We're Doomed

I think many years ago they discovered they could fit in a 1,350m, or thereabouts, start. These days, with no need for the steeplechase track, I believe there would be scope for some reconfiguration at Timaru. It is a track that a forward thinking administration would be spending money on.

Timaru next season has 3 meetings in 28 days, Sept through early Oct. Doesn't seem like a particularly even spread.

Just a few random basics to get things started. If I ruled the world my start point would be minimum stakes of $20,000 all year round for industry meetings with open races at those meetings running for $25,000. The winter stakes at the $35,000/$40,000 meetings I don't really mind as we are usually getting 4,5 and 6 horse fields for open races at those meetings in the NI as it is. However I would extend those stakes to some meetings throughout the summer as well. Some of those meetings would be upgraded industry meetings, others would be downgraded $40,000/$50,000 days. And the 40/50 days I would extend to the winter months to a few feature meetings, perhaps 15 or 16 such meetings through the winter. I would scrap the $25,000 twilight stakes as they do nothing to boost fields. I would save additional money for redistribution by reducing the 3yo sweepstake back to $1m. I would also knock $250,000 off each of the Derby, Oaks and that 4yo race. Also quite a few of the Group 1s being run for weird stakes like $550,000 could all come back to $400,000. They would attract the same fields. That's just a start. I will have some more ideas. My suggestions above would be cost neutral given the reductions to some unnecessary stakes.

The HB WFA 2,000M at Ellerslie is now on a day they doesn't even have premier day stakes and has two maiden races. Their Melbourne Cup day meeting does have premier day stakes, but only one decent race and a couple of maidens once again. How the hell they would fit the 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas onto a date with some decent supporting races is beyond me. They want to run all their decent races on one day, which seems bizarre to me. Perhaps they could fit the two Guineas races on slot day as well. Afterall, the slot doesn't really attract Group 1 horses anyhow, so it might work.

The major reason they changed the Cup and the Derby was to get all of the corporates involved as sponsors. They were considered more important than the great unwashed who used to attend the holiday period meetings. So they moved the races to March. Now the corporates don't sponsor races anyhow, and they are left with all the youngsters along for the piss up. So basically back to where they were with the holiday crowd along for a good time. Unfortunately, everyone knew when Boxing Day and New Years Day were, and everyone knew there were races on that day because they used to go every year. So advertising costs were minimal. Now that the sweepstakes and slot are on totally random days there is no traditional unprompted crowd anymore so the club, assisted by NZTR, spends an absolute fortune promoting the meetings. Also, there is no longer a Derby Day and Cup day, which used to virtually promote themselves. Instead we have a brand-new entity, a sweepstake and a slot, which have to be explained to people at considerable cost. Its all a brave new world. Us traditionalists just have to go with the flow and rely on the fact that the experts really know what they are doing and it will all work out well in the end if we can just be patient.

Raced in the 70s. Won a Wgtn Steeples and Grand National from memory. Raced as quite a young jumper, probably by virtue of not being very fast on the flat. And yes, I'm pretty sure he was black.

Trainers have voted with their feet. Even $60,000 wasn't enough to get one race off the ground, and only six acceptors in the maiden. It is a pretty horrible winter track.

It is very much an ideological thing, much like in health and education and various other spheres of society. It's all about the prevailing theory. Currently, they don't place any value on on-course attendance, other than for the sweepstakes and slot day, when somehow a bunch of youngsters along for the piss up seem to vindicate all of their theories. Most of us on here realise that a lack of emphasis on on-course attendance must ultimately lead to a drop off in off-course interest. But that theory doesn't seem to have any credence in the echelons of power. I always think it must be incredibly depressing for an owner who spends thousands of dollars to attend a distant race-meeting to watch their horse race and finds a couple of hundred people in attendance at what is supposed to be a metropolitan track. They must think that if the locals can't be bothered walking down the street to attend why on earth should an owner fly in from hours away. Similarly for jockeys. They are often driving for hours to get to meetings for two or three rides and they must get a bit depressed to see there is hardly anyone else there.

