant and pig ignorant, basically adopting the approach that "we have spent heaps of money on these things so you had better bloody well use them."

If they do decide to race at Rotorua on a sodden track, surely it raises the question of why they couldn't race on a heavy 10 at Riccarton last week? Riverton conducted a perfectly successful meeting on a heavy 10 today. It begins to look like Riccarton is probably the only track where they are quite happy to change tracks merely because the two alternatives are side by side.

Define full fields

Probably

There seems to be some concern about the Rotorua track and a bit of rain. Obviously the Riccarton situation last week wasn't to be seen as a precedent, or else Rotorua would have already been moved to the Cambridge AWT. It is only about 50 minutes from Rotorua to Cambridge. What would be the chances of a late transfer in the morning?

I get the impression the trustees of the racecourse are pretty thick. They seem to waste money on things that have no upside. Last season they pissed away $100,000 adding an extra bonus to the NZ Cup, which I doubt hardly anyone knew about as it wasn't included in the stake. Now all concerned have doubled the stake of the Grand National. What do they hope to achieve by that? Possibly increase the field size from 8 to 9. Possibly increase turnover by $2,000. Do they think the people of ChCh are going to think "wow the grand National is worth $200,000 this year, lets pop along." Do they not realise the value of a big stake like that is mostly in the way it creates interest in lead up races. But there are no lead up races at Riccarton or in the SI. What do SI trainers think of their so called premium club pissing away another $100,000 to help out Northern trainers? I doubt it is going to boost southern participation in the race. Perhaps if they had reintroduced the Homeby two weeks before and made it $100,000 it might have achieved something. I hate to sound negative, but what a waste of money. If they had put that $100,000 into The Stewards during Cup Week and made it $250,000 they might have lifted it up to a group race where it belongs and attracted extra subsidies. Makes everyone involved look pretty dopey.