We're Doomed

Not a good time of year to drop your form Alf. Just confidently back the CD women cricketers to lose every game and slowly build up your funds.

That's what the report Alf put up said. They do have big bars at Ellerslie and Trentham. You would be amazed how many are in there.

I suspect a bit of both.

Gee, more than 18 meetings held every week providing entertainment to 639,000 attendees. Those are big crowds every week.

Could you just explain to me why "the well being of the clubs concerned" isn't particularly relevant to the state of things? I would have thought the well being of Trentham was quite relevant to the state of the NZ racing industry?

You are certainly entitled to that opinion, but it differs totally to my opinion. It would be a boring place if we all thought the same. I agree though that if Trentham did $300,000 on course and $3m off course and Kumara did $400,000 on and only $1m off then Trentham is playing its role and Kumara is a bit of an aberration.

Does anyone have access to the weekend turnovers from Ellerslie, Trentham and Kumara? I have no idea where you can access such things these days. It would be really interesting. I know there isn't much interest in on course attendance these days and at the big tracks a lot of people are probably hidden away inside the bars but on course turnovers surely goes some way towards indicating how the industry is tracking. Trentham had several expensive group races so I imagine they had to do a significant turnover on and off course to fund that.

They have been trying to run the show and get everyone else to fit in with their needs for at least 50 years. The industry as a whole was able to prevent them destroying the likes of Wgtn Cup week for most of that time, but now there is no overall controlling body representing the views of the whole industry so they can pretty much do what they like. They have successfully destroyed Wgtn Cup week so now the world is their oyster. NZ Cup Week will be next. Then they will probably want the Nuggets to be run at Ellerslie on sweepstake night to boost their attendance.

It used to be in ChCh at Cup Week, then moved to Auck on Boxing Day.

It doesn't really matter whether it is a chance, at least it adds a hint of class to the race. It has won almost $1m and did race in the Melb Cup. I doubt any of the rest of the field would get into a Melb Cup. My point was that it adds some interest to the race, which otherwise would have been about as interesting as the other Wgtn Cup on this weekend. It does have to give weight to the rest but it is the class horse of the field and went well last start so must be a massive chance. Beavertown Boy is probably the horse to beat. I have no idea what the odds are. I don't bother with fixed odds or futures betting

The Aussie horse has certainly saved the image of the Wgtn Cup. Without him it would have been a pretty ordinary field. Always sad to see a 3,200m race not attract a full field.

It is probably reasonable to say the Dec Derby winners went on to achieve a bit more than the March winners. The sample was much bigger for the Dec Derby of course, and it was a different era when horses tended to race on a bit longer. The Boxing day Derby certainly threw up a few duds as well, including the 3rd rate Aussies.

Probably all busy ringing around trying to get starters for Trentham.

The only difference, HK also has big punters.

I grew up in an era when stakes were largely funded by turnovers. With a bit thrown in from sponsorship and gate-takings. Now we live in an era when turnovers have plummeted and stakes have boomed. And there is virtually no outside sponsorship (with the TAB sponsoring most big races) and most meetings have free entry, because hardly anyone goes anyhow. I know some people think this is great and we can carry on like this forever, but people of a certain age with some industry experience have got no idea how it works under this new model and how long we can carry on like this. We may well all be totally wrong, and we may be on the verge of a boom time and the industry possibly has never been better. I just hope most of us are wrong and the industry is in great hands.