I just had a quick look at some programmes. I see they have swapped the 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas around and both races, as well as the NZ Cup, have been increased by $50,000 each. They have kept that relatively quiet. So all of our fears have been unfounded. All three races should boom with those stakes increases. Should now be safe for many years to come.

Yes, you can hardly expect Waverley to come to the rescue endlessly.

You do wonder about the look internationally having our so called Group 1 races raced in front of tiny crowds that in Australia would be considered disappointing for a picnic meeting. Remember, Hastings this season did a much higher turnover for their Oct phantom meeting than Te Rapa did with the actual horses and over a million dollars of stakes money. Ellerslie and Te Rapa don't have a great record attracting genuine sponsorship either.

It is more of a dates and programming issue, but the SI doesn't help its chances of retaining the Guineas races with the low SI numbers in the races, to some extent caused by the poor programming leading into the races, starting with the 2yo pattern in the South. We should remember that the SI once had a great record in both races. LBJ, Clansman, Gaffa and Random Chance all won it in quick succession. In fact, between 1979 and 1985 the SI won more 2,000 Guineas than the NI. The Jewel, Tartan Tights, Powley and Canterbury Belle won the 1,000 Guineas. Even La Diosa in more recent years. Several of those horses came from Otago and Southland. It is now much harder to prepare horses from down there as there are very few suitable races. So once again the SI shoots itself in the foot, which is the last thing they need given that NZTR is trying to eliminate them anyhow.

Even in Australia most of the stayers races are pretty average. I hate to think what they would be like without all of the European imports.

Before this venues thread runs out of steam we need to address the elephant in the room, which no one has brought up so far, probably waiting for me to mention it: Timaru. NZTR has an unhealthy obsession with eliminating Timaru. I have absolutely no idea why they think like this. There is obviously no science behind it. Messara wanted to close Timaru and keep Waikouaiti, which is really just too stupid for words. They can't even sell it and make lots of money as it isn't saleable and the trots are still there and it is a major training centre, probably producing more winners than Wingatui these days. NZTR are obsessive about centering Canterbury racing around the two Riccarton tracks and Ashburton. It has quickly become obvious how flawed this theory is. Timaru is a crucial track for the SI given its central location and generally good racing surface, especially now that so many other tracks have been closed. Rather than being slated for closure it needs to have money spent on it. If I was running the show, the first thing I would do would be to introduce a 1,400m start point at Timaru to give it some flexibility when setting programmes. With the healthy numbers of horses in Southland, Timaru and Oamaru are crucial tracks to give those horses in the deep south racing opportunities during the winter months if they wish to keep horses going. There is no better evidence of that than this weekend at Oamaru. Some NZTR decisions are just beyond comprehension and Timaru is one of them.

I have more confidence than most in the ChCh Cup Week carnival surviving. It is pretty much the only traditional carnival still hanging in there. Probably only Riverton at Easter has retained a bit of tradition in a similar fashion. I even have a bit of confidence in Riccarton retaining the Guineas races for a while, largely because I ask myself what is the alternative? Riccarton is a big, open track that gives every runner a chance. The weather in almost always good. The best horses usually win the races and go on to be prominent at seasons end. And most importantly the races attract a big crowd and have a lot of atmosphere. If the races get moved north I presume they would go to Auckland. That club has zero interest in tradition. They don't even care about Group 1 races. The focus of their season is a couple of sweepstakes and a slot race. All listed races. They are embarrassed by their traditional feature Group races. They hide the Derby, Cup, and various other races away on slot day. On the day with their biggest attendance they only run six races. If the Guineas races went to Auckland they would be run in front of a small crowd sometime in November, probably with a newly introduced slot race as the feature event on the day. So although I think Riccarton has made a pig's arse of running their own affairs and has hardly helped themselves in retaining relevance I think they might retain the Guineas because the alternative is appalling.