We're Doomed

I notice no one has commented on the totally ballsed up form guide for today's Rosehill meeting. No horse has ever raced fresh up, no horse has ever raced on a soft track. The wins on various track conditions don't add up to a horse's total wins. There is space allocated to record all their jumps wins though. I don't normally comment on the TAB, but bloody hell, it is incredibly amateurish. I won't even mention the expert form comments.

God knows how many will miss out on a start at Ashburton. Probably at least 35. Meanwhile everyone who wants a start gets one at Pukekohe. There does seem to be an imbalance. The other question of course is why hold a meeting at a track that has a field capacity of 10 for most races when everyone knew there were going to be dozens of horses desperate for a start? Incompetence is the only word I can think of that sums it up really.

That track has come back well. Heavy 8. It was still bucketing down on Sunday. Fields have held up well also. All decent sized. Might be the second best Tuesday's racing of the season.

Have they announced the club of the year yet? Surely it has to be Waverley for service above and beyond what should be expected of any club. I see they have picked up an extra meeting this week, and will still race next week as well. The club management and staff must be in a continual state of dizziness.

I know I do go on about this, but because it shows up incompetency on so many levels I thought I might as well mention it again. I just had a look at the noms for Ashburton on Thursday. Because there are effectively only two favoured tracks in Canterbury, the rest have been closed down, or in the naughty boys corner like Timaru, the Ashburton track is virtually stuffed, or at least I assume it is because most races on Thursday can only start 10 or 12 horses. Because there hasn't been a single maiden race in Canty for three weeks, they have noms of 30 for the maiden 1,600m which starts 10, 26 for the maiden 1,200 which starts 10, 23 for the maiden 1,600m which starts 12, and 22 for the rating 65 1,400 which starts 10. They will split the rating 65 and maiden 1,400m, if there are enough acceptors!. Based on nomination numbers this means 16 will miss out in the maiden 1,200m, 11 will miss out in the maiden 1,600m and 10 will miss out in the maiden 1,400m even after it has been split. Even the rating 65 will have ballots despite being split. And remember a lot of these horses were eliminated or balloted at Wingatui a week earlier. This follows on from the tiny fields in the Northern region over the weekend, and a small 7 race card coming up at Pukekohe. I won't say any more, but as I said above, incompetence on so many levels.

They will know now.

It was the biggest stake she has won to date so I'm sure they aren't complaining about it only being a listed race. And a much better, and bigger, field than our slot which some people got excited about.

Yes, never looked like being beaten. Been a while since we had a sprinting filly like her.

I think at club level now everyone has had the stuffing and enthusiasm knocked out of them, unless they are one of the favoured few.. They just take the guaranteed stakes offered by NZTR and plod along. One problem is the programming of only 7 or 8 races at each meeting, and possibly splitting one if necessary. That prevents any sort of innovation at all and means they just churn out the same programmes week after week. Its why there are no staying 3yo races in the SI, except for one fillies race. They can pay me a consultancy fee for that if they like but I don't might offering it up for free.

Totally seriously, it appears quite obvious that NZTR have no one on staff with the skills to sort out the poor programming. I suppose they could always get in a consultant. I appears that as long as we have a slot race and one big raceday per year NZTR feel they have done their job.

They can't really do that. Timaru is on the naughty boys list which only leaves Ashburton and Riccarton who don't really look as if they can handle much more. Imagine what would happen if CD type problems, where 7 or 8 tracks have been out of action for one reason or another so far this season, were to happen in Canterbury.

Doomben and several others gone as well.

Big day for Avoca. A lot of slack to take up.

Te Aroha today, fields of 4,7,9,7,6,7,9,8. Decent stakes, $50,000 and $40,000. In fact the biggest field is the $25,000 maiden. Good track in March when surely summer horses are still about. In fact, probably one of the best tracks for many weeks. Wingatui yesterday, a heavy track, $18,500 races. Six scratchings out of the fields all day. Most ballots didn't get a start. We can't go on with 4 horses racing for $40,000. Obviously stakes are not the problem. Is it a total lack of horses coming through? Is the programming shocking? Did many horses treat slot day as their grand final for the year? Has everyone gone to Trentham? Seems strange to me that they are happy to put up $50,000 and $40,000 stakes for very ordinary fields and then in a couple of weeks or so they chop stakes right back for the winter months when fields are likely to be bigger and turnovers higher. I know a couple of people on here will say its great that 4 horses get to race for $40,000, but if that is the extent of their insight I'm not interested in debating the point.

Perhaps tomorrow at Trentham might give us an idea where the industry is headed. Probably the last really big raceday of the season, surely a big crowd in store